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 …
Why Does the Area Between My Balls and My Butt Hurt? Tyler’s Male Pelvic Pain Success Story
When I first discussed sharing Tyler’s story on this blog, we talked about why men are not aware of pelvic floor PT. We talked about how most websites list “chronic prostatitis” or “male pelvic pain syndrome” to define his symptoms. He shared with me what men are most likely typing into Google when looking for treatment for symptoms similar to …
Recovery From Vaginismus and Painful Sex: Martha’s Success Story
By Sigourney Cross, DPT, PHRC Walnut Creek Vaginismus is characterized as an involuntary spasm or contraction of the muscles around the vagina. This makes it very difficult for women to insert tampons, receive pelvic exams by their doctors and can also make sexual intercourse nearly impossible and painful. It can affect women anywhere from their teenage years to later in …
Recovery After Rectocele Repair and How Pelvic Floor Physical and Occupational Therapy Helps
By Sigourney Cross, DPT, PHRC Walnut Creek A rectocele, also known as a posterior wall prolapse, is one of the main types of pelvic organ prolapse (POP). As explained in some of our prior posts, a POP occurs when tissue and muscles can no longer support the pelvic organs and they drop down. For a review of the main types …
Hormonal Changes in Menopause and What You Can Do About It
By: Rachel Daof, DPT Los Angeles PHRC members, Stephanie Prendergast, Courtney Edgecomb, and I, Rachel Daof, went to a dinner to discuss Intrarosa with guest speaker Dr. Irwin Goldstein. One of the major points of the night was this: menopause is a chronic progressive, degenerative condition, and it does not improve without treatment. This hit home to all of the …
The 4th Trimester: Postpartum Pain is Common but not Normal, Part 2
By Courtney Edgecomb, DPT In Part 2 of my 2-part post I will cover different therapeutic strategies for postpartum pain. As a new mom, self-care and appropriate medical attention is critical to ensure you stay as healthy as possible for your little one. I am sure it is daunting to find time for yourself at the moment, but it will …
The 4th Trimester: Postpartum Pelvic Pain is Common but Not Normal
By: Courtney Edgecomb, DPT Postpartum Pelvic Floor Physical and Occupational Therapy is increasingly utilized to help new moms recover from pregnancy and delivery. Is pain normal after giving birth? Of course that is an extremely open-ended question and I would get different answers from almost every single mom (and from each of her pregnancies). But it is hard to tease …
Moisturize My Vagina?! What you need to know
By: Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington If you are anything like me, you most likely have a plethora of moisturizers at home (hand lotion, face lotion, body lotion, etc.), but what you probably do not have is a vaginal moisturizer. You might ask, “What is a vaginal moisturizer?” A vaginal moisturizer rehydrates dry mucosal tissue, is absorbed into the skin …
What to Know About Your Menstrual Cycle
By: Rachel Daof, DPT Here at PHRC we see conditions that affect that dreaded time of the month: our periods. As we have written before, conditions like endometriosis can directly affect menstruation. Other menstrual related issues include period cramps, nausea, bowel movement issues, headaches, and many other symptoms all driven by our cycle. To many of us, these are things …
Motor Vehicle Accidents and Pelvic Pain
By: Courtney Edgecomb, DPT It’s needless to say that getting into a car accident is scary. Adding in any form of injury on top of an accident can be life-changing. I have become more cognisant of such life-changing accidents since I started my physical and occupational therapy career in Los Angeles a few years ago. A large amount of the …
As the Bicycle Turns: Cycling and the Pelvic Floor
By: Kim Buonomo, DPT, PHRC Lexington Who doesn’t love a leisurely bike ride? People with pelvic floor dysfunction! While biking is great cardio, there are a lot of aspects that make it not very pelvic floor friendly. Most of this comes down to blood flow to the pelvic floor, which is what I want to discuss today. Anatomy Review In …
Will a menstrual pad help when urine need?
By Morgan Conner, DPT, PHRC Los Gatos Let’s set the stage here, you just peed your pants. I’ll let you fill in the details of the backstory, but here are a few possibilities. Maybe you just gave birth last week or perhaps six months ago (or six years ago!) and whenever you pick up your little one or laugh when …
What is the Knack and why does it work to prevent urine leakage?
The saying “getting the knack of it” refers to acquiring a skill to perform a specific task. In the world of pelvic floor rehabilitation, the Knack refers to performing a pelvic floor muscle contraction prior to an increase in intra abdominal pressure. This technique is most commonly used to prevent stress urinary incontinence (SUI), such as when a person experiences …
Pudendal Neuralgia Resource List
By Stephanie A. Prendergast, DPT, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC Los Angeles May is Pelvic Pain Awareness Month and 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 5 videos and blog posts …
Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome/Male Pelvic Pain/’Prostatitis’ Resource List
By Elizabeth Akincilar, Cofounder, PHRC Lexington May is Pelvic Pain Awareness Month and 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 5 videos and blog posts that we hope people …
Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome Resource List
By Melinda Fontaine, DPT, PT, PHRC Walnut Creek May is Pelvic Pain Awareness Month and 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 5 videos and blog posts that we …
Pelvic Pain Explained: Vulvodynia + Resource List
May is Pelvic Pain Awareness Month 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 5 videos and blog posts that we hope people find useful. This week, in our second …