By Stephanie A. Prendergast, DPT, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC Los Angeles “Girls aged 12 to 17 should be taught in school how to do pelvic floor exercises, according to new draft health guidelines.” – BBC News For the past 21 years my career has been focused on advancing the field of pelvic health. Last week the BBC posted an article …
Pelvic Floor Spasm with Q&A
By Stephanie A. Prendergast, DPT, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC Los Angeles What is a pelvic floor spasm? It is the presence of contracted, painful muscles on palpation and elevated resting pressures by vaginal manometry. If the contraction is painful, this is usually described as a cramp. Pelvic floor myalgia (a symptom) may be present without a change in pelvic floor muscle …
Restorative Movement for Reproductive Justice & Fundraising
By Melissa Patrick, PT, DPT, PHRC Merrimack On Wednesday, Saturday, June 26th 9am PDT / 12pm EDT, the Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center is hosting a virtual fundraiser via Zoom combining two things we care deeply about: pelvic health and racial justice. PHRC Staff member Melissa Patrick, PT, DPT, RYT will be facilitating a 60 minute movement practice entitled “Restorative …
How Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Helps Bowel Dysfunction
By Kim Buonomo, DPT, PHRC Lexington Did You Know…. Surveys have estimated that over four million people in the United States have frequent constipation. This is the most common digestive complaint in the United States and corresponds to a prevalence of about two percent. More Americans suffer from constipation than die from heart disease every year. The impact …
Healing Female Sexual Pain, and IG Live with Dr. Irwin Goldstein
By Stephanie A. Prendergast, DPT, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC Los Angeles On February 18th I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Irwin Goldstein on Instagram Live. Here is a little background on Dr. Goldstein: Dr. Irwin Goldstein is the director of San Diego Sexual Medicine, where he maintains his clinical practice, Director of Sexual Medicine at Alvarado Hospital and Clinical …
Fiber: What is it and Why is it important?
By Kim Buonomo, DPT, PHRC Lexington What is fiber and why is it important to a pelvic floor physical therapist? The American Physical Therapy Association has stated that diet and nutrition are key components of many conditions managed by physical therapists. Nutrition can directly affect recovery and function while an individual is under a physical therapist’s care. Thus, PTs …
Pelvic Floor Muscle Function: Breathing Into Sexual Pleasure
By Karah Charette, DPT, PHRC Berkeley & San Francisco As a human being, you have a right to pleasure- safe, consensual, and sexual pleasure. We are fortunate to participate in a culture where conversations about sexuality and sexual function are becoming more mainstream and accepted. We are now having nuanced conversations about the myriad of factors that affect …
5 Ways to Relax Your Pelvic Floor!
By PHRC Admin Do you ever wonder why it is important to relax your pelvic floor? Even if you know you should, do you find yourself wondering how to do so? As a pelvic floor physical therapist, I often have patients who wonder what the value is in being able to relax the pelvic floor. In a culture that …
Q&A Pelvic Floor Weakness Causes
By Stephanie Prendergast, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC Los Angeles and Admin In case you missed our latest Q&A about Pelvic Floor Pain/Tightness Causes, you can read it here. If your pelvic floor muscles are weak, your pelvic organs will not have the full support they need! But what is the cause of weakness? Back in October we presented you with numerous …
Goodbye 2020, helloooo 2021 – the year of the pelvis!
By Stephanie Prendergast, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC Los Angeles Last year was a year unlike any other, marked by uncertainty, loss, tragedy, stress and fear. I remember the feeling of shock and panic when I learned we needed to close most of our offices for three full weeks. As a business owner my mind was blown, that seemed like an eternity. …
Q&A For Pelvic Pain/Tightness Causes
By Stephanie Prendergast, PHRC Cofounder, Los Angeles If you have been a long time follower of As the Pelvic Turns, then you might remember the Q&A we did years ago about Pelvic Floor Drops, Weak and Tight Muscles, Tilted Pelvis and More. As the years go by, new research, information and overall growth in the field occurs. With this, we …
Pelvic Pain Through the Lens of Curiosity: What Can You Learn?
By Karah Charette, DPT, PHRC San Francisco & Berkeley Pain might be one of the most pesky forms of mindfulness. When you are in pain, it is usually all you can think about. It draws you into the present moment whether you want to be or not. In this moment, there also often comes the fear that you have no …
How to Use Mindful Somatic Movement for Pelvic Pain Relief: Video Included!
By Maryssa Steffan, DPT, PHRC Berkeley Pelvic pain can feel like you are stuck in an endless cycle of symptoms. It may feel like you are doomed forever. When your body is tense and your fear is feeding the pain response, moving your body may be the last thing you want to do. You may wonder how you can possibly …
EmBODYment
By Maryssa Steffen, DPT, PHRC Berkeley Have you ever noticed the relationship between your feelings and your bodily sensations? For example, have you ever noticed that gut-wrenching feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you know something is wrong, or you just got bad news? Or your heart rate suddenly increases when you get scared or nervous? …
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 …
Treating the Whole Person: Trauma-Informed Care Part 2
By Jillian Giannini, DPT, PHRC Westlake Village Just like it was discussed in our previous post it is not within the scope of practice for a physical therapist to treat trauma; however, educating yourself on ways to implement trauma-informed care can help you to provide a safe and conducive environment for a patient’s path to healing. In a 2018 …
Treating the Whole Person: Trauma-Informed Care Part 1
By Jillian Giannini, DPT, PHRC Westlake Village Whether you are a clinician, a patient, or someone who wants to learn more about the concept of trauma, learning more about trauma can be beneficial for your life and for others that you encounter in your life. Trauma often plays a role in our lives, even if we are not fully aware …
We’ve Got Your Back!
By Karah Charette, DPT, PHRC Berkeley People with pelvic floor symptoms often ask if their back and hip pain is related to their pelvic floor dysfunction. The answer a majority of the time is an unequivocal YES! Pelvic floor physical therapists are first and foremost physical therapists– meaning we can and do work with the whole body! We start with …
Behind the Mask: Perspective in the time of COVID
By Kim Buonomo, DPT, PHRC Lexington We are all getting used to a new idea of normal since COVID-19 became more prevalent. Over the past few months, I’ve noticed a few things that I wanted to share. We are doing our parts at PHRC to stay safe and protect ourselves and each other by wearing masks. Below I share some …
Bridging the Gap Between Orthopedics and the Pelvic Floor: Why So Separate?
By Emily Schlaefer, PT, DPT Earlier this year, Emily was going to spend her final clinical rotation of PT school with us here at the Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center. Unfortunately, COVID hit and after only one day Emily sadly had to leave the rotation. She shared this blog post regardless about her experience as a PT student observing …
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 …