Pregnancy is a very transformative experience and brings many changes to your body, mind, and relationships. Trying to prioritize yourself during pregnancy and prepare your body to experience this new journey is important.  Pelvic physical therapy can be a game-changer during this transformative time, providing comfort, support, and strength. In this post, we’ll explore how pelvic physical therapy can help you feel your best through every stage of pregnancy.

What is Pelvic Physical Therapy? 

Pelvic physical therapy is a specialty in physical therapy where the physical therapists have taken extensive continuing education to evaluate and provide treatments to the pelvis, including the muscles, ligaments, and connective tissues of the pelvis floor and surrounding areas including the lumbar spine, hips and abdomen. These areas are particularly affected during pregnancy due to the physical demands of carrying a baby. A specialized pelvic physical therapist works with you to stabilize, improve mobility on only the hips, spine, knees/ankles but also the pelvic floor and abdomen to promote overall well-being and a more comfortable pregnancy.

How Pelvic PT Benefits You During Pregnancy

Pain Relief

Pregnancy often comes with discomfort or pain in the lower back, hips, and pelvis. Pelvic physical therapy helps to address these common aches by focusing on proper alignment, posture, and muscle balance, reducing discomfort so you can move with more ease.

Prepare Your Body for Birth:

Strengthening and balancing your pelvic floor and core muscles can help your body prepare for labor and delivery. Pelvic physical therapy can also teach you techniques to relax and lengthen your pelvic floor muscles during labor, breathing strategies, and positioning during labor and delivery. 

Preventing Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

Pelvic floor issues such as urinary/fecal leakage or prolapse can occur during or after pregnancy. Pelvic physical therapy helps prevent or resolve these conditions by improving muscle performance with coordination, lengthening and strengthening these pelvic floor muscles for a resilient pelvic floor for your life or any future pregnancies. 

Support Your Changing Body

As your baby grows, your posture and center of gravity shift, placing strain on your body. Pelvic physical therapy provides manual therapy to help with stiffness in the spine, hips and pelvis, and exercises and mobility for home to support these changes, helping to keep you feeling balanced and strong as your body adapts.

Promote Recovery After Birth

Pelvic physical therapy isn’t just beneficial during pregnancy—it also sets you up for a quicker, healthier recovery postpartum. This includes education of your specific changes to your body whether cesaeren birth or vaginal birth, manual therapy to help with any pain postpartum, mobility and strengthening for your core and pelvic floor, so you can return to taking care of yourself, baby and back to any movement/exercise routine you’d like to be doing. 

What to Expect from Pelvic PT Sessions During Pregnancy 

During a pelvic physical therapy session, your physical therapist will assess your posture, movement patterns, total spinal/hip mobility, core/gluteal strength, Diastasis Recti screening, breathing dynamics, and pelvic floor function– strength, relaxation, coordination, prolapse screening. Sessions typically include a combination of education to help empower you through your different trimesters, manual therapy, gentle exercises, mobility (stretches) to focus on, and breathing techniques, perineal massage education, labor & delivery positioning and breathing, and preparing for birth sessions tailored to your specific needs and stage of pregnancy. 

Who Should Consider Pelvic Physical Therapy?

Pelvic physical therapy is beneficial for most pregnant women, but it can be especially helpful if you’re experiencing:

• Lower back, hip, or pelvic pain
• Urinary incontinence
• Concerns about labor or delivery
• A previous pelvic floor injury or condition
• Desire for better postpartum recovery

Your body is doing an amazing job of growing and supporting your baby, and pelvic physical therapy can help you feel stronger, more comfortable, and better prepared for birth. Whether you’re experiencing discomfort or simply want to be proactive about your health, pelvic physical therapy can be a vital part of your prenatal care routine. If you’re curious about how pelvic PT can support you during pregnancy, reach out to a specialist to learn more.

If you’re interested in learning more about pelvic physical therapy during pregnancy, ReGenerate Physiotherapy offers prenatal sessions AND we have our thorough Thrive and Flourish Prenatal Wellness Program for expecting moms. Schedule a consultation with us today to learn more about ours sessions and see how we can help you on your journey to motherhood.

Do you feel a bulge? Do you feel heaviness? Do you feel like it’s hard to empty your bladder or have a good bowel movement?

