Yin yoga stretches for pelvic floor tension release Are you one of those people who stretches religiously but still feels stiff as a board? The stretches work for a short while, and then   the muscle level, and you want to go deeper rops such as bolsters, yoga blocks, and pillows  should never feel pain or discomfort while in yoga poses. The length of time spen  the benefits longer. All you need to do is to stay there and pay attention to your breath. You might find that this is   to get into a little bit of meditation a Addressing tight pelvic floor muscles means ..read more

As many as 17% of women may experience pain in the area around the outside of the vagina known as the vulva (1).  Pain in this area can be multifactorial and potentially caused by hormonal changes, inflammatory conditions, musculoskeletal conditions, medications, trauma, nerve pain, cancer, and more. Severity can range from pain with certain activities to constant burning pain. Most women will experience pain with intimacy and intercourse.   Finding the right care team is important. With such a wide array of potential causes, many women will see several physicians before&nb ..read more

Support for your digestion, known as the microbiome, is assisted by the vagus nerve. The enteric nervous system,  often referred to as the second brain,  controls activity of the gastrointestinal tract which includes the stomach and intestines. (1) It has extensive nerve connections and communication between the central nervous system ( your brain and spinal cord) and the digestive system. The vagus nerve runs from the brain down to your organs, such as, the small and large intestines, regulating movement in the digestive tract. Signals are sent brain to gut and gut to brain. This ge ..read more

​Around the holidays and the new year there is a lot of focus on celebration and on trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Usually this includes changes in our usual diet or eating habits. Patients will often bring up how the holidays and their changes in diet are affecting their symptoms. So, I wanted to discuss how your diet and pelvic health can impact each other. A lot of patients that we see are aware that how much they drink, and what they eat can affect their bowel and bladder habits, but they don’t always know all the effects it can have on their pelvic floor function. In fact, some pel ..read more

 New Year’s resolutions? Sometimes things spin so out of control during the holidays that there’s too many things to fix! Or the laundry list is full of things we didn’t get to complete (or start) in 2022. Maybe it’s time to just pick one thing and focus our efforts. Me, I’m going to stretch more. Well, technically I’m stretching all day when I’m with patients, but that’s not the same as stretching for myself. One of my favorites is starfish pose, shown beautifully by our own Marzena Bard, PTA.  I know that I won’t be successful though without a plan, so I’m setting aside certain tim ..read more

Around the holidays and the new year there is a lot of focus on celebration and on trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Usually this includes changes in our usual diet or eating habits. Patients will often bring up how the holidays and their changes in diet are affecting their symptoms. So, I wanted to discuss how your diet and pelvic health can impact each other. ​A lot of patients that we see are aware that how much they drink, and what they eat can affect their bowel and bladder habits, but they don’t always know all the effects it can have on their pelvic floor function. In fact, some pel ..read more

How to train your bladder | " I Pee Too Often!" Do you know where every bathroom is when you leave the house?    Do you pee more often than your friends and family?  Do you ever leak urine on the way to the bathroom?    These are symptoms that can occur when someone has urinary urgency/frequency and/or urge incontinence.     Urinating more often than 5-8x/day is urinary frequency Urinary urgency is a strong, sudden urge to urinate despite the strong urge, it can be a small amount of urine Leaking urine with a strong urge, usually on the way to the bathroom is urge incontine ..read more

Slow-moving poop, or slow transit constipation, is a type of functional constipation. It is exactly how it sounds, stool moves slower than normal through your system. As physical therapists we evaluate your pelvic muscles and determine if the muscle tension or coordination may be playing a role in your constipation. But after addressing those causes or ruling them out, there are still ways to help your slow transit.  One treatment we consider for our patients is a stimulation known as interferential current. The use of electrical stimulation for reducing pain and muscle strengthening is w ..read more

How to help your abdominal muscles immediately after delivery As a pelvic physical therapist there are many things I would have liked to have done differently immediately after giving birth to my daughter. If I had to pick one exercise to have started immediately after delivery, it would be this one.  During pregnancy, your abdominal wall lengthens. The muscles have been working because even though they were stretched, the baby kept them on tension. Remember feeling like your abdominal wall was so tight? How could it stretch any more?! Picture a long string from the bottom of your sternum ..read more

Slow-moving poop, or slow transit constipation, is a type of functional constipation. It is exactly how it sounds, stool moves slower than normal through your system. As physical therapists we evaluate your pelvic muscles and determine if the muscle tension or coordination may be playing a role in your constipation. But after addressing those causes or ruling them out, there are still ways to help your slow transit.  One treatment we consider for our patients is a stimulation known as interferential current. The use of electrical stimulation for reducing pain and muscle strengthening is w ..read more