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The Femina Physical Therapy Blog
Featuring original articles by our staff about current events and trends
With emphasis on vaginismus, pregnancy and postpartum best practices, treatments for incontinence, and other topics related to the health of your pelvic floor.
Featured From the Blog:
Introducing The Origin Fund - Helping Women in Need
Helping Women in Need With Our Community in Mind
The Origin Fund is dedicated to facilitating access to services that address a person’s physical, emotional and medical needs. Our focus is on individuals with pelvic health dysfunctions, and we are dedicated to improving the biopsychosocial aspects of each person as a whole. Through education, outreach and providing access to these services, we can support individuals on their journey to address their pain and dysfunction—linking patients to our network of referrals that provide these services.
Therapeutic Breast Massage in Lactation (TBML)
Therapeutic Breast Massage in Lactation Can Help Make Breastfeeding Less Painful
Breastfeeding is widely accepted as the normal standard for providing nutrition to newborns, however, many women who do not reach their breastfeeding goals. US national data stated that breast pain was a commonly reported reason for women weaning less than 1 month postpartum. Within that segment, 29% of women who participated in the study stated that “breastfeeding was too painful” to continue.
In the same study, 24% of women reported “breasts feel(ing) too full or engorged” as another reason to discontinue breastfeeding prior to 1 month postpartum.1 Currently, The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding of infants for the first six months of life. As physical therapists who treat patients with postpartum conditions, we are well positioned to make a big impact on patients with breastfeeding related pain and reduce barriers to continued breastfeeding!
Treating Bloating and Abdominal Distension: a Multi-Disciplinary Team
Why a Multi-Disciplinary Team is Best for Treating Bloating and Abdominal Distension
Bloating, abdominal distension, loose stools, constipation, abdominal or pelvic pain, fatigue, brain fog, weakness, nutritional deficiencies… these symptoms may be caused by a variety of gastrointestinal or pelvic conditions. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, this article is a good place to start when deciding who to have on your care team, and what treatments can help!
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Stressed from the holidays?
Try some gentle yoga poses that can be done anywhere you have a little floor space for your yoga mat.
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Cat/Cow
Cat/Cow is a dynamic yoga movement that links breath with movement. It flows through two poses that warm up the spine, relax low back muscles, hip muscles, pelvic floor muscles, and calms the nervous system.
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The Holidays can be stressful!
Fortunately, you can help the mind and body relax with these handy techniques.
Deep Breathing
Stress and chronic pain can lead to short and shallow breathing which adds tension to the diaphragm, abdomen, and pelvic floor. Encouraging the body to breathe deeply will unravel the tension inside the body, often held in between the ribs, in the low back, neck, shoulders, belly, and pelvic floor.
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Happy Veteran’s Day!
Today, we’d like to highlight an important women’s health issue for females serving in the military - a higher risk of developing both vaginal and urinary tract infections while deployed.
Females in the Military
According to the Defense Department, women now make up 20 percent of the Air Force, 19 percent of the Navy, 15 percent of the Army and almost 9 percent of the Marine Corps. As such a large population, increased awareness and advocacy is needed to ensure that our female troops are getting the best medical care as possible.
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Gentle Yoga Basics for Easing Into Yoga Practice
We Offer Gentle Yoga classes at the Montrose office.
For those of you who may be curious about what Gentle Yoga is, here are some basics:
What is gentle yoga?
In general, gentle yoga is a way of practicing yoga in order to balance the body and calm the nervous system. You will explore a variety of poses to help you with flexibility and strength, all while using breath and movement to calm the mind.
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November is Bladder Health Month, Which Means Preventing Urinary Incontinence!
Urinary incontinence is very common, affecting up to 1 in 3 women. Despite some common beliefs, leaking urine is not a normal part of aging and can be treated, especially with the help of a pelvic floor therapist. Today we’ll cover some common contributing factors that you can be mindful of to prevent urinary incontinence.
What is Urinary Incontinence?
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Bladder Health Month and the Great American Smokeout - November 21st
In honor of both, today we are going to cover the damage that smoking nicotine products and tobacco use can do on the bladder.
Doctors have known for decades that smoking affects lung and heart health, greatly increasing risk of both lung cancer and heart disease. In recent research, they have been finding that smoking increases risk to various urologic diseases as well.
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Sitting hunched over a desk and computer for hours will lead to a stiff neck and shoulders, a sore lower back and tight hips.
Throw in some office yoga to help refresh the body and mind, try these stretches at least 1x every 2 hours during your work day.
