Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy
Rebound Physical Therapy has a strong focus on Pelvic Health and OB GYN issues. Rebound excels at using physical therapy to help women quickly return to the needs of their personal and professional lives. Rebound’s Pelvic Health specialists, Courtney Odell, Erin Novelli, and Kerry Hoffman, are sensitive, highly trained experts in Pelvic Health / OB GYN.
What is Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy?
Pelvic floor physical therapy is a specialty within the scope of physical therapy that provides care for overall bladder, bowel, and sexual function. Physical therapists who specialize in this field, have taken additional training courses to be qualified to treat the conditions associated with pelvic floor dysfunction. This dysfunction may be due to tightness, weakness, or other issues of the pelvic floor muscles.
Research shows that 32% of women and 16% of men may experience some type of pelvic floor dysfunction at some point in their lifetime. Treatment goals may include to improve overall continence, decrease pain with daily activities, pregnancy care and postpartum healing, improve pain with intercourse etc. Although these conditions are common, they are not considered normal and there is conservative therapy that may help improve your condition!
What Can Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Treat?
People who may be experiencing symptoms or have the conditions below may benefit from pelvic floor physical therapy:
- Urinary or fecal incontinence
- Urinary or fecal urgency
- Organ Prolapse
- Pain with Sex
- Pregnancy related pain or leakage
- Birth Prep for Labor
- Postpartum Healing
- Diastasis Recti
- Tailbone Pain
- Pre-op Prostatectomy
- Post-op pelvic procedure
- Constipation
- Scar tissue healing (c-section or internal scars)
- Gender affirmation surgery recovery
- Endometriosis
- Painful bladder syndrome / Interstitial Cystitis
- PCOS
- Lichen Sclerosis
- Vulvodynia
- Post-op vasectomy related pain
- Testicular pain
- Urinary leakage with sports
Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy FAQs
Your physical therapist will ask for a history of your symptoms to better understand what may be affecting you. They will then perform an evaluation of your hip, back, abdomen, posture, and pelvic floor muscles to assess mobility and strength that may be affecting your symptoms. The evaluation may include an external and internal exam of your pelvic floor muscles. This means they may have to assess the muscles vaginally or rectally depending on your symptoms and comfort level. Lastly, you and your therapist will develop an overall treatment plan to help you reach your goals!
Is Back Pain Normal During Pregnancy
Back pain during and after pregnancy is common, experienced by more than half of pregnant women. But that doesn’t mean that you should just suffer—much of this pain can be reduced with therapeutic interventions.
If you have back pain, neck pain, hip or leg pain, incontinence (even just with coughing or sneezing), hand or foot pain or numbness, treatment from one of our therapists specially trained in the areas of prenatal, post-partum and women’s health will make the difference.
Exercise during and after your pregnancy can help strengthen back and abdominal muscles to help reduce back pain. Our therapists use traditional exercise on land and in the water, as well as rehab-based Pilates and yoga to develop specialized programs for each woman’s needs.
What are common causes of back pain during pregnancy?
Common causes of pregnancy-related back pain include:
- The hormones brought on with pregnancy can soften ligaments and allow joints in the pelvis to become loose and the surrounding muscles have to work harder causing strain.
- The growing uterus changes your center of gravity, causing strain on your spine and surrounding muscles.
- Overstretched and weakened abdominal muscles can not handle the extra weight so the spine bears the extra burden.
Treatment of pregnancy-related pain may include:
- Strengthening exercises for the back, abdomen, and pelvis
- Aquatic exercise
- Use of supports and accessories
- Manual therapy
- Acupuncture
Starting physical therapy before your pain becomes severe often makes it easier to treat, and will help you keep your activity level up throughout your pregnancy.
Can I do physical therapy after my baby is born to treat back and/or pelvic pain?
Dramatic physical and hormonal changes can make it difficult and painful to care for your baby, get back to your life, and resume exercising. Your physical therapist can advise you on when it is safe to get back to the things you want to do, and help you build an exercise program to get your body back.
Common causes of pregnancy-related back pain include:
- The hormones brought on with pregnancy can soften ligaments and allow joints in the pelvis to become loose and the surrounding muscles have to work harder causing strain.
- The growing uterus changes your center of gravity, causing strain on your spine and surrounding muscles.
- Overstretched and weakened abdominal muscles can not handle the extra weight so the spine bears the extra burden.
Research shows that up to 50% of women may develop pelvic organ prolapse over their lifetime. Prolapse is when 1 or more of the organs in the pelvis slips down from their normal position and bulge into the vaginal region. Symptoms include pain, bulge, urinary, bowel and sexual symptoms affecting all aspects of a person’s life.
Treatment typically involves conservative care first in which pelvic floor physical therapy can help to address any strength issues and tell you if Kegels or pelvic floor strengthening is appropriate for you. Your therapist will also teach you lifestyle modifications as well as give your customized exercises to best manage your symptoms.
Dramatic physical and hormonal changes can make it difficult and painful to care for your baby, get back to your life, and resume exercising. Your physical therapist can advise you on when it is safe to get back to the things you want to do, and help you build an exercise program to get your body back.
Yes, we can work closely with you and any medical provider or part of your health team to make sure you are receiving the best possible treatment and care for your issue. We work closely with Bend, Redmond, Prineville and Central Oregon providers.
Courtney Odell PT, DPT, WCS, PRPC
Courtney Odell PT, DPT, WCS, PRPCDirector of Pelvic Health
Courtney Odell is a Board Certified Women’s Health Specialist (WCS) and Pelvic Rehabilitation Practitioner Certified (PRPC) who specializes in the field of Pelvic Health.
Courtney enjoys treating and working with female and male patients with a variety of pelvic floor conditions. This lead her to gain her advanced certifications and take multiple continuing education courses, including topics such as; Pelvic pain conditions, coccydynia, pregnancy and postpartum, and lumbar nerve neuralgias. She aims to bring awareness and provide a customized treatment plan for each patient and loves tailoring exercises to the patient’s needs and time considerations. She has a special interest helping people who have pain with intercourse, postpartum pain, incontinence, complex pain conditions (endo, painful bladder syndrome, etc), as well as pregnancy related pain. She feels that quality of life as well as intimacy in a relationship are important aspects that should be addressed in medical care.
Erin Novelli, PT
Erin Novelli, PTErin Novelli moved to Central Oregon in 2001 and she has been working and growing with Rebound ever since. Erin became a Stott certified Pilates instructor in 2005 and received her Rehab Pilates certification through Stott in 2010. Currently, she is the only Rehab Pilates certified PT in Central Oregon and the Director for Rebound’s Rehab Pilates program. Stott Pilates is a contemporary, anatomically-based approach to the mind-body exercise practice. Combined with her expertise in orthopedics and manual therapy, this has been very beneficial to her patients.
Prenatal and postpartum care is also a special interest of Erin’s practice. She has taken obstetrics coursework through the APTA focused on pain management, preventative care, and patient education during pregnancy and in the months and years to follow.
Kerry Hoffman, PT, DPT, ATC, CSCS
Kerry Hoffman, PT, DPT, ATC, CSCSKerry’s drive for continued education has most recently led her complete levels one and two of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Pelvic Health coursework. Kerry is excited to continue down this path and become part of Rebound’s Pelvic Health program, which focuses on management of bowel and bladder dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, pain management, preventative care and patient education during pregnancy and in the months and years to follow.
