Endometriosis Awareness Month: How Pelvic Floor PT Can Help!
- Mar 23
- 2 min read
Empowering women is something I am incredibly passionate about. Not only do I want to empower women but I want to help them FEEL empowered. I want them to realize that they are not defined by their diagnosis. This is never more true than for those with Endometriosis. Endometriosis is a condition where the lining of the uterus grows outside of the uterus attaching itself haphazardly to other organs. (1) This, as you can imagine, causes significant pain thus affecting a woman’s quality of life. While researchers struggle to find a cure, they have found that there are beneficial effects to exercising, manual therapy and pelvic floor physical therapy! Here’s what the research says…
Many women who are diagnosed with endometriosis suffer from chronic pelvic pain and dyspareunia (pain with intercourse). The most likely reason for this pain is what is called a Hypertonic Pelvic Floor. This simply means that the pelvic floor muscles are in a state of constant tightness.(2,3) This constant tightness can be caused by the stress of the disorder and/or the pain within the abdomen from the lesions themselves. This constant tightness can then lead to urinary and bowel dysfunctions. In order to picture how this might feel, try making a tight fist with your hand. Squeeze your hand as hard as you can for as long as you can. You’ll notice first that your hand starts to hurt both from where your nails are digging in and from being in a state of constant contraction. The second thing you’ll notice is that your hand starts to fatigue and would drop whatever it was holding because it cannot sustain that level of squeeze for very long. So, there are a lot of factors at play.
Now, when we think of traditional exercises, we typically think of strengthening. However in this case, we are focusing on relaxation techniques, gentle stretching and hands-on techniques to reduce the tight spots within the muscles. (2,3,4) Our focus is on LENGTHENING the pelvic floor muscles initially. We never want to strengthen an already tight muscle as this will add insult to injury, literally!
With that being said, I don’t want women with endometriosis to be fearful of exercise! (2) This fear of movement can be seen in anyone who is in pain. And I get it- you don’t want to cause yourself more pain. It’s human nature to protect yourself. A Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist will work with you to determine which exercises will be most beneficial. At Empower Women’s Health, I take a woman’s thoughts, feelings and my findings into consideration before making an individualized exercise program. I always tell my patients that while I may specialize in pelvic floor physical therapy, I do not live in their body. My patient and I are a team-focused on reducing pain and improving quality of life. I encourage you to come join the team!
Yours in Pelvic Health,
Danielle
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