Knowing whether or not you have a vaginal wall prolapse (a.k.a. pelvic organ prolapse) is pivotal, especially if you’d like to avoid surgery and continue to live an active life. Pelvic physical therapy is a very effective way to help reduce prolapse symptoms and prevent your prolapse from worsening through time. Pelvic organ prolapse is a very common condition that affects 75% of women, particularly those who have given birth, gone through menopause, or undergone pelvic surgery. Despite how common it is, it can be a source of discomfort and embarrassment for many. The good news is that there are effective strategies to manage and alleviate the symptoms associated with prolapse, and one of the most promising approaches is pelvic physical therapy.

What is Pelvic Organ Prolapse?
Pelvic organ prolapse occurs when the muscles and tissues supporting the pelvic organs (such as the bladder, uterus, and rectum) become more flexible and less rigid, causing one or more of these organs to press into the vaginal canal. This can lead to a variety of symptoms, including:

• A feeling of pressure or fullness in the pelvic area
• Urinary incontinence or difficulty emptying the bladder
• Bowel problems such as constipation
• Discomfort during sexual activity
• Lower back pain

The Role of Pelvic Physical Therapy
Pelvic physical therapy is a specialized form of physical therapy for many pelvic health conditions. Finding a pelvic physical therapist that is educated extensively in pelvic health is important. The best way to do this is to read Google reviews and read bios on websites of providers. Here’s how Pelvic Physical Therapy can help manage prolapse symptoms:

1. Stabilize Pelvic Floor Muscles: One of the primary goals of pelvic physical therapy is to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. Instead of focusing solely on Kegel exercises, therapists use a variety of techniques tailored to the individual’s specific needs. These may include exercises that improve muscle coordination and overall pelvic stability with the hips, gluteals, lumbar spine and core.
2. Improving Muscle Coordination: Pelvic physical therapy focuses on improving the coordination of the pelvic floor muscles with the abdominal and back muscles. This is important because proper coordination can help to reduce the strain on the pelvic organs, especially if you have chronic constipation, or you are lifting heavy for work, home life, or with exercise.
3. Reducing Pain and Discomfort: Many women with prolapse experience pain and discomfort in the pelvic region. Pelvic physical therapists use various techniques, including manual therapy, dry needling, and relaxation exercises to help reduce pain and improve comfort.
4. Enhancing Bladder and Bowel Function: Prolapse can lead to urinary and bowel problems. Pelvic physical therapy includes educating, bladder/bowel training, and exercises designed to improve bladder and bowel control, which can significantly enhance the quality of life for those affected.
5. Education and Lifestyle Modifications: A key component of pelvic physical therapy is education. Therapists teach patients about the anatomy and function of the pelvic floor, as well as strategies to avoid activities and movements that can exacerbate prolapse symptoms. Additionally, therapists may suggest lifestyle modifications, such as weight management and dietary changes, to support overall pelvic health.

What to Expect During Pelvic Physical Therapy
During the initial visit, the therapist will conduct a thorough evaluation, which may include a discussion of the patient’s medical history, symptoms, and lifestyle. A physical examination, including a full pelvic floor muscle evaluation (which may be both an external and internal pelvic floor muscle evaluation), and a full orthopedic assessment.

Based on the evaluation, your pelvic physical therapist will also develop a personalized
treatment plan tailored to your specific needs. This plan may include:

• A series of exercises to stabilize the pelvic floor and core muscles
• Techniques to improve posture and body mechanics
• Manual therapy to address any muscle tightness or pain
• Progressive exercise strategies to help with long-lasting results
• Potential use of a pessary device with a pessary fitting done by your pelvic physical therapist

In Summary:
Pelvic physical therapy is a highly effective strategy for managing the symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse. By focusing on stabilizing and coordinating the pelvic floor muscles, reducing pain, and enhancing bladder and bowel function, pelvic physical therapy can significantly improve the quality of life for women experiencing prolapse. If you or someone you know is struggling with prolapse symptoms, consider exploring pelvic physical therapy as a viable and effective treatment option.

For more information and personalized care, contact ReGenerate Physiotherapy at
678-506-0196 or visit our website at www.regenphysio.com. Our team of experienced
therapists are dedicated to helping you achieve optimal pelvic health and well-being.

