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The Femina Physical Therapy Blog

Featuring original articles by our staff about current events and trends

Explore our insightful blog articles on pelvic health, where we delve into essential topics that empower and educate. From understanding pelvic floor disorders to strategies for conquering infertility, our content is designed for those seeking knowledge and support. We discuss the latest research, expert advice, and practical tips to enhance your well-being and foster a deeper connection to your body.

Featured From the Blog:

Understanding Relaxin: Why It Doesn’t Cause Pain in Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a time of significant physical and hormonal changes, and among the many hormones involved, Relaxin plays a crucial role. However, there’s a common misconception that Relaxin is responsible for pain during pregnancy. Let’s take a closer look at what Relaxin does and why it doesn’t directly cause pain.

What is Relaxin?

Relaxin is a regulatory hormone involved in growth, metabolism, and tissue remodeling after an injury to our bones, ligaments, muscles or tendons (Dehghan 2014). During pregnancy, Relaxin levels begin to increase in the first trimester to help the body prepare for childbirth by relaxing the ligaments in the pelvis and softening the cervix (Aldabe 2012, Daneau 2014). The ligaments of the pelvis will begin to relax around the 10th-12th week of pregnancy (Aldabe 2012). This process allows for greater flexibility in the pelvic area, facilitating delivery and accommodating the growing baby.

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!

Restorative 20 Minute Home Yoga Practice For Chronic Pelvic Pain

Yoga Practice For Chronic Pelvic Pain Can Be a Very Helpful Routine

As stated in my last blog post, yoga can be so beneficial as a pain management tool due to its ability to modulate the sympathetic nervous system3,4 which plays a large role in chronic pain. The exact mechanism of how yoga helps with chronic pain is still being studied, however, it is reasonable to believe the full body relaxation promoted by a yoga practice helps to decrease tension in key muscle groups- including the hips and pelvic floor which are often tight in people with chronic pelvic pain.

Currently, evidence has mostly focused on one hour long practices as an intervention, although there are some studies that report improvements in pain with shorter practices, such as the routine below. As with any mobility/stretching routine, benefits will be seen with more frequent practice, however even twice weekly can help decrease pain.

Details: Written by: Staff; Published: 22 March 2021; Last Updated: 28 March 2022; 6954 Views

A healthy lifestyle includes getting back to exercise postpartum

Exercise has shown to be beneficial in all stages of life, and the postpartum period is no exception.

Some of the benefits of postpartum exercise are:

Strengthen and tone abdominal muscles
Boosts energy
May help prevent postpartum depression
Promotes better sleep
Relieves stress
Can help you lose the extra weight that you may have gained during pregnancy
(ACOG, July 2019).

Even with all these benefits, research shows that most mothers stop participating in exercise programs which leads to increased weight gain and obesity (Minig et al., and O’Toole et al., 2003). There are many adjustments that have to be made when becoming a new mother and the information on the internet regarding postpartum exercise can be misguided and overwhelming. Let's break down what the literature says about guidelines for returning to exercise postpartum.

Details: Written by: Staff; Published: 10 March 2021; Last Updated: 25 June 2021; 11635 Views

The latest literature review conducted by Mazur-Bialy et al. (2020) shows the most modern methods of pelvic floor physical therapy that can help with urinary incontinence.

Here at Femina PT, we pride ourselves in keeping up with the current best practices and latest techniques. Here’s a breakdown of the latest techniques and how we utilize them at the clinic.

What is urinary incontinence?

Urinary incontinence refers to the involuntary loss of urine, which can range from a few drops (also called light bladder leakage) to complete loss that wets the floor. There is actually more than one kind of urinary incontinence: the two most common types of urinary incontinence that affect women are stress incontinence and urge incontinence (also called overactive bladder, or OAB).

Details: Written by: Staff; Published: 03 March 2021; Last Updated: 16 October 2021; 7537 Views

Woman using hypervolt gun — Image from hyperice.com

Recent studies have shown evidence vibration therapy is just as effective as massage in reducing muscle soreness after exercise and can also help increase range of motion.

Over the past few years, we’ve been using more vibration and percussive therapy products at the clinic, such as the Hypervolt gun, vibrating foam rollers, and vibrating massage balls. But what’s all the hype about?

Effect on Muscle Soreness

In a 2014 study by Imtiyaz et al., they found that a 5 minute session with a vibration device provided as much relief to muscle soreness as a 15 minute massage session over the same area, as compared to control groups who received neither after a bout of exercise.

Details: Written by: Staff; Published: 24 February 2021; Last Updated: 27 December 2021; 20390 Views

Anatomical drawing of pelvis depicting sexual dysfunction after pelvic fracture

Sexual Dysfunction After Pelvic Fracture Can be Traumatic

A 2014 study by Harvey-Kelly et al. points to the fact that the long term consequences of this injury can include sexual dysfunction and pelvic pain for both males and females.

Pelvic fractures occur most commonly with a high-energy trauma. The most common ways people fracture their pelvis include motor vehicle (57%), pedestrians hit by car (18%), motorcycle crushes (9%), falls from a height (9%), and crush injuries (5%) (Harvey-Kelly, 2014).

Chronic Issues After Pelvic Fracture

Thanks to advancements in critical care medicine and acute trauma care, the mortality rate for those who have had a pelvic fracture has been reduced over the years. However, pelvic fracture survivors often report chronic issues including chronic pain, chronic pelvic pain, changes in gait, issues with bowel and bladder, and sexual dysfunction. This is because the muscles, bones, nerves, and blood vessels, are often all implicated in these injuries, and the pelvis contains the organs of the urinary, bowel, and sexual function systems. Therefore, the subsequent rehabilitation of all these systems is more complicated than, say, a fracture of your ulna or radius in your forearm.

Details: Written by: Staff; Published: 11 February 2021; Last Updated: 01 December 2022; 11000 Views

Woman crouching next to bed due to painful bladder syndrome

How do Histamines Affect Interstitial Cystitis (Painful Bladder Syndrome)?

Newly published research by Grundy et al. (2019) shows a more direct connection.

In this study published in the February 2021 issue of The American Journal of Physiology: Renal Physiology, Grundy et al. show correlation that histamines in the body lead to changes in the sensory nerves of the bladder, particularly hypersensitivity during bladder distension, or when the bladder is filling or full.

The study determined that certain sensory nerves in the bladder can become more sensitive when histamines are present. This activation occurs in the bladder membrane, the detrusor muscles, as well as the afferent nerves of the bladder.

Details: Written by: Staff; Published: 05 February 2021; Last Updated: 22 August 2021; 5691 Views

Simple Tips for Using Yoga for Sciatica Pain

Sciatic nerve pain can be uncomfortable and may affect your quality of life and your activities.

Flares in sciatic pain can be debilitating, and yoga for sciatica pain can help immensly. Often times the lower back and hips can contribute to sciatic pain. Try these yoga stretches for some relief.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Please consult with your doctor or a physical therapist for an individualized session and exercises.

Here are some stretches you can do at home, at the gym, or at the park to keep your sciatic nerve pain at bay and enjoy your day pain-free.

Dealing with too much tension? Try yoga to relieve your headache.

Tension headaches can be caused by tension in the jaw, face, neck, shoulders, and back.

Headaches caused by tight and restricted neck muscles can be helped by a seated neck release, which will stretch the scalene muscles on the neck. Sometimes headaches are caused by back pain that’s radiating up the spine, and yoga to relieve your headache may be the answer.

Try these simple poses to release the tension that may be giving you a headache.

Details: Written by: Staff; Published: 29 January 2021; Last Updated: 09 November 2021; 16390 Views

Lasers And My Vagina - Do They Really Belong Together?

A Breakdown of common Energy Based Devices Marketed for your Vagina

Risks and Possible Benefits

In the past decade, nonsurgical devices using radio-frequencies, lasers, and infrared light have been marketed as non-invasive treatments for “vaginal rejuvenation.” However, there has been conflicting opinion among the medical community as to what the lasers have evidence of treating. The rampant use of the lasers to treat conditions they have not been approved to treat has also caused the Food and Drug Administration to warn the public about these devices in 2018.