PELVIC FLOOR PHYSIOTHERAPY

What are Pelvic floor muscles?

The pelvic floor is made up of three layers of muscles that connect from the pubic bone at the front of the pelvis to the tailbone at the back of the pelvis. They also connect side-to-side from one sitz bone to another creating a bowl at the bottom of the trunk to support all our important abdominal and pelvic organs. This includes the bladder, bowel and in women, the uterus.

The pelvic floor muscles assist with bowel, bladder and sexual function and serve as the base of the group of muscles referred to as the “core”

What is Pelvic floor physiotherapy?

Pelvic health physiotherapy (also called pelvic floor physiotherapy or pelvic physiotherapy) is the assessment and treatment of various conditions that involve the pelvic floor or symptoms that manifest in this area.


What conditions we treat for Pelvic Floor?

  • Stress Urinary Incontinence

  • Urge Urinary Incontinence 

  • Bowel/Faecal Incontinence

  • Low Back Pain

  • Weak Core Stabilization & Muscle Control (e.g. Diastasis Recti)

  • Pelvic Organ Prolapse

  • Chronic pelvic floor pain.

  • Constipation.


How will your PELVIC FLOOR be assessed?

Before pelvic floor treatment begins, your pelvic health physiotherapist will take your full medical history and thoroughly discuss your current problems and symptoms.

With informed consent, your pelvic floor physiotherapist will perform a complete physical assessment of the joints and tissues affecting this area. This may include internal and external examinations to identify the affected tissues that may be contributing to your urinary, bowel or pelvic pain symptoms.

Common areas that may refer pain to the pelvic region include: the abdomen, lower back, hips, pubic symphysis (the firm, fixed joint between the two pubic bones) and sacro-iliac joint (the joint formed by the sacrum and ilium where they meet on either side of the lower back).

Based on your examination, your pelvic health physiotherapist will work with you to put together a plan of care that is specific to your goals, symptoms and dysfunction.

Since every person has a unique case, it is important that your treatment is customized to address your specific needs.


Signs that your pelvic floor may benefit from physiotherapy intervention:

  • Unwanted loss of urine that is associated with an activity (for example, when you cough, sneeze or jump) or an urgent need to go to the washroom

  • Unwanted loss of feces/stool

  • Feeling of unwanted pelvic pressure and/or heaviness

  • Needing to go to the washroom more than 5-8 times a day.

  • An uncomfortable sensation of needing to urinate that won’t go away.

  • Waking up at night to go to the washroom that disturbs your sleep.

  • Bedwetting (over the age of 5)

  • Bowel movements that are difficult to pass or are less frequent than three times   a week.

  • Pain during sexual activity

  • Itching and/or burning in the pelvic region

  • Difficulty wearing pants or underwear.

  • Painful pelvic/speculum exams

  • Frequent urinary tract infections or yeast infections

  • Hip, low back, sacroiliac joint and/or pelvic girdle pain

  • Pelvic pain

  • Pain with sitting.

  • Altered genital sensation.

  • Tailbone (coccyx) pain (coccydynia)

  • Abdominal and groin pain

  • Painful periods

  • Pregnancy and Postpartum.