In this insightful interview, we sit down with Dr. Erinn Harris, a renowned functional medicine physician, to explore the holistic approaches to health and wellness. Discover the principles of functional medicine, how it differs from conventional medicine, and the ways it addresses the root causes of illness rather than just treating symptoms.

Dr. Elise Hattenbach, DNP, FNP-BC is a Georgia native who has been taking care of patients for over 10 years. She started in Functional Medicine as a patient and through her own health journey and working in the hospital, she wanted a role where she could both educate patients more about their bodies and work with them to address the root cause. She enjoys her role at STAT and the part she gets to play in each of her patients’ stories. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants, hiking and reading.

You can find out more information about Dr. Elise and where she practices at:

• statwellness.com
• (404) 254-5905
• Instagram

Our first interview in 2024 is with Lactation Consultant, Angela Orenczak, IBCLC, and owner of Inspired Motherhood.

Angela Orenczak is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), Registered Lactation Consultant (RLC), Certified Postpartum Doula (CPD), Baby Steps Childbirth Educator (CBE), Retired La Leche League Leader (LLLL), and an experienced nursing mother of 5.

She loves assisting families with their infant feeding journeys and gives individualized care and respect to all of her clients, big or small!

You can find Angela Orenczak at: https://www.inspiredmothers.com/
Instagram: / inspiredmotherslactation
Facebook: / inspiredmothers

Pelvic floor muscles are a critical component of the human body, providing support for the bladder, bowel, and, in women, the uterus. These muscles stretch like a muscular trampoline from the tailbone (coccyx) to the pubic bone (front to back) and from one sitting bone to the other (side to side). While much emphasis is placed on the weakening of these muscles, leading to conditions such as incontinence and prolapse, less attention is often given to the opposite issue: high tension pelvic floor muscles. However, understanding and addressing this condition is just as important for maintaining pelvic health and overall well-being.

What are High Tension Pelvic Floor Muscles?

High tension pelvic floor muscles occur when these muscles become too tense, leading to a range of uncomfortable and sometimes painful symptoms. Unlike weak pelvic floor muscles that fail to provide adequate support, tight pelvic floor muscles are overly contracted, which can disrupt the function of the bladder, bowel, and sexual function.

 

Causes of High Tension Pelvic Floor Muscles

The causes of high tension in the pelvic floor muscles can vary, including but not limited to:

– Chronic stress and anxiety: Constant tension in the body can lead to the pelvic floor muscles tightening up as part of a broader stress response.

– Postural stress: Sitting or standing in ways that put unnecessary pressure on the pelvic region can contribute to muscle tension.

– Overuse or misuse: Engaging in excessive high-impact exercise or incorrect pelvic floor exercises can lead to over-tightening.

– Trauma or surgery: Past injuries, surgeries, or traumatic events can lead to protective tightening of these muscles.

– Holding patterns: Some individuals may subconsciously hold tension in their pelvic floor as a response to pain or discomfort elsewhere in the body.

 

Symptoms of High Tension Pelvic Floor Muscles

Symptoms can vary widely but often include:

– Chronic pelvic pain

– Pain during or after intercourse

– Difficulty with bowel movements or constipation

– A frequent need to urinate

– Unexplained lower back pain

– Discomfort or pain when sitting for long periods

 

Diagnosis

 

Diagnosing high tension pelvic floor muscles typically involves a thorough medical history and a physical examination by a healthcare provider, often a specialist in pelvic health therapist. This examination may include an internal assessment to check the pelvic floor muscles for tension, trigger points, contraction, relaxation and coordination. 

 

Management and Relief Strategies

Managing high tension pelvic floor muscles often requires a multidisciplinary approach, including:

 

Pelvic Physical Therapy

Pelvic floor physical therapists specialize in assessing and treating conditions related to these muscles. Therapy may include techniques to relax the pelvic floor muscles, improve posture, and reduce stress on the pelvic floor, manual therapy for lumbar spine, hips and attaching muscles that contribute to pelvic floor muscle tension. 

 

Relaxation Techniques

Since stress and anxiety can contribute to muscle tension, practices such as yoga, mindfulness, and meditation can be beneficial in promoting relaxation of the pelvic floor muscles.

