What Is Pelvic Floor Therapy?

Pelvic floor therapy involves physical methods of strengthening and/or relaxing the muscles of the pelvic floor to help improve core stability and control over urination, bowel movements, and sexual function.

Pelvic floor physical therapy uses a variety of different methods to:

• Increase pelvic floor muscle control
• Improve awareness of contraction and relaxation patterns
• Decrease pain and symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction

Pelvic floor muscle tone can change due to childbirth, the aging process, or stress. This may result in the muscles becoming too stretched and loose, weakened, or too tight and restricted. Both decreased and increased muscle tone can lead to pelvic floor dysfunction.

Research supports pelvic floor therapy as a minimally invasive treatment option that should be used as a first-line method for treating various types of pelvic floor dysfunction, including issues such as pelvic organ prolapse, urinary or fecal incontinence, and painful intercourse.

This article covers what to expect with pelvic floor therapy, as well as potential benefits. It also explains how to prepare for a pelvic floor therapy session.

Pelvic Floor Therapy: What to Expect

On the day of your pelvic floor therapy evaluation, you will be brought into a private treatment room. Your physical therapist will go over your medical history, symptoms, and complaints.

They will also perform a physical exam, which will consist of an external and internal component:

• During the external exam, your physical therapist will assess your lumbar spine, sacroