By: Kim Buonomo, PT, DPT, PHRC Lexington Everyone’s had that moment…You don’t have to go to the bathroom AT ALL and then suddenly you’re running to the toilet like there’s no tomorrow. How do things change so quickly? I’m going to teach you about the Rectoanal Inhibitory Reflex (RAIR) and what that means for fecal urgency and incontinence. In order …
Book Review: Why Pelvic Pain Hurts
By: Rachel Daof, DPT “Imagine the following: You feel a sudden new, surprising and sharp pain in your thumb while you’re at the office. You look at it and inspect the thumb. You touch it and feel around to see if there is anything out of the ordinary. You move it around. You discuss it with your coworkers and even …
Time to Talk About Healing, It’s a Process
Earlier this month I had my wisdom teeth removed. Last thing I remember was talking about elephants in Thailand, and next thing I know I wake up looking like a chipmunk that got in a bar fight (and lost). After a few days, I couldn’t understand why I still felt bad. This was a “simple” procedure and all the pictures …
Recovered From Pudendal Neuralgia: Sheyoume’s Success Story
By: Stephanie Prendergast, PHRC Cofounder Pudendal neuralgia is a syndrome characterized by burning, stabbing pain in the territory of the pudendal nerve, which has a vast distribution in the pelvis. The symptoms can wreak havoc during ordinary daily activities such as sitting, exercising, going to the bathroom, and having sex. Nerves are physiologically different from muscles, therefore they heal differently …
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 and occupational therapistss 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 …
5 Tips to Reduce Vulvodynia Symptoms
Vulvodynia can affect up to 25% of women in their lifetime.1 The vulva is the anatomical term for the external genitalia in women that includes the clitoris, labia, mons pubis, and vestibule (vaginal opening). Vulvodynia has received specific diagnostic terminology as we now know there are various causes and presentations of symptoms that can be considered “vulvodynia”.3 Box 1 contains …
Choosing the Right Tool for the Job: Scott’s Recovery from Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
The holiday season tends to be a stressful time for many people. It’s not uncommon for people to feel their bodies tense up as the levels of stress and anxiety rise – and every year we see an increase in patient numbers as a result. In December, I had the opportunity to evaluate a male patient, who I’ll call Scott, …
Battle of the bulge: is your weight impacting your pelvic floor function?
By: Sigourney Cross, DPT, PHRC Walnut Creek If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably spent the last couple of months eating everything in sight. With Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s back to back, it’s hard to say no to all those delicious side dishes and homemade desserts. But now that the holidays have come to an end, it’s back to …
Happy New Year!
By: Stephanie Prendergast, PHRC Cofounder January is often the time to reflect on the past year and set goals for the future. So, in that spirit, we thought it would be fun to dedicate this post to a few top Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center events of 2018….and a peak forward to 2019. In no particular order, here’s what happened …
EVERYTHING Is Connected: What is Visceral Manipulation and How Does it Relate to the Pelvic Floor?
Remember our earlier post on fascia? Simply put, fascia is a continuous sheath of connective tissues that lines everything in our body – the organs, bones, muscles, blood vessels, nerves etc. Healthy fascia is fluid and mobile. It allows everything in the body to slide and glide promoting healthy and balanced movement. Restrictions in fascia can impact the mobility of …
Alternative Treatments for IBS: Can Hypnosis Help Heal Your Gut?
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is considered a functional gastrointestinal disorder. The Rome Foundation defines IBS as when a person has chronic abdominal pain at least one day per week in the last three months combined with at least two of the following: abdominal pain related to having a bowel movement; abdominal pain onset is associated with change in stool frequency; …
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 …
Managing Life on or after “The Pill”
By: Jandra Mueller, DPT, MS, PHRC Encinitas If you are a female reader of our blog, have experienced painful intercourse, and happened to have come to the Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center (PHRC) for treatment, then you are probably familiar with our talk about how systemic birth control like oral contraceptives (OCPs) or “The Pill,” may be the underlying culprit. …
Part 2 of 2: What is a good pelvic PT session like?
Last week, in Part 1 of What is a good pelvic PT session like, we described what a pelvic floor physical therapy evaluation consists of and how we go about developing an assessment and setting goals to help our patients get better. This week we dive deeper into pelvic floor physical and occupational therapy treatment plans, patient education, and ongoing …
Part 1 of 2: What is a good pelvic PT session like?
Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center is proud to announce that we now have eight locations across the country. Our newest locations include Walnut Creek, CA, Bedford, NH and Westlake Village, CA. We pride ourselves on our constant commitment to give the best possible care for our patients. Patients suffering from long-standing pelvic conditions are often shuffled around from doctor to …
How Pelvic Floor Physical and Occupational Therapy Can Serve the Transgender/Gender Non-conforming Population: Part 2
By: Elizabeth Akincilar Last week, Shannon Pacella, DPT, taught us how physical and occupational 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 and occupational therapy for transgender individuals after …
Fistula: The other F Word
Image by: erpete By: Kim Buonomo When I was asked to write a blog article, I wasn’t sure what topic I should write about. I read a lot of our previous articles for inspiration and realized a couple things: 1) The women who work here really know their stuff about the pelvic floor; and 2) No one has written an …
Mindfulness Meditation: Is it actually effective for treating chronic pain?
By Elizabeth Akincilar Mindfulness meditation. Even if you’re not exactly sure what it is, I’m going to bet you’ve heard of it. It has gotten a lot of attention recently. It’s everywhere. It’s not like the mediation of 20 years ago. Back then meditation was considered “alternative” or “fringe” that few people practiced, especially in western countries. Now, mindfulness has …
Sex Therapy and CBT for Pain with Sex
In 2012, The Journal of Sexual Medicine published an article, What we don’t talk about when we don’t talk about sex: results of a national survey of U.S. obstetrician/gynecologists. The results from the survey revealed that though Ob/gyns routinely (63%) assess their patients’ sexual activities, only 40% of them ask their female patients about sexual problems. Sexual problems may include …
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: what everyone needs to know
Do you know what the most common cause of female infertility is? Polycystic ovary syndrome, also known as PCOS. It is estimated that 15-20% of women will be diagnosed with PCOS at some point in their lives.1 It is the most common endocrine (hormone) disorder for women of reproductive age.2 Approximately 90-95% of women with anovulation (not ovulating) who attend …
The Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center Turns 12!
By: Stephanie Prendergast On July 17th, 2006, Liz and Stephanie opened the doors to the Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center in San Francisco. Their mission was to improve the quality of life of their patients and to contribute to the dynamic growth of their employees and students. They aspired to educate the community and medical professionals about pelvic …