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Have You Been Wondering Could Your Lube be Hurting You?
From alleviating vaginal dryness to improving anal play, choosing the right lube is important
Personal lubricant (lube) is something most people will use at least once during their sexual lifetimes, if not every time they are sexually active.
What are lubricants?
Lubricants are fluid or gel substances designed to offset genital dryness or inadequate natural lubrication which can be associated with discomfort or pain with sex or general activity. Lubes can be used for sexual activity, or just to alleviate dryness throughout the day.
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Some patients are surprised to learn what your bowel movements say about your health.
They are in the office to with pelvic floor dysfunction and problems like urinary incontinence or pain with sex - what does that have to do with poop?
Bowel function is a key piece in the journey towards healing from pelvic floor dysfunction. A lot of our clients with pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic pain, endometriosis, and prolapse have some trouble with their bowels - either constipation, straining, or diarrhea. These bowel-related issues can cause abdominal pain, painful bloating, rectal pain, and pelvic floor problems. It’s a connection that is very important to consider!
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Proper Postpartum Care is Crucial to Prevent "Ghostpartum"
Today we are addressing “Ghostpartum,” which may sound like a Halloween ghoul or goblin, but is actually a term used to describe the postpartum period where many do not receive appropriate care as they transition from pregnancy to parenthood. In fact, according to the American College of OB/GYN (ACOG), up to 40 percent of postpartum folks do not even seek proper postpartum care.
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Spin The Right Way for Optimal Results!
Want to start a spin class? Afraid of returning to cycling because of knee pain or pelvic pain? Come see Heather Jeffcoat, DPT, or another therapist for an assessment of your form.
We love biking at Fusion Wellness & Physical Therapy / Femina PT! We have a Peloton bicycle used to evaluate, modify and progress spinning and cycling routines. Our clinic director/owner Heather Jeffcoat, DPT, is our in-house spinning guru. She is here to help you with your form to spin the right way, as well as how to fit the bike properly to your body.
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Learn How to Fit Your Bike Correctly With These Simple Tips
Did you know that riding a bike that doesn’t fit your body can cause and exacerbate nerve and orthopedic problems?
Avoid nerve and joint pain with the following tips!
Before We Begin: Ask for Help
If you are spinning at a gym or in a class, ask for assistance from cycling instructors if you need help you setting up your bike. Everyone needs help doing this when they begin!
If you are cycling at home, come see us at the clinic or have us come out to your house! Clinic owner Heather Jeffcoat, DPT does custom fit assessments in her Sherman Oaks office and our other locations across the greater Los Angeles area.
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It’s truly amazing what bodies endure during and following pregnancy. We praise all the new parents that come into the clinic for their resilience not only physically but mentally, taking care of themselves as well as being a caretaker 24/7 whether it’s one child or three children, it really is a super power.
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I just returned to Los Angeles after completing an amazing eight day trip to Beijing, China. There I had the opportunity to work with the Chinese Olympic Committee,their rehabilitation staff and athletes. I gave two lectures with hands-on labs to their physiotherapists on Hip Impingement and Cyclist's Syndrome (Pudendal neuralgia in cyclists). Did I talk about the pelvic floor muscles in both lectures? You bet I did! Monica is my awesome Mandarin translator pictured standing next to me below.
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- Written by: Heather Jeffcoat, DPT
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We have moved our East side office to the community of Montrose, just a half mile from our original La Canada location.
This new office is convenient to Glendale, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, Eagle Rock, La Crescenta, Pasadena, Alta Dena, South Pasadena, San Marino, Downtown Los Angeles and more!
We are excited to announce the opening of our newest physical therapy location in Montrose, CA. Right outside of Glendale and La Canada sits our 1,800 square foot office at the connection of the 2 and 210 freeways.
Complete with four treatment rooms and a large gym space including a pilates reformer we are able to support our patients’ needs specializing in pelvic floor, pregnancy and orthopaedic physical therapy. We look forward to having classes, seminars, and course trainings to provide to the community.
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Constipation and pelvic floor disorders often go hand-in-hand for clients with hypertonic (tight) pelvic floor muscles and with associated symptoms like pelvic pain, pain with sex, and urge incontinence. So, let’s get your constipation in control!
The connection between your bowels and your pelvic floor
If you think about what is housed inside of the pelvic bowl, three important systems have to co-exist and share a limited amount of space:
- Urinary System: the bladder and urethra
- Reproductive Organs: Uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and vaginal canal
- GI System: sigmoid colon, rectum