 

Proprioceptive feedback– with your brain

This means, do you have awareness when you are clenching your pelvic floor muscles? In the case of pelvic floor muscle tension, awareness of your pelvic floor muscle tension can help patients learn how to relax their muscles effectively.

 

Collaborating Providers

In some cases, pelvic health therapists may refer a client to a pelvic pain specialist physicians or nurse practitioners to help with medications and/or suppositories to help with pain.

 

Lifestyle Modifications

Adjusting daily habits can also play a crucial role in managing symptoms. This may include dietary changes to prevent constipation, altering exercise routines to reduce pressure on the pelvic floor, adopting ergonomic practices to improve posture, and self care routines throughout the day to help with stress reduction and resilience. 

 

Conclusion

High tension pelvic floor muscles can significantly impact quality of life, but with the right diagnosis and management strategies, individuals can find relief. It’s essential for anyone experiencing symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction to seek the guidance of healthcare professionals who can provide personalized treatment plans. Remember, addressing pelvic health is a crucial step towards overall well-being.

So I hope this blog post helps you realize that you definitely are not alone AND there are EFFECTIVE solutions. 

When considering seeing a Pelvic Physical Therapist, know that we always start with the evaluation and lots of talking, and you are in control of your session with us. We want to see changes within 3-5 visits, which is something we take pride in here at ReGenerate Physiotherapy!

We give you time and space to talk about your story (offering full one-on-one hours sessions), so we can get to the root cause of your pain and problem. We offer FREE Phone consultations, book a call here!  Set up a call to see if you are good fit for Pelvic Physical Therapy! 

 

Let’s talk about female athletes and pelvic floor muscle health! 

One of the most common conditions we see here at our pelvic physical therapy clinic is stress urinary leakage with jumping, running or heavy weightlifting. The second type of pelvic floor dysfunction we see prolapse symptoms with those same activities. 

So these are both different in nature as to why they are caused and the symptoms involved, but can have some similar reasons as to why they’re happening.

In this blog post we are going to address urinary leakage with female athletes. We will also be posting another blog about prolapse and female athletes! 

First, female athletes can range anywhere from preteen years all the way to 50 years old and beyond. AND I consider an athlete anyone who exercises regularly and moves their body in ways that make them happy and stay active. 

Stress urinary leakage can happen for several reasons. The pelvic floor muscles support the organs, bladder, bowel, uterus, and are very important when it comes to helping you support the bladder and not leak urine while you are exercising, jumping or running.

Here are some main reasons why you could be having urinary leakage:

1. Overactive/Tense Pelvic Floor Muscles. When it comes to the pelvic floor, there can be a length tension relationship that’s not supporting the urethra very well. Let’s talk about length tension relationships. If the pelvic floor muscles don’t have the ability to fully relax, because yes, relaxing pelvic floor muscles is just as important as contracting them, then you may not be fully emptying or getting good support to the urethra, because the muscles are always staying high and tight.

2. Power or Endurance Of Pelvic Floor Muscles. There can be weakness of the pelvic floor muscles due to several reasons. It could be from fascial connective tissue changes, such as having any tearing during a vaginal delivery, or strain on the pelvic floor with a pregnancy. A strain or tear pelvic floor muscles could create changes and how those muscles are again supporting the bladder and the urethra. Changes of muscle performance through time with hormonal changes, with history of low back pain/hip pain, and not using the pelvic floor muscles effectively. The pelvic floor muscles not only provide support externally with closing to support the urethra and internally with lifting to support all the organs in the pelvic floor. So if there’s a strength deficit, meaning you can’t create enough force around the urethra and support the bladder, then there can be urinary leakage with running and jumping and heavy weight lifting. 

3. Coordination Of The Pelvic Floor Muscles. The other reason could be pelvic floor muscle incoordination or dyssynergia. The muscles are not effectively coordinating with your movement and breath. This could affect your intra-abdominal pressure management– pressure between your diaphragm and pelvic floor. You could be leaking because you’re not coordinating those muscles again and not supporting the urethra well. 

