By Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington Did You Know… Bedwetting affects 15%-22% of children, and of those children, 10%-25% have urinary leakage during the day.1 One of the primary causes of bedwetting and daytime wetting is constipation.1 10%-25% of children who bed wet also have difficulty controlling their bowels.1 Awareness of bladder sensation and control of bladder begins between one …
Success Story: Tessa’s Triumph Over Painful Sex
By Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington Do you remember the first time you tried using tampons? Did you have anyone help guide you or were you trying to follow the little paper instructions from inside the box? Once you mustered up the courage to try and insert it, was it painful? Maybe you were not able to get it …
More on Mindfulness for Pelvic Pain Relief
By Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington What comes to your mind when you think about the word mindfulness? Perhaps a sense of calmness. Maybe serenity or focus or peacefulness. All of these would apply. Or maybe you have no idea what mindfulness is; if that is the case then check out this blog post first: What is Mindfulness and …
What is Mindfulness and How Can it Help Pelvic Pain?
By Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington If you’ve been a patient of mine, you probably remember me talking about the mind-body connection. This is especially important when it comes to pelvic pain and pelvic floor dysfunction. The pelvic floor muscles are innervated by the pudendal nerve which contains both motor and autonomic nerve fibers. Most other skeletal muscles (like your …
Finding Pleasure in Something that was Always Painful: Sam’s Success Story
By: Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC, Lexington Sam came to the Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center in the beginning of May this year, after her primary care physician recommended seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist as she reported having pain with vaginal penetration. Here’s what Sam had to say: “I am 41 years old, and spent most of my life completely …
Moisturize My Vagina?! What you need to know
By: Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington If you are anything like me, you most likely have a plethora of moisturizers at home (hand lotion, face lotion, body lotion, etc.), but what you probably do not have is a vaginal moisturizer. You might ask, “What is a vaginal moisturizer?” A vaginal moisturizer rehydrates dry mucosal tissue, is absorbed into the skin …
Muscles Affecting Pelvic Health: It’s Not Just The Pelvic Floor
By: Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington As you may know, us pelvic floor physical therapists tend to talk about the pelvic floor muscles quite a lot. However, we also assess and treat many other muscles surrounding the trunk, pelvis, hips, and thighs, that influence pelvic health and various pelvic floor muscle dysfunctions. If you’d like to learn about pelvic floor …
The Ankle Bone is Connected to the Pelvic Floor Muscle Function
By: Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington With Halloween just occuring, I had been seeing skeleton decorations everywhere and it got me thinking about anatomy. Cue the ‘Dem Bones’ song we sang as kids – “the knee bones connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bones connected to the hip bone,” the ankle bones connected to the pelvic floor…wait, I didn’t …
How Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Can Serve the Transgender/Gender Non-conforming Population: Part 2
By: Elizabeth Akincilar Last week, Shannon Pacella, DPT, taught us how physical therapy can benefit transgender individuals prior to gender affirming surgery and for those who choose not to undergo gender affirming surgery. You can read her blog here. This week, I present Part two, where I will explain why physical therapy for transgender individuals after gender affirming surgery should …
The Blunt Truth About Medicinal Marijuana and Pelvic Pain: Part 2
By Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington First things first: if you haven’t already read the Part 1 to this post, please do so first! There are a few updates since my first post regarding laws and legislature for marijuana (cannabis) use throughout the United States. Updates Currently, 29 states plus Washington, D.C. have legalized the use of medicinal marijuana, …
Urologic Chronic Pelvic Pain & Manual Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy
By Shannon Pacella While attending the 3rd World Congress on Abdominal and Pelvic Pain organized by the International Pelvic Pain Society, I had the privilege of listening to Rhonda K. Kotarinos, DPT, MS give a lecture on the topic of urologic chronic pelvic pain and manual physical therapy. Rhonda K. Kotarinos, DPT, MS is a Doctor of Physical …
C-section Scar Problems and Solutions from a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist
By Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington If you’re reading this, you probably know what a Cesarean birth (C-section) is,* but what you may not know is what to do once you have had one. Most women post C-section are not given much information regarding their healing incision, except to “keep it clean in order to prevent infection.” …
Yoga throughout Pregnancy and Beyond
By Shannon Pacella This week Shannon Pacella of the Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center interviews a yoga instructor about the benefits of yoga before and delivery. What is a typical Prenatal Yoga class like (length of the class, any specific areas of focus)? Each prenatal yoga class can vary widely, depending on the teacher’s style, the …
Male Pelvic Pain and Chronic Nonbacterial Prostatitis: A Story of Hope and Determination
By Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington Unfortunately, the majority of the men we see at PHRC have been through quite a journey with their pelvic pain, before finding pelvic floor physical therapy. I want to share a recent success story about one of my male patients, Ben (his name has been changed for anonymity). My hope by sharing …
Your pelvic floor: what is it good for?
By Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington The pelvic floor is a phrase used very frequently here on the blog as well as in our clinics, but to those unfamiliar with this area of the body, it may still be this illusive mystery. I want to break down the pelvic floor into each of the muscles it is comprised of, …
The Blunt Truth About Medicinal Marijuana and Pelvic Pain
By Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington Medical marijuana. You’ve probably heard of it. You’ve maybe even used it. But what you might not know about is the tug-of-war going on between researchers and lawmakers, and how this impacts the ability of this stigmatized substance to be studied – potentially missing out on an alternative treatment option for a multitude …