Patient History Ted is a 67-year-old male with a primary concern of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and secondary concerns of erectile dysfunction. Ted reports he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in September 2013 and underwent a “bilateral nerve-sparing radical suprapubic prostatectomy”, a procedure in which the nerves must be cut in order to remove the cancerous tissue, later that fall. …
The Case of Pelvic Organ Prolapse
Patient History Elena is a 35-year-old female who was referred to pelvic floor physical therapy by her ob/gyn with a diagnosis of prolapse. (Want more information on a prolapse diagnosis? Check out a detailed blog post on the topic here.) Elena’s chief complaints stem from giving birth to her first child via vaginal delivery six months prior to her …
The Case of Male Pelvic Pain, Painful Sex
History Ben is a 32-year-old male whose chief complaints are: right testicle ascension and sometimes associated pain, which started after he began using the hip adductor machine at the gym. His symptoms are worse post ejaculation or with strenuous activity, such as biking or playing tennis and remain for 20 to 30 minutes. He has a history of constipation and …
The Case of Female Pelvic Pain, Painful Sex
This week’s post is a case study of a female pelvic pain patient. Before I get into the specifics of the case, let’s first take a look at female pelvic pain by the numbers: 10% of all visits to gynecologists are due to chronic pelvic pain. 25% of women will experience chronic vulvar pain at some point in their lives. …
The Case of PT for Urge Incontinence
At our weekly staff meetings at PHRC, us PTs take turns presenting patient case studies to our colleagues. Our M.O. in presenting these case studies is to cover each of the patient demographics we see here at the clinic: female pelvic pain; male pelvic pain, postpartum and pregnancy issues; and incontinence and prolapse. (Obviously, there is some overlap, especially with …
Case Study: PT for a Vulvodynia Diagnosis
Over the years we’ve treated a wide variety of pelvic floor syndromes at PHRC, and one of the things we’ve learned is that every case is different. Therefore, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all treatment plan. We hope that our new “Case Study” section will help to drive this important reality home. Every couple of months we will …