Happy New Year! I've been back at the clinic for a week now and have had more than a few patients worried about apparent relapses in a variety of conditions - urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, constipation, fecal incontinence... This is a pattern that I have noticed over the last couple of years. I am [...]
While it’s important for men to monitor their own health, it’s sometimes helpful for partners to know the signs of prostate cancer. For women, they are often very attentive to their partner’s health, but because they don’t have the same “equipment” they might miss some of the important red flags for prostate problems. According to [...]
Some of the largest secondary complaints of women who have undergone breast cancer treatments are problems with their vaginal and vulvar (external genitalia) region. Many treatments for breast cancer and those for improving survivorship force the body into a menopause-like state. Some of the issues these women experience might include vaginal dryness, burning, itching, overwhelming [...]
Are you confident that you could spot the signs of breast cancer? In a recent study conducted by Avon Products Inc, 19,000 women were questioned about 10 common signs of breast cancer. Only 2% of the women sampled could identify all 10 symptoms correctly. Furthermore, 25% of them thought that a breast lump was the only [...]
I get asked a lot about C-section scars. And yes - I think that some women need to have their C-sections rehabilitated. See here for my thoughts on that. But this post is to demonstrate some of the basic myofascial, or massage-like techniques that I use to help get a C-section scar moving better.
Have you ever felt a heaviness or feeling of “falling out” coming from the vaginal opening? Sometimes you can feel or even see something that shouldn’t be there? When women become aware that they have a pelvic organ prolapse it can be very worrisome. I get many panicked emails asking what the diagnosis means, what [...]
So, technically the buttocks (a.k.a. glutes) are not part of the "kegel" muscles. However, our recognition of their role in pelvic floor (and general) health is growing. I spend a lot of my time correcting posture and exercise form so that stress is taken off of the pelvic floor and put back on the glute [...]
If you asked me before I started PT school if I would be interested in pelvic floor physiotherapy, I probably would have looked at you funny because I didn’t even know it existed. I always thought I would get into the sports world and work in strictly orthopedics. It wasn’t until I realized that many women and men can’t compete, let alone participate in physical activity, because of urinary incontinence and pelvic floor dysfunction.
Don't take pain-free sitting for granted! A healthy pelvis is a happy pelvis. There are some simple things that you can do to maintain a healthy pelvis.1.Learn how to squeeze and let go of your pelvic floor muscles. Both activation and relaxation are equally important. To engage the pelvic floor muscles think of lifting the [...]
It can be very unnerving when a man experiences testicular pain. Usually, the first course of action is to head to the doctor. The simplest version of this story is a diagnosis of a prostate infection and the antibiotics work. End of story. But these are not the cases that end up at my office.