Pelvic Health & Orthopedic Physical Therapy
Addressing your questions about pelvic, women's, and musculoskeletal health. Health is a journey. Movement is healing!
The pelvic floor is a bit of an enigma to most outpatient Physical Therapists. They know it exists, but they don't completely understand the function of that musculature or how it can impact other aspects of the body. This can make screening or evaluating the role pelvic floor in a patient's symptoms a little overwhelming or even daunting at times. It is so crucial to ask about changes in bowel and bladder as well as changes with intercourse with patients who come in with pathologies like generic low back pain or hip pain. The musculature and fascia of the pelvic floor is all interconnected with internal organs, abdominal musculature, spine, pelvis, hip, sacrum, as well as trunk musculature (as you can see with some of the pictures below). When you have an imbalance in one area the other areas of the body are affected. It's important to know based on what gender and age group, what types of women's/ men's health questions to ask your patients in order to screen them for services. In order to know what dysfunction looks like it's crucial to know what health bowel and bladder health looks like. Just to give a general overview an individual:
Clinical Considerations: Some musculoskeletal presentations could be referred pain or have contributions from imbalance in the pelvic floor. Consider the pelvic floor in patients with persistent or chronic history of symptoms in low back, hips, and abdomen (especially if they have a history of pelvic floor dysfunction or answer yes to any of your screening questions). Clinical presentations to be on the lookout for include:
References:
Herman & Wallace (2000). Female Pelvic Floor Dysfunction 2010 to 2050. https://hermanwallace.com/images/docs/HW_Female_Pelvic_Floor_Dysfunction_White_Paper.pdf Irion, J. M., & Irion, G. L. (2010). Women's Health in Physical Therapy. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. |
AuthorHello! I am Caitlyn, Doctor of Physical Therapy and Board Certified Women's Health Physical Therapist working in St Louis, Missouri. Faculty in developing residency program. Endowarrior Categories
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