What can a pelvic floor physical therapist do to help?

Question: What can a pelvic floor physical therapist do to help? 

Answer from Dr. Daniel Gruber, urogynecologist from Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington D.C., part of John Hopkins medicine.

Pelvic floor therapists do many, many things – much more than just Kegel exercises! They can help with coordination and relaxation, which is very important. There’s a lot of women who don’t relax their pelvic floor when they are emptying their bladder or having a bowel movement. It’s a condition called dyssynergia that can cause issues. So, a pelvic floor therapist can be very helpful in helping coordinate things, and they can help people focus on the correct muscles to contract and to relax. That can also help with incontinence, especially overactive bladder. 

They can also help you with many devices. They help a lot of women who have pelvic floor spasm and have pain with intercourse, by helping relax those muscles. 

Pelvic floor therapists are absolutely invaluable. I work with them constantly and we pass patients back and forth all the time.