By Stephanie Prendergast, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC Los Angeles Do you know the difference between vulvodynia & vestibulodynia? Vulvodynia simply means pain in the vulva, which includes the clitoris, labia, mons pubis, perineum, hymen, and vestibule. Tune into our IG Live about Vestibulodynia with special guest, Doctor Irwin Goldstein at 5:30PM PST, 2/18/2021. Vestibulodynia is pain in the vestibule, a more …
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 and occupational therapists, I often have patients who wonder what the value is in being able to relax the pelvic floor. In a culture …
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 …
A bike accident caused vulvar pain. Ally recovered, check out her Success Story!
By Kim Buonomo, DPT, PHRC Lexington Ally is a lovely 64 year old woman that I’ve been working with at PHRC Lexington since April 2019. During the course of her treatment, she read my previous success story and told me how it inspired her and that she believed she would find the same success some day. I’m so happy …
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 …
Period Health 101: Everything You Should Have Learned in 6th Grade but Didn’t, Part 3 of 3
By Jandra Mueller, DPT, MS, PHRC Encinitas In our third and final post of this series we share hormonal alterations that people may experience. In case you missed it, check out Period Health 101, Part One and Period Health 101, Part Two to best understand this post! Symptoms of Hormonal Alterations Hormonal birth control Why should hormonal …
Period Health 101: Everything You Should Have Learned in 6th Grade, But Didn’t… Part 2 of 3
By Jandra Mueller, DPT, MS, PHRC Encinitas In case you missed it, here is Period Health 101: Everything You Should Have Learned in 6th Grade, But Didn’t, Part 1. What are your hormones doing throughout the various phases? To understand this, refer to the chart below. It is actually helpful in understanding the hormonal shifts throughout the various …
Period Health 101: Everything You Should Have Learned in 6th Grade but Didn’t, Part 1 of 3
By Jandra Mueller, DPT, MS, PHRC Encinitas As menstruating people, you would think that we would understand what a period is, the purpose of it, and all of the information it can give us. Unfortunately, we do not, and this is not okay. Our periods are more than a sign we are not pregnant, more than an inconvenience, more than …
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 and occupational therapists 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 …
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 and occupational therapistss are first and foremost physical and occupational therapistss– meaning we can and do work with the whole …
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 …
But is it really Interstitial Cystitis?
Recently, I decided to look into the confusion surrounding Interstitial Cystitis. A couple searches down a Pubmed rabbithole, I realized there was much more to it than I initially realized. In order to really make sense of what might be going on, I decided to go back to the basics and to the beginning. This blog will unravel both the …
Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth: Overview and Updates
By Jandra Mueller, DPT, MS, PHRC Encinitas SIBO, aka small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, is bacteria that is an overgrowth of the normal bacteria in your small intestine. In today’s blog I want to provide some more education about SIBO, how we get it, test for it, treat it, and how it has made its way into pelvic health concerns as …