Physical Therapist

Hi Denny.

I have sondered about this too. In Australia we have physiotherapists. The following is straight off the APA website. "Physiotherapists are trained to assess the underlying causes of joint, muscle and nerve injuries and provide effective treatment so you can resume your normal lifestyle as soon as possible."

Physiotherapists have a close relation to doctors, more so than other physical therapies such as chiropractic and osteopathy. They do all sorts of physical therapies and use all sorts of machines as well as doing massage and designing special exercise programmes.

I have personally used physiotherapists for assistance with bingled knees and ankles, pre-and post-childbirth exercise programmes, pelvic floor recovery after childbirth, herniated discs and acupuncture for repetitive strain injury recovery. They are nationally accredited.

I think physical therapists are the USA equivalent. Is that true?

Cheers

Louise

I found a Physical Therapist through the Doctor I went to when I suspected prolapse. I made it clear I wanted to try natural methods prior to surgery, and that I was hoping to have another child, so she referred me to a PT. One of my PTs specialties is helping women with pelvic floor and incontinence issues. She gave me a full exam to understand the extent of my issues (stage2 cystocele and rectocele) and came up with an exercise plan for me. I'm new to this site, but am planning to cross check how my PTs exercises are similar to, or different from Christine's. At any rate, over the past 4 years of doing the exercises on and off (and having a baby in between), my feeling of heaviness has gotten better and things don't seem to hang out as much.

hey denny:

the physical therapy is specifically for the pelvic floor. and, as someone who has a rectocele and a cystocele, i do think it, along with the postural and diet work has helped a lot. and, yes, they are specially trained in pelvic floor work so possibly, i would start with talking to you gyn to find one.

right now, i go about weekly and she does a lot of trigger point release work in my hips and abdomen. she also has a live time ultrasound so we work on the kegels, getting them right (as opposed to what my gyn told me!) and other work strengthening the band of muscles that support all this. frankly, it is very much like the work christine does on her dvd which i have and highly recommend. i just tend to be on the anxious side and like the one on one i have with this pt. i feel like i am more confident about getting my body in proper alignment -- it's helping everything.

i'm really glad i'm doing this. i will tell you, though, that my health insurance covers it, otherwise i don't know it would be an option. it's expensive! and, it WAS hard to find someone who did it. even though i live in a major east coast city, you'd have thought i was looking for a professional flea trainer or something. crazy!

not sure how much longer i'll be continuing for, but i am very glad that i've done it. but, again, i think the work from this site has been as critical, if not more, in not only stabilizing but improving my rectocele. (that was really the only one that bothered me. the cystocele causes me no trouble.)

good luck!

xsusan

I love all the discussion on this site! I am a women's health physical therapist here in the U.S. To find a physical therapist who's training is focused on women's health issues, log onto www.womenshealthapta.org, then go to "consumers" and it tells you how to find a therapist based on where you live. Not every therapist listed focuses on pelvic floor rehabilitation, so once you get ahold of a few phone numbers, it's worth asking if the therapist has specific training in this area. Hope this is helpful.

I logged on to the website you suggested and found the coordinator for Virginia, clicked and wrote a message, and then was unable to send it - is there another way to contact her directly?

I live on the border of Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Northern Virginia.

Sorry you had a problem. I just sent her a message and will post another reply to you when I hear back from her. (By the way, I went to P.T. school very close to where you are!)

I found a physical therapist in Leesburg (Loudoun County) who says she is trained in treating prolapses. However, all she seems to do is a lot of kegels with a biofeedback machine and a machine to electrically stimulate the muscles of the pelvic floor. She seems unaware of a prolapse-specific exercise routine. My instinct says she will not be very helpful. Your comment??

I sent you an e-mail. Please let me know if you didn't get it.

I have just started seeing a physical therapist for my prolapse. She went internally and put my bladder back in place (one hand on the outside one hand on the inside) I know it sounds strange but she said she has had a lot of success in helping women with their prolapes.

we'll see how it goes

Hi

I went to a physical therepaist in toronto who works with pelvic issue and for me it was a waste of money. She basically talked about kegels and showed me a diagram.

Hopefull - when you say the person put you're bladder back in place - did the work she did mean that you're bladder stayed in place after? or that's just the way she described her work.

Best wishes
Anne-helen

Hi,

I've only seen her twice and this last time is when she did the internal stuff. I did feel a lot less pressure in my vagina after she was finished. It didn't stay that way for very long though. I go see her again tomorrow and I will ask her more questions....
She spent time massaging my scar tissue (inside) that I wasn't aware I had and she kept trying to help me relax my sacrum because she said it wasn't relaxing all the way. She said my muscles inside were really tight and all of my organs were compacted together(but the fascia was really loose) She showed me my bladder before and after through ultrasound. She said that people usually see good results within 6 weeks. I'm not sure exactly what she means by that but I will ask her tomorrow. She did talk about some of the same things this website talks about as far as ways not to sit because it doesn't support the pelvic floor and how to not strain when you go to the bathroom.

This is probably not too helpful but I will ask her more questions tomorrow.

I'd like to know how one relaxes the sacrum and what is the benefit of doing so ??? <:>