PHRC teams up with Innovative Wellness in Walnut Creek!!!!

In Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy by Stephanie Prendergast3 Comments

 

 

By Stephanie Prendergast

 

The Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center is expanding to Walnut Creek! We are excited for a unique opportunity to team up with Rachael Cabreira, RN, BSN, MSN, FNP-C and Certified Sexual Health Clinician inside her new private practice, Innovative Wellness. People who know us at PHRC know that we believe in coordinated, interdisciplinary care for our patients and now, in Walnut Creek, patients can get a range of pelvic health services under one roof. Melinda Fontaine, DPT, current Director of PHRC Berkeley, is going to be working alongside Rachael in the new Walnut Creek location. In this week’s blog we share a little about Rachael herself, the inspiration behind Innovative Wellness, and why PHRC decided to join her team.

 

A little about Rachael Cabreira, RN, BSN, MSN, FNP-C and Certified Sexual Health Clinician…..

Rachael was awarded her:

 

  • B.S. in Nursing and her Minor in Psychology from Dominican University of California in San Rafael in 1998
  • M.S in Nursing, from San Francisco State University in 2006 specializing  in women’s health
  • Post-Masters in Midwifery from University of Cincinnati in 2009
  • Sexual Health Certification from the Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine

 

Rachael has been practicing for over 19 years, specializing in obstetrics, infertility, urogynecology, and pelvic and sexual health. Just wow!

 

Noticing the need.

 

Over the course of her career, Rachael was not afraid to tackle challenging pelvic health cases. She realized that other providers were less interested in these topics and worked hard to seek out collaboration with like-minded providers. She developed expertise in the underserved arena of pelvic health and wanted to create a practice specifically designed for patients needing specialized pelvic health services.

 

The decision to team up with PHRC.

 

Rachael shares a quick little secret…. “I intimately fell in love with PHRC years ago because of their expertise and passion to care for patients that have debilitating symptoms that impact their quality of life.  Through collaboration with PHRC I learned they understand the pathophysiology, causative, and risk factors for these diagnoses. However, what really stood out was that they strive to understand the whole person,  psychosocially, and intimately. This mirrors the relationships I have with my patients, offering a holistic, integrative approach to medicine. It is my belief that lifestyle is truly the most powerful medicine, and must be the driving force that empowers better healthcare.”

 

Diagnoses like pelvic pain, urinary incontinence, painful intercourse, post-partum pelvic pain, and other pelvic floor dysfunction symptoms, impacts not only quality of these patients lives, but their intimate relationships with themselves and others.

 

With Innovative Wellness and PHRC collaborating together, we will be able to offer a strong unified level of care to promote optimal quality of life.

 

Why Walnut Creek?

 

Rachael was born and raised in Walnut Creek, California and has spent her professional care in the Bay Area. She believes that to best serve the community one must be a part of the community. She wants to bring trusted services and compassion to the area she grew up in, lives in, and loves. She and her husband are currently raising their 3 children in Walnut Creek.

 

“Walnut Creek is home, it has raised me, it has nurtured me, and it is part of my heart, my comfort. I have seen Walnut Creek go through many changes of growth, but still the unique comfort of love remains. I feel like Walnut Creek is the “mamma” of the Bay Area, it has set presence, and the people within strive to support not only each other but the surrounding communities as well. Having my practice in Walnut Creek, symbolizes the uniqueness and vision of Innovative Wellness to support not only our community in Walnut Creek, but the Bay Area and beyond. The vision and mission that Innovative Wellness strives to provide promotes services, resources, and collaboration with a wealth of experts to provide wellness not only individually, but enhancing healthy relationships in families, spouses, and friendships.”

 

A little fun fact:

 

Melinda Fontaine and Rachael both went to Carondelet High School in Walnut Creek.

Like Rachael, Melinda was also born and raised in Walnut Creek, and it is the place she is raising her own family today. Melinda shares, “I enjoyed growing up in the East Bay so much that I moved back here with my husband and son. Walnut Creek has grown a lot, and it has turned into a hub for services, such as healthcare. I am happy to be working amongst a wealth of practitioners and to be providing access to our services for a growing population.”

