By Morgan Conner, DPT, PHRC Los Gatos Sadly, the starting point of this success story is not novel to me as a pelvic floor physical and occupational therapists or for many who struggle with primary vaginismus. However, this story has a happy ending (pun very much intended!) as well as an interesting middle. When Vicki (not her real name) married …
Success Story: How Jennifer Beat Endometriosis
By Jandra Mueller, DPT, MS, PHRC Encinitas Jennifer was referred to PHRC by her urogynecologist who diagnosed her with interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC/PBS). For more information on this condition, check out Melinda’s webinar on IC/PBS. She was diagnosed with IC in 2012/2013 because she had been experiencing significant cramping in her bladder, as well as urinary urgency and frequency. …
Early Trauma and Its Effect on Chronic Urogenital Pain
By: Elizabeth Akincilar, PHRC Cofounder Another October, another International Pelvic Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting has come and gone. This year, we gathered in Toronto, Canada to learn about the latest and greatest in the world of pelvic pain. It seemed fitting that the first lecture of the general meeting would discuss possible early contributors to chronic urogenital pain. Dr. …
Summary from IPPS 2019: Chronic Pain in Endometriosis
By: Morgan Conner, DPT, PHRC Los Gatos In October I had the pleasure of attending the International Pelvic Pain Society’s Scientific Meeting with a number of my colleagues here at PHRC. On the second day of the main conference, Catherine Allaire MDCM, FRCSC gave the James E. Carter keynote lecture titled Endometriosis: Towards Prevention of Chronic Pain. There were two …
Why Do We Dance? For Pelvic Health!
By Maryssa Steffen, DPT, PHRC Berkeley I am a physical and occupational therapists, but my other life is a dancer. I have danced for almost 33 years and I have no doubt that it fully connects me to myself and strengthens my empathy towards others. After working with patients and delving into the research that supports dance therapy, I wanted …
Enjoying Sex While Healing From Pelvic Pain
This week, long-time colleague Lorraine Faehnedrich guest blogs for PHRC. Lorraine’s bio and information on her courses can be found at the end of the post. On April 2 Lorraine will be interviewing our own Katie Hunter about how pelvic floor physical and occupational therapy can help women recover from painful sex. Stay tuned to our social media for more …
Pelvic Pain Explained: Endometriosis + Resource List
By Jandra Mueller, DPT, PHRC Encinitas At PHRC we want to do our part to help people better understand pelvic pain syndromes and more importantly, help people suffering with these diagnoses get the help they need to recover. Since knowledge is power we created 6 videos and blog posts that we hope people find useful. This week, in our sixth …
Battle of The Sexes: Do Gender and Sex influence Pain?
At PHRC, our therapists treat both men and women with pelvic pain conditions. Many of my patients are surprised to hear that men and women have almost the same pelvic floor muscles (with some minor variations). If you were to ask me if I thought there was a big difference between treating women with pelvic pain vs men with …
IPPS 2019: Sexual Health and Sexual Pain Across Cultures
By: Nina Chou This year’s IPPS meeting was held in Toronto, Canada, which is one of the most diverse cities in North America. In fact, the official motto of the city is “Diversity is our Strength.” Today, I want to recap a lecture on the impact of culture on sexuality by Beatrice “Bean” Robinson, PhD. Dr. Robinson is a licensed …
PHRC is BUSY this fall!
A lot is going on this quarter and frankly, every quarter here at PHRC. Here is what you need to know! New faces! PHRC welcomes administrative assistant Emily Schwerdtfeger to Westlake Village and pelvic floor physical and occupational therapists Karah Charette to Walnut Creek and Berkeley. Jandra Mueller, pelvic floor specialist will also rejoin the team. New office! Speaking of …
Pain Free After Thirty-Five Years: Christina’s Success Story
By: Kimberly Buonomo, PT, DPT, PHRC Lexington Christina is a 75 year old patient I had the pleasure of seeing last summer. She came to me with a 30+ year history of pain which started as back pain during pregnancy. By the time she got to PHRC, her pain had spread to her pelvic floor, groin, adductors, low back, piriformis …
How to Tackle Pelvic Pain, Joseph’s Success Story
As physical and occupational therapistss, we often refer to our patients’ last day with us as Graduation Day. I always enjoy Graduation Day because it means the patient has accomplished their goals; their symptoms have reduced, they are able to function without limitations, and they are leaving as happier, healthier individuals. To put it plainly, they don’t need me anymore. …
Gotta Go Right Now: Urinary Urgency Explained
By: Melinda Fontaine, DPT, PHRC Walnut Creek You know that feeling when you just drank the equivalent to a big gulp and you haven’t had a bathroom break in over four hours. That sensation of your body telling you to get to the bathroom ASAP is called “urgency.” In case you wonder if urgency and the frequent need to urinate …
Foam Rolling for Pelvic Pain Relief
By: Courtney Edgecomb, DPT, PHRC Los Angeles The very first time I came across a foam roller was in high school when I went to physical and occupational therapy for back pain. At that time, the main product was simply a long, circular white piece of soft foam. It wasn’t special but it certainly helped me continue playing soccer without …
How Pelvic Floor Physical and Occupational Therapy Helped Me Recover From Vaginismus
Last month, Sigourney shared Martha’s Success Story, told from her perspective as Martha’s pelvic floor physical and occupational therapists. This week, Martha was kid enough to share her experience, in her own words. We hope her story provides hope for the many, many other women suffering from primary vaginismus or other causes of painful sex. We are sharing many success …
Young Men Get Pelvic Floor Dysfunction. Here’s How Chris Recovered with Pelvic Floor Physical and Occupational Therapy!
By: Rachel Daof, DPT People often ask me what symptoms men present with that land them in pelvic floor physical and occupational therapy. The truth is, men suffer from similar issues as women when it involves their pelvic floor: bowel, bladder, sexual dysfunction, and/or pain in the pelvic region. Furthermore, it’s not only the elder male population that can …
The Pelvic Health and Rehab Center is Taking Pelvic Floor Physical and Occupational Therapy to KENYA!
By: Elizabeth Akincilar, PHRC Cofounder PHRC is going to Nairobi, Kenya! I’m excited to announce that PHRC will be sharing their passion and knowledge for pelvic health in Nairobi, Kenya, in February 2020! Myself, PHRC’s Rachel Gelman, PT, DPT and Shannon Pacella, PT, DPT will have the privilege of teaching Pelvic Floor 3 to Kenyan Physical and Occupational Therapistss through …
Michelle’s Postpartum Pelvic Health Struggles…and Success!
By: Rachel Gelman, DPT Michelle is a 30 year old female referred by her gynecologist to us for pelvic floor physical and occupational therapy following the birth of her first child. Michelle had her son via vaginal delivery and she was roughly five months postpartum at the time of her evaluation with me. She reports she had a second degree …
Finding the Right Bike Saddle for Pelvic Comfort
By Morgan Connor, DPT, PHRC Los Gatos Since I am sure you haven’t memorized the PHRC staff bios, I’ll give you a little background on myself: Last year I got into triathlons and now spend a lot of time riding my bike. This past spring I finally bit the bullet and decided to get a bike for myself. After riding …
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 and occupational therapists 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 …
Thrive with Age: Menopause Solutions
“It’s NOT all downhill from here! When you learn how to find balance in your life and in your hormones, it’s really possible to feel vital through perimenopause, menopause and beyond.” DR. AMY DAY, FOUNDER, THE WOMEN’S VITALITY CENTER IN BERKELEY, CA Too many women are silently struggling through bothersome symptoms of perimenopause and menopause on their own. Women often …