Why might I need pelvic/ women's health physiotherapy?
Specialised women's health physiotherapy may be useful for you if you are concerned about any of the following issues:
- Leaking urine during exercise or coughing/ sneezing (stress incontinence)
- Needing to rush to the toilet or leaking on the way to the toilet due to a strong sudden urge to need to urinate (urge incontinence.
- Feeling pressure, heaviness or seeing or feeling a bulge in your vagina (possible symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse)
- Pain in or around your vagina or pain with sex.
- Concerns about your abdominal muscles (such as diastasis recti)
You are not alone
Did you know 1 in 3 women suffer from urinary incontinence? This may be in the form of leaking when coughing, sneezing or exercising (stress incontinence), or rushing to the toilet frequently due to a sudden strong urge to urinate (urge incontinence), or a mixture of the two (mixed incontinence). Incontinence is a symptom not a diagnosis so there may be various reasons why this is the case and it can be very useful to address these reasons.
Other pelvic health problems may include pelvic pain and over activity of the pelvic floor muscles and also pelvic organ prolapse which can lead to feelings of heaviness and discomfort. Pelvic health issues could also possibly be contributing to other niggling symptoms such as hip and back pain.
Pelvic health problems are very common but they are not issues you should have to just put up with. There are lots of things that can be done to help.
Why choose to see Holly?
A very holistic approach will be taken so that importance factors that may be contributing to your problem are not missed. Holly goes beyond just traditional pelvic floor exercises/ kegels to help you address the problem.
Holly prides herself on keeping up-to-date with the latest research and developments in the area of pelvic health. Holly is a specialist pelvic health physio and has completed training courses delivered by some of UK, America and Australia’s leading pelvic health physio’s such as Sarah Duvall, Julie Wiebe, Jilly Bond and Antony Lo.
Holly recognises the solution is not for you to be told to permanently change or reduce the exercise or activities you love but to help guide you to resolution of your symptoms.
What to expect from the first session?
The first session will involve having a discussion with you about what issues you are having, how these issues came about and your goals and aims from physiotherapy. The assessment will be specific for your needs but may involve looking at your alignment, how you breathe and certain movements that can give information on how your muscles are working. It can also be very useful to assess your pelvic floor muscles by an internal vaginal examination. This will be with full informed consent; everything will be fully explained to you. If you feel at all unsure or uncomfortable with this there is absolutely no pressure to have the examination on the first session or at all, there is still a lot that we can do to help.
Knowledge is power and it has been shown that women who have greater knowledge about pelvic health have less dysfunction. Therefore Holly will really work with you to help you take control and feel empowered in the management of your issue.
For more information or to book an appointment: please ring or text Holly on 07951103548 or email physionewark@hotmail.com
