Pelvic Health Physical Therapy in Bedford, NH

Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy is an essential service for moms who have gone through the birth experience. Whether you have had a vaginal or cesarian birth, pelvic floor physical therapy can help you with postpartum concerns like diastasis, pelvic pain, leaking prolape.

There are many things you can start doing before your postpartum checkup that will help accelerate your healing as well as months after your baby arrives to help you return to activities you love without discomfort, leaking, feelings of heaviness or fullness, as well as allow for optimal healing of any incisions from a cesarian birth. Your postpartum checkup with your OB is just the beginning and pelvic health PT is the next step.

You don’t have to feel alone in your postpartum recovery.

We know that a lot of times these conditions are just said to be “part of motherhood”. We can assure you that this is not the case, there is something you can do to stop all of these frustrating symptoms.
**Common things we can help you with in pelvic floor PT:**
Leaking when they laughing, coughing, sneezing, lifting
Pain in the pelvis, pressure in the pelvis
Pain with intercourse
Diastasis
Prolapse
C-Section scar recovery and mobility and pain reduction
Pelvic floor muscle strengthening
Back pain, hip pain, etc. that may be secondary to breast feeding and carrying your baby (or older children)
SI joint pain
Return to sport training: running, CrossFit, jiu jitsu, and more
At Renegade, you will receive a comprehensive evaluation and treatment plan that will help you not only recover now, but also avoid return of symptoms in the future.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that are on the bottom side of the pelvis. They attach from your pubic bone to your tail bone and are between your sits bones. These muscles support your internal organs as well as a baby while you’re pregnant.
These muscles:
—Help provide stability in your hips, low back, and core
—Support your abdominal organs
—Play a large role in breathing mechanics
—Have a role in sexual function
—Allow you to hold and expel urine, gas, and feces
Pelvic floor physical therapy at Renegade is focused on restoring optimal function to these muscles and treating the diagnoses and symptoms listed in the question below. Pelvic floor physical therapy is always integrated as a whole-body treatment, rather than just treatment of the muscles inside and around the pelvis.
Pelvic health physical therapy can help treat lots of diagnoses and symptoms as well as help you prepare for birth and recover after birth (both cesarian or vaginal).
—Prolapse
—Incontinence (fecal or urinary)
—Pelvic pain
—Pain associated with the low back, pelvic girdle, sacroiliac joint (SIJ), public symphysis, or tailbone
—Pregnancy-related aches and pains
—Preparation for birth and recovery after birth
—Pain with intercourse
—Leaking during exercise
—Pelvic heaviness
—Pain associated with endometriosis, interstitial cystitis, cramping during menstruation
—Diastasis recti
—Gut and bowel issues
—Male pelvic health concerns such as testicular pain, prostatitis, erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation or pain with ejaculation, Peyronies Disease, and more
Pelvic health PT sessions look a lot like our orthopedic sessions in lots of ways. The whole body is considered during these examinations and treatments.
One thing that sets us apart at Renegade is that we will help you get back to what you want to do. Example: if you want to get back to jump roping without leaking, then we will be working on that during sessions. Pelvic health physical therapy is much more than just working the muscles around the pelvis.
Sometimes an internal examination is indicated (never required) where your PT will examine the pelvic floor musculature internally. Continue reading for more details.
When you come in for your initial examination, your PT will start with an extensive interview of your health history and experience.
From there, an external examination will be performed. Your back, hips, abdominals, and pelvis will be assessed. Things that will be looked at include mobility, stability, and strength. After an external examination, an internal examination may be indicated to also look at the same things for the internal muscles of the pelvic floor.
An internal examination is never mandatory and your PT will discuss the results of the external exam with you as well as the indications for an internal examination. The benefits of an internal examination include being able to visualize and truly understand the muscles inside the pelvis, which provide a lot of information about what’s going on in that area.
Consent is of the upmost importance and your PT will continually ask for consent before and during the examination. You are able to withdraw consent at any time.
This exam is very gentle in nature and your PT inserts one or two gloved fingers into your vagina or one finger in your rectum. This allows the therapist to directly palpate the muscles inside the pelvis and note any tension or weakness of the muscles. It also allows the therapist to determine the exact coordination of the musculature during movement, coughing, laughing, and breathing, which can assist with the overall treatment.
A speculum is not used and inserted into the vagina or rectum. (We don’t even have a speculum in the clinic.)
While the internal pelvic examination is the gold standard for examination and treatment of pelvic floor musculature, it is never a mandatory procedure and if you choose to forego the internal examination, you will be able to receive treatment from your physical therapist based on the external examination.
This is a much more supported experience. There are no speculums during the exam and care is taken to explain the internal pelvic exam in full before and during the examination (if indicated and consented for).
Absolutely. We integrate the whole body at Renegade. You are never being treated for “just” your pelvis. Everything in the body is connected so we assess and treat as such.
YES! There are other things in the body that are related to the pelvic floor and are often symptoms that coincide with pelvic floor symptoms. These things include low back pain, SI joint pain, pinchy/tight hips, constipation, abdominal pain, abdominal bloating, GI disorders, PCOS, endometriosis, painful periods, history of birth, history of abdominal surgeries, trauma to the pelvic region, tailbone pain and/or injuries, hysterectomies, LEEP procedures, jaw pain or TMJ dysfunction, neck pain and/or tightness, headaches, sciatica, piriformis syndrome, foot and ankle pain, chronic ankle sprains, and more.