4. Difficulty Managing Intra-Abdominal Pressure Management. This is the pressure within your abdominal cavity, between the diaphragm and the pelvic floor muscles, which we envision like a canister or a soda pop can. If we have a difficult time managing our pressure in our abdomen, whether that’s through coordination, difficult to get in a deep breath for rib cage expansion. You could also have difficulty supporting enough pressure and force in your abdominal activity from the pelvic floor muscles below (i.e. power of the muscles). The impaired intra-abdominal pressure can contribute to urinary leakage due to pressure above in the abdomen not being 

5. Biomechanics With Movement. Your form during running, lifting or jumping can contribute to why you may be leaking as well. There may be something you could be doing changing with your running form,  jumping form or lifting form to optimally again help you with the intra-abdominal pressure management and decrease the urinary leakage. Your form can effect how you are optimally using your pelvis/spine, legs, and muscles with your type of exercise. 

6. Bladder/Bowel Health Contributions. Bowel health such as chronic constipation could also be a contributing factor to urinary leakage with exercise. This can contribute to internal pelvic floor congestion due to the ability for the colon to expand and in some cases become a megacolon. There could also be difficulty with completing emptying the bladder associated with overactive pelvic floor muscles. This could be either not emptying all the way, or over holding your urine throughout the day. As a general guideline, urinating every 2-4 hours is a good interval to urinate even when hydrated really well. 

 

Just to be clear you didn’t see that doing Kegels will help you from not leaking urine. That would imply you are weak in the pelvic floor muscles which is why you are leaking urine. But as you see above pelvic floor muscle weakness may only be one reason, but not the reason you are leaking during exercising.

If you are struggling with urinary leakage while exercising or working out, it is important for you to know you can continue to do the movements you love WITHOUT leaking urine. A pelvic physical or occupational therapy evaluation is important so you can find the primary drivers to your leakage. So we can fix it without depending on medications or having to wear a pad while you are exercising! 

If you want to know if pelvic physical therapy is a right fit for you or you would like to book an appointment you can reach out to us here. You are not alone if you are leaking urine! If you are experiencing symptoms of endometriosis, please reach out to us via a phone call or fill out a form here.

Endometriosis is a common condition that affects many women worldwide. It is a chronic condition that causes tissue similar to the lining of the uterus to grow outside of it, leading to chronic pelvic pain, painful menstrual periods, and pain during sex. It can also cause infertility in some cases.

Pelvic Physical Therapy is a non-invasive treatment that has been found to be beneficial in managing endometriosis. Pelvic Physical Therapy is a specialized form of physical therapy that focuses on the pelvic region, including the muscles, ligaments, and nerves. It is aimed at addressing pelvic pain, urinary and bowel problems, and sexual dysfunction.

Here are some of the benefits of Pelvic Physical Therapy for people with endometriosis:

1. Pain Relief: Pelvic Physical Therapy can help reduce pain and discomfort caused by endometriosis. This is achieved by using various techniques such as manual therapy, stretching, and exercise to improve blood flow and reduce muscle tension in the pelvic region.
2. Improved Pelvic Floor Muscle Function: Endometriosis can cause the pelvic floor muscles to become tight and weak. PPT can help improve the strength and coordination of these muscles, reducing pain and discomfort.
3. Improved Bladder and Bowel Function: Endometriosis can cause bladder and bowel dysfunction, such as urinary urgency, frequency, and incontinence. PPT can help improve these symptoms by addressing the underlying muscle and nerve dysfunction.
4. Improved Sexual Function: Endometriosis can cause pain and discomfort during sex. PPT can help improve sexual function by reducing pain and increasing comfort during intercourse.
5. Improved Quality of Life: Endometriosis can have a significant impact on a person’s quality of life, including physical, emotional, and social well-being. PPT can help improve these aspects of life by reducing pain and improving overall pelvic function.

We had a client visit us to help with her pelvic pain prior to any excision surgery to help with bowel movements and painful intercourse. After several sessions she could have a bowel movement without straining, and had a noticeable improvement with pain with penetration. Her menstrual cycle pain improved significantly. 

We have also had people come to us after seeking gold-standard excision surgery with an Endometriosis Physician Specialist, to ensure pelvic floor muscle function improved with passing gas and pain-free intercourse with her partner. 

Pelvic Physical Therapy can be a beneficial non-invasive treatment option for people with endometriosis. It can help improve pain, pelvic floor muscle function, bladder and bowel function, sexual function, and overall quality of life. Also know there are treatment options out there and seeking care from a Physician who specializes in Endometriosis is vital for a correct diagnosis. If you are experiencing symptoms of endometriosis, please reach out to us via a phone call or fill out a form here.

I have had this question so often… how do I know if I need to relax my pelvic floor muscles?

So, let’s talk about what that means and who needs to be doing that.

First, the pelvic floor muscles again support organs, control sphincters (pee, poop), they stabilize the spine/pelvis and everything that attaches to the pelvis and spine, they help with healthy sexual function, they allow for good circulation through the pelvis. The pelvic floor muscles don’t just do the lifting contraction also known as a kegel.

So, you may have found on social media and through Google searches that it’s important to relax the pelvic floor muscles. What does that mean?

Relaxing the pelvic floor simply means that you know how to lengthen or elongate the pelvic floor muscles so that you can have good bladder emptying and bowel emptying, allow for penetrative intercourse, good stability of the spine and pelvis, and allow for a delivery of baby vaginally.

The reason why this is so important is otherwise you might struggle with constipation, urinary leakage and pelvic pain, including pain while sitting, walking, moving, and pain with penetrative intercourse or the use of tampons or menstrual cups.

Women and men alike struggle with overactive or hypertonic pelvic floor muscles.

Who needs to relax the pelvic floor muscles?

The people that need to relax the pelvic floor muscles are struggling with some of these problems:

Pain prior to bowel movements and relief of pain after

Constipation, which means firm stools almost like pebbles, difficulty getting out your stool.

Urinary leakage or urgency of having to use the bathroom and frequency.

People with interstitial cystitis

People with vulvodynia,

Tailbone pain

Pain in the testicles, penis or vulva.

It’s so important to get assessed by a pelvic physical therapist when you’re struggling with any of these issues. Again, a pelvic physical therapist is one that assesses the entire body, and assesses the pelvic floor muscles internally and externally.

If you see a general orthopedic physical therapist that does not assess these muscles, you are not going to fix the problem efficiently. It may take longer and you may not get full resolution.

If you don’t struggle within these problems, lengthening the pelvic floor is still important to do.

First to avoid any of the above problems from happening.

How do you lengthen the pelvic floor muscles?  

Some of the ways to do that are going through different types of exercise. Squats are phenomenal for strengthening but also lengthening or relaxing the pelvic floor muscles. So I always tell clients to squat!

Exercising the body is a great way to not only exercise your heart, your brain, your bones, and joints, but also a really great way to maintain great pelvic floor, health and strength. And do not focus on doing “Ab work”.

Another key thing is always to stay hydrated, drinking enough water. Making sure to drink half of your body weight in fluid ounces.

Certain hip opening and rib cage mobility exercises found in yoga, pilates or stretching programs can help.

In conclusion… 

If you have ever been told to just relax the pelvic floor muscles, it may not be something you can control and resolve on your own, and is just poor advice!!  So trying to do these things at home without getting an assessment, again can lengthen the duration in which it might take to resolve your symptoms. A pelvic physical therapy can give you better answers to what is causing your tight pelvic floor muscles.

So, we offer free consultation to see if you’re a good fit for pelvic physical therapy here with us. We would love to hear from you!

It’s so deep rooted that we just accept painful sex, it all starts in sex education in school (if that was even something you had as child) and that periods are painful, sex STAY AWAY (do not get pregnant) and the friends you spoke with said “Yeah, sex hurts for me too”. If you even dared to ask. The sense of you feeling broken because of your experience with painful sex.  

You are not broken, and sexual intimacy is not just penetration; and if any of it is difficult for you, you are not alone. 

If you have been told to drink wine, wait to have babies, or just deal with painful sex, that is just crap advice. And I’m sorry for that, as our health care providers are not well educated on sexual health themselves, yes, even if they are OB/GYN. 

If you are having a hard time, there are several factors that could be contributing to this! So hear me out. 

Low back or hip pain

Pelvic Floor Muscle Dysfunction

Sex Drive & Arousal

Hormonal Imbalances

 

Here are TOP 5 Myths: 

 

Myth #1: 

Sex is painful. False. 

If you are having low back pain, hip pain, or pelvic pain this can really contribute to painful sex. Pelvic Physical Therapy helps with addressing the nerves, joints, muscles to help ease pain to also help with arousal of the clitoral organ and natural lubrication leading to an enjoyable orgasm. If you have pain, it may be difficult to for an orgasm to occur, for comfortable palpation of the skin/tissue outside of the vagina called the vulva. 

 

Sex can also enjoyable!  So, that myth debunked. 

 

Myth #2

I should have an orgasm as quickly as my partner. False.

 

Women in particular, have a different type of sexual arousal and personality than men, and from each other. And in general, we all have a different sexual personality, meaning, what helps us have our arousal to allow for good lubrication of the vulva & vagina and stimulation of the clitoral organ. Arousal can vary on the day, stress level, past experience (if sex has been painful, in general), there are a lot of factors that feed into what can create a longer time to have arousal and orgasm. Again, if you are dealing with an irritated vulva, your clitoral hood (skin the covers the clitoral organ), then trying to stimulate the clitoral organ may be difficult and arousal not possible. Pelvic Physical Therapy assessment of the external pelvic floor muscles definitely helps identify if there is any factors contributing to arousal with the muscles, skin, and nerves. 

 

Myth #3 

We all have a G spot in the same place. This is also false. 

We do not all have the same spot internally that can help stimulate the clitoral organ.  In fact orgasms are very difficult to explain to another person, friend, because we all have a different experience. But, if you reach climax of an orgasm typically there will be rhythmic spasms of the vaginal canal and pelvic floor muscles. So when we discuss this with friends, or you listen to things on television, or good ol’ Netflix, when you’re trying to find your own G spot, you cannot base it off of somebody else’s experience, because we are all uniquely different. And in fact, you may not have a G Spot internally. It is all about exploration.  If you are having Pelvic Floor Muscle Dysfunction, and the muscles are hypertonic or overactive and painful, trying to explore the G spot internally could be challenging for you, and is definitely something we help women with frequently here at ReGenerate Physiotherapy. 

 

Myth #4:

I should be able to have an orgasm internally. False. 

This is not a gold standard for women to have orgasm. Eighty-five percent of women have external orgasms only. The most important organ in our body to create orgasm is the clitoral organ. The tip of the clitoral organ, that you’ll refer to as the clit just the tip of it is what is exposed externally. Most women need to stimulate that part of the organ in order to get arousal and engorgement of that clitoral organ, and therefore allow good natural lubrication. So penetrative intercourse is not the gold standard to create an orgasm. Could penetration help stimulate the clitoral organ better? Absolutely. But penetrative intercourse isn’t the way that majority of females have an orgasm. 

 

Myth #5

I am the only one with painful intercourse and broken. False. 

One out of five people have pelvic pain and the vast majority of clients we see here at ReGenerate Physiotherapy are clients that struggle with pelvic pain with sex and painful orgasms/painful penetrative intercourse. You are not alone. The problem is we are not talking about this enough and when we do get the courage to ask a health care provider we are given  very poor advice.

 

Pelvic Physical Therapy is a very successful way to help with painful sex. A true pelvic physical therapist, if you’re dealing with any type of pelvic pain will evaluate what’s going on with the pelvic floor muscles internally and externally. 

 

There are lots of factors that we need to consider including, but not limited to:

• lumbar spine, hip, ankle, thoracic, and ribcage.
• vulva health, external skin, the health of the tissue, it’s heavily influenced by hormones. 
• Nerve health – the joints or muscles that could be contributing to nerve irritation or entrapment.
• Pelvic floor muscle dysfunction–  are the muscles able to lengthen? Range of motion of the muscles? The muscles need to relax and lengthen to allow for good bowel movements, emptying your bladder, and allowing for comfortable & enjoyable penetrative intercourse. If you contract these muscles, and let’s say your pelvic floor is already overactive, high tone, and then we squeeze those muscles aka Kegels. You could see how this can be such a poor solution to painful sex. 

So I hope this blog post helps you realize that you definitely are not alone AND there are EFFECTIVE solutions. 

When considering seeing a Pelvic Physical Therapist, know that we always start with the evaluation and lots of talking, and you are in control of your session with us. We want to see changes within 3-5 visits, which is something we take pride in here at ReGenerate Physiotherapy!

 

We give you time and space to talk about your story (offering full one-on-one hours sessions), so we can get to the root cause of your pain and problem. Check out our Google Pics so you can see our office! AND we offer FREE Phone consultations. Set up a call so we can see if we are a good fit for you.