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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:
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!
Lightning Crotch in Pregnancy: How You Can Start Recovering from SPD
What is symphysis pubis dysfunction (Lightning Crotch)?
Symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD), also known as pubic symphysis dysfunction, anterior pelvic girdle pain, or lightning crotch, is a common musculoskeletal condition that is experienced by pregnant women and can vary from minor discomfort to severely debilitating pain. It is typically characterized by discomfort in the front pelvic area that can radiate to the inner thighs and perineum (think where your pubic bone is).
Read more: Lightning Crotch in Pregnancy: How You Can Start...
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!
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- Written by: Staff
- 6638 Views
Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation for Prolapse Surgeries
Including both Pre and Post Operative Situations
Suffering from symptoms of pelvic heaviness? Experiencing a feeling that there is a bulge down there or something is falling out of your vagina? Have trouble having a bowel movement or experiencing incontinence? These are all common symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Unfortunately, 2-48% of women may experience symptoms of POP.
Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation Treatment Options
There are treatment options such as pelvic floor rehabilitation through physical therapy techniques including lifestyle modifications such as managing intraabdominal pressure, promoting healthy bowel/bladder habits, as well as physical therapy, manual therapy, and strengthening exercises to decrease pelvic heaviness.
Read more: Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation for Pre/Post Operative...
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- Written by: Staff
- 22960 Views
What's the Connection Bewteen Eating Disorders and Pelvic Floor Dysfunction?
Read on for some answers.
Eating disorders are unfortunately common, with at least 9% of people worldwide suffering from an eating disorder. This translates to 28.8 million Americans will have an eating disorder in their lifetime. There are different types of eating disorders (ED) including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. Other than the typical psychological and social implications that these eating disorders may cause, they also can affect our pelvic health and lead to pelvic floor dysfunction. It can lead to incontinence (either urine or feces), prolapse, increased urinary urge, pelvic pain (possibly associated with polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS), constipation, and sexual dysfunction.
Read more: Eating Disorders and Pelvic Floor Dysfunction | ED...
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- Written by: Staff
- 8124 Views
Contraceptives and Sexual Function Considered
As pelvic floor physical therapists, we work with a lot of women who have some type of female sexual dysfunction, whether it may be pain with initial penetration, pain with deep thrusting/deep penetration, pain with orgasms, or decreased sexual arousal, desire, libido. Unfortunately, about 30-50% of women may suffer from these symptoms.
We often see women with sexual impairments have the following conditions/scenarios:
- Postpartum (regardless of delivery)
- Vaginismus (involuntary spasms of the pelvic floor muscles)
- Post-menopausal
- Vulvodynia
- Skin inflammatory conditions such as lichen sclerosus
Read more: What Do We Know About Contraceptives and Sexual Function?
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- Written by: Kasia Gondek, PT, DPT, CLT, CSCS
- 6028 Views
SMART Pelvic Health Goals
As we enter 2022, the new year marks a time of both reflection on the previous year and forward-thinking and planning for the year ahead. That’s why the beginning of the year is a great time to reset your pelvic health goals! Here at Femina Physical Therapy, we like to use the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting with frequent review of progress toward these goals. S.M.A.R.T. goals offer a simple and proven method of creating and evaluating goals that are reachable, specific and achievable. The S.M.A.R.T. acronym stands for:
- Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
- Measurable (to help motivate and track your progress).
- Achievable (attainable).
- Relevant (reasonable, results-based, unique to you).
- Time-bound (time-based, time-limited).
When creating your list of pelvic health goals, keep in mind what is relevant and meaningful to you. Visualize what achieving your goals might look like, how will it feel, what will your reward to yourself be? It is important to keep these critical aspects in mind when creating goals in order to determine if they are reasonable, achievable, and meaningful! Plus, a reward for achieving our goals keeps us motivated to push through challenges and roadblocks along the way.
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- Written by: Heather Jeffcoat, DPT
- 12029 Views
Are You Wondering "Can A Vaginal Birth Ruin Your Sex Life?"
Medically, the answer is a resounding ‘no’… but postpartum sex is still an understandable concern for most pregnant women, especially in a digital age where whispered rumors have given way to detailed stories of difficult birth experiences splashed across social media pages.
In the greater debate over vaginal birth vs. C-section, the real issue on the minds of many expectant mothers is often whether one mode of delivery is somehow better than the other. It’s a complex question; but a group of researchers in Ontario, Canada recently attempted to answer the ‘sex after baby’ part of it. What they found out surprised even them; and shed some important light on the bigger question as well.
Researchers Studying the Impact of Vaginal Childbirth versus Cesarean on Postpartum Sex Find...
Read more: Can A Vaginal Birth Ruin Your Sex Life? | Femina PT Talks...
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- Written by: Heather Jeffcoat, DPT
- 6030 Views
First some facts about pelvic floor dysfunction:
- Nearly one in two women experience painful sex.
- One in three women suffers from urinary incontinence.
- 40% of all women and 50% of childbearing women have pelvic organ prolapse.
Because I’m a fan of scientific data, this isn’t the first time you’ve seen the truth by the numbers in this space.
Rarely, though, do I get to talk about a ‘study of many studies’ like the one published in Sexual Medicine Reviews.
Read more: Pelvic Floor Dysfunction: The Facts, Research, and Treatment
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- Written by: Staff
- 6863 Views
A Pelvic Floor PT Can Assist With Cervical Cancer and Recovery
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer affecting women worldwide.
Luckily there are many wonderful treatments that can stop the cancer, either completely or from progressing further. However, the treatments do come with some unwanted side effects. But there is help and having a pelvic floor physical therapist added to your ervical cancer support team can truly guide you along the way.
Common Cervical Cancer Treatments
Some common treatments are pelvic external beam radiotherapy and/or brachytherapy, which unfortunately can adversely affect women’s sexual functioning and quality of life. Radiotherapy especially can cause vaginal stenosis, which is narrowing of the vaginal canal. This is due to radiation effects of collagen deposition, loss of elasticity in the vaginal tissue, and atrophic changes of the mucosa. Unfortunately, 88% of women after radiation will develop vaginal stenosis. As you can imagine, narrowing of the vaginal canal can impede women’s ability to tolerate penetrative sexual intercourse or gynecologic exams, for example.
Read more: Cervical Cancer and Recovery | A Pelvic Physical...
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- Written by: Staff
- 2871 Views
Restless Legs Syndrome (or RLS)
Restless legs syndrome (or RLS) is a condition where there are uncontrollable urges to move limbs (mostly in the legs, but sometimes in the arms) that follows a circadian pattern, namely evenings/overnight when resting.
The urges usually come with unpleasant sensations such as tingling, burning, itching, or otherwise pain. Usually, it can be alleviated by movement, but as you can imagine, it can be debilitating and impair sleep, and thus the quality of life. It is common to experience mood swings, anxiety, and depression.
It is estimated that about 3.9-14.3% of the general population suffers from RLS. It is the most common movement disorder in pregnant women. There is either primary (idiopathic) RLS, or secondary (acquired) RLS due to pregnancy, renal pathologies, diabetes, hypertension, and other metabolic conditions. The two most common risk factors for RLS are iron deficiency and kidney disease.
Read more: Restless Legs Syndrome & Physical Therapy | Postpartum...