 

PHRC, Innovative Wellness and Pelvic Health

 

Innovative Wellness and PHRC together will offer services and programs unlike any other. The mission of both teams is to not only provide pelvic healthcare but to also set the standard of care that patients and their families deserve. We are currently in a healthcare crisis in the United States and we are going to continue to work hard to provide efficient and compassionate care despite these circumstances. Both practices devote significant time to helping patients navigate the healthcare system and helping to coordinate their treatment plans, which is necessary in today’s healthcare climate.  In order to provide the highest quality of care we must stay current with the latest research and technology, and we work hard weekly to make sure we are up to speed. As specialists, we are often able to help when other providers could not. In the event we cannot help, our promise is that we stay with the patient until they are connected with the medical professional that can.

 

Digging deeper: Nonsurgical, holistic services and programs offered at Innovative Wellness and PHRC.

 

  • Uro-Gynecology: female urinary incontinence and pelvic health
    • Urinary incontinence
    • urinary tract infections
    • pelvic organ prolapse
    • vulvovaginal atrophy and vulvovaginal health maintenance
    • pelvic pain
    • painful intercourse
  • Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy for men and women
    • Pelvic pain syndromes: Vulvodynia, Interstitial Cystitis, Pudendal Neuralgia, Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome, Vaginismus
    • Management of low-tone pelvic floor disorders: pelvic organ prolapse, stress and urge urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence
    • Peripartum pelvic health needs
    • Post-surgical rehabilitation: post-prostatectomy urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction, pelvic reconstruction and hysterectomy
  • Bioidentical hormone management for men and women
  • Sexual health counselling services for men, women, and couples
  • Breast Cancer Survivorship for women suffering with vulvovaginal atrophy and pelvic pain
  • Protein-Rich Platelet [PRP] Services: sexual health and pelvic pain
  • Lifestyle, fitness and nutritional services

 

Call us to schedule and stay connected on social media!

 

All of us at PHRC are thrilled we are expanding into Walnut Creek and for this opportunity. If you are interesting in scheduling with Melinda please contact us (our Berkeley staff is helping out for now until the Walnut Creek construction is complete). To schedule with Rachael, please contact Innovative Wellness. Please share our post and help us spread the word!

 

PHRC’s social media links are in this blog, as always. To connect with Innovative Wellness check them out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

FAQ

What are pelvic floor muscles?

The pelvic floor muscles are a group of muscles that run from the coccyx to the pubic bone. They are part of the core, helping to support our entire body as well as providing support for the bowel, bladder and uterus. These muscles help us maintain bowel and bladder control and are involved in sexual pleasure and orgasm. The technical name of the pelvic floor muscles is the Levator Ani muscle group. The pudendal nerve, the levator ani nerve, and branches from the S2 – S4 nerve roots innervate the pelvic floor muscles. They are under voluntary and autonomic control, which is a unique feature only they possess compared to other muscle groups.

What is pelvic floor physical therapy?

Pelvic floor physical therapy is a specialized area of physical therapy. Currently, physical therapists need advanced post-graduate education to be able to help people with pelvic floor dysfunction because pelvic floor disorders are not yet being taught in standard physical therapy curricula. The Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center provides extensive training for our staff because we recognize the limitations of physical therapy education in this unique area.

What happens at pelvic floor therapy?

During an evaluation for pelvic floor dysfunction the physical therapist will take a detailed history. Following the history the physical therapist will leave the room to allow the patient to change and drape themselves. The physical therapist will return to the room and using gloved hands will perform an external and internal manual assessment of the pelvic floor and girdle muscles. The physical therapist will once again leave the room and allow the patient to dress. Following the manual examination there may also be an examination of strength, motor control, and overall biomechanics and neuromuscular control. The physical therapist will then communicate the findings to the patient and together with their patient they establish an assessment, short term and long term goals and a treatment plan. Typically people with pelvic floor dysfunction are seen one time per week for one hour for varying amounts of time based on the severity and chronicity of the disease. A home exercise program will be established and the physical therapist will help coordinate other providers on the treatment team. Typically patients are seen for 3 months to a year.

What is pudendal neuralgia and how is it treated?

Pudendal Neuralgia is a clinical diagnosis that means pain in the sensory distribution of the pudendal nerve. The pudendal nerve is a mixed nerve that exits the S2 – S4 sacral nerve roots, we have a right and left pudendal nerve and each side has three main trunks: the dorsal branch, the perineal branch, and the inferior rectal branch. The branches supply sensation to the clitoris/penis, labia/scrotum, perineum, anus, the distal ⅓ of the urethra and rectum, and the vulva and vestibule. The nerve branches also control the pelvic floor muscles. The pudendal nerve follows a tortuous path through the pelvic floor and girdle, leaving it vulnerable to compression and tension injuries at various points along its path.

Pudendal Neuralgia occurs when the nerve is unable to slide, glide and move normally and as a result, people experience pain in some or all of the above-mentioned areas. Pelvic floor physical therapy plays a crucial role in identifying the mechanical impairments that are affecting the nerve. The physical therapy treatment plan is designed to restore normal neural function. Patients with pudendal neuralgia require pelvic floor physical therapy and may also benefit from medical management that includes pharmaceuticals and procedures such as pudendal nerve blocks or botox injections.

What is interstitial cystitis and how is it treated?

Interstitial Cystitis is a clinical diagnosis characterized by irritative bladder symptoms such as urinary urgency, frequency, and hesitancy in the absence of infection. Research has shown the majority of patients who meet the clinical definition have pelvic floor dysfunction and myalgia. Therefore, the American Urologic Association recommends pelvic floor physical therapy as first-line treatment for Interstitial Cystitis. Patients will benefit from pelvic floor physical therapy and may also benefit from pharmacologic management or medical procedures such as bladder instillations.

Who is the Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Team?

The Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center was founded by Elizabeth Akincilar and Stephanie Prendergast in 2006, they have been treating people with pelvic floor disorders since 2001. They were trained and mentored by a medical doctor and quickly became experts in treating pelvic floor disorders. They began creating courses and sharing their knowledge around the world. They expanded to 11 locations in the United States and developed a residency style training program for their employees with ongoing weekly mentoring. The physical therapists who work at PHRC have undergone more training than the majority of pelvic floor physical therapists and as a result offer efficient and high quality care.

How many years of experience do we have?

Stephanie and Liz have 24 years of experience and help each and every team member become an expert in the field through their training and mentoring program.

Why PHRC versus anyone else?

PHRC is unique because of the specific focus on pelvic floor disorders and the leadership at our company. We are constantly lecturing, teaching, and staying ahead of the curve with our connections to medical experts and emerging experts. As a result, we are able to efficiently and effectively help our patients restore their pelvic health.

Do we treat men for pelvic floor therapy?

The Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center is unique in that the Cofounders have always treated people of all genders and therefore have trained the team members and staff the same way. Many pelvic floor physical therapists focus solely on people with vulvas, this is not the case here.

Do I need pelvic floor therapy forever?

The majority of people with pelvic floor dysfunction will undergo pelvic floor physical therapy for a set amount of time based on their goals. Every 6 -8 weeks goals will be re-established based on the physical improvements and remaining physical impairments. Most patients will achieve their goals in 3 – 6 months. If there are complicating medical or untreated comorbidities some patients will be in therapy longer.

Comments

  2. Reply

    How wonderful you are to have such passion in treating Pelvic Pain.
    I am a male and it is very difficult to find a therapist who treats men and does it adequately.
    It would be nice if more people would become comfortable treating us. They always advertise treatment for women and rarely can one find a therapist who treats men.
    Are you aware of anyone in the Phoenix Mesa area wno does treat men.
    Thank you for you compassion in treating this horrible disorder.

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