Being familiar with the pelvic floor muscles is helpful in treatment as you talk to your physical therapist about your pelvic floor's functionality and begin the process of motor re-education of the muscles. Muscular dysfunction includes the following:
Often these muscles are contracted which can compress on nerves that feed your vulva, your pudendal nerve (sitting pain), and your sciatic nerve (pain down the side or back of your leg). These nerves can cause the pain you feel.
These muscles can also be "tonic", meaning that they don't contract and relax properly. This weakens the pelvic floor as the muscles are either strained all the time or not engaged at all. Incontinence is one symptom of a dysfunctional pelvic floor.
Tight muscles can also restrict blood flow to the vulva; blood circulation is critical to the healing process of this skin.
Oh can I say how important pelvic floor muscles are! I didn't really ever give mine a thought, until it turned out they weren't "properly working", so to speak.
ReplyDeleteRegarding my various diagnoses and diseases, IC, VV, PN, PFD, Lupus, Sjogrens, Depression, Anxiety. And the too numerous to list treatments I've tried, one of the ones that helped me the most was pelvic floor therapy provided by a Licensed Physical Therapist who specializes in PFD (pelvic floor dysfunction).
In my opinion, when treating PFD, it's imperative that the PT have the PFD specialty. My degree is in OT, so I'm not "knocking" any PTs (or OTs for that matter). I'm merely saying that in the case of pelvic dysfunction and pain, the PT needs to have the knowledge to do the necessary treatments. This often includes both external and internal palpation and manipulation of the pelvic floor musculature and associated structures.
The internal treatments are similar to a visit to an OB-Gyn..in that yes, you're going to have some close intimate contact with the PT. I know for some of us (me included) at 1st that unnerved me. I mean, I didn't go "skipping" to my yearly exams with my Ob-Gyn, or my numerous exams by my Urologist... so I certainly was not overjoyed at the thought of yet another medical person being in "my business", pun intended.
However, the PT I saw put me at ease almost immediately. I am blessed to even have a PT who specializes in PFD close to my town.
I also look at the bright side, as PTs also treat males who have pelvic pain issues. And for a guy, there's only 1 way to access the internal pelvic muscles. So at least I'm a female...