Women's Health
A woman’s body undergoes various changes throughout a lifetime, most significantly those related to pregnancy and childbirth.
Pregnancy and childbirth can place significant strain on the body. Whilst some of these changes are evident at the time such as an increased urge to go to the toilet, lower back pain, pelvic pain and perineal tears during birth, others are not noticed until later in life such as pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence. These can start to develop early on but may not be noticeable or symptomatic until later in life as the pelvic floor weakens.
It is very important for women to perform pelvic floor exercises after child birth to regain their strength and to prevent future problems.
The pelvic floor can become weak due to:
- Multiple births
- Giving birth to large babies (over 4000g)
- Traumatic births
- Heavy/repetitive lifting
- Constipation/straining
- Age
Disorders related to the pelvic floor include:
- Incontinence – not making it to the toilet in time or leaking with coughing, sneezing or running
- Urgency – a sudden intense desire to go to the toilet, increased frequency of going to the toilet
- Prolapse – where the pelvic organs fall out of position due to weakness of their support structures
At Flinders Avenue Physiotherapy we can provide advice and treatment of these conditions, in addition to:
- Exercising during pregnancy and after childbirth
- Management of musculoskeletal conditions during pregnancy, such as back and pelvic pain
- Blocked milk duct and mastitis when breastfeeding
If you have a women's health problem, please do not hesitate to contact Flinders Avenue Physiotherapy for an initial consultation with one of our experienced physiotherapists, or contact our practice on 9307 8022 or make an online enquiry if you have any queries regarding treatment of the women's health conditions.
We have female physios with post graduate training in treating women's health conditions. We also use realtime ultrasound imaging to view the pelvic floor muscles contracting without the need for internal examinations. We have therapeutic ultrasound which is effective in treating mastitis and perineal tears. We also run Clinical Pilates sessions to assist with pelvic floor strengthening or prevention of pelvic floor problems.
