Family Osteopaths
Osteopathic treatment of the pelvis can help with
· Bladder incontinence and frequency
· Pelvic organ prolapse
· Bowel issues and fecal incontinence
· Pelvic pain
· Sexual dysfunction and pain
· Pre and post-prostectomy care
· Erectile dysfunction including post-surgery or Peyronie’s disease
· Pregnancy issues – pelvic girdle pain, exercise advice, continence, perineal tear advice
· Scar management
· Return to exercise
After giving birth, 33% of women will suffer from urinary incontinence. Its common, but shouldn’t be accepted as ‘normal’. It’s also very treatable – the success rate is over 80% with correct pelvic floor muscle exercises supervised by a trained practitioner in pelvic health.
over 50% of women over the age of menopause suffer from prolapse? And that some unlucky women develop prolapses immediately after giving birth. A prolapse is when either your bladder, bowel or uterus (or all of them at once) descend or bulge into your vagina. This feeling of heaviness and dragging can be improved with corrective pelvic floor osteopathy.
And for men, pelvic floor exercises done correctly prior to and after prostatectomy reduces their incontinence considerably compared to those who don’t do them. Erectile function can be improved in over 75% of men having issues, whether its post op or just related to being over 40!
What to Expect
Your initial appointment is usually 50 to 60 minutes long. We will ask you lots of questions including some pretty personal ones about your bladder and bowel habits, your sexual function, and your medical history. And you can ask me lots of questions too. No questions are ‘stupid’.
Depending on your issue, we may recommend an internal examination as part of the initial assessment. However, you need to feel comfortable about this assessment technique, know why it's recommended, and give your full consent to it. So often we do this at a follow-up appointment. And sometimes people just don’t want to do this at all, and that’s OK. We can work around it.
Depending on your issues, a treatment plan may involve an initial appointment with 4 to 6 follow up appointments. Regaining strength in the pelvic floor muscles (if that is part of your issue) takes time – usually 4 to 6 months. We can’t speed up muscle growth, healing, and strength training. It takes time, but normally we get there in the end.
Follow up appointments are usually 20 to 30 minutes long. These are an opportunity for a re-assessment to check your progress, make adjustments to your treatment, provide education, and to answer the questions you have. We may ask you to keep a bladder and/or bowel diary to help you gain insight into your condition, trial different toileting positions, or do a self-examination at home so you know how you are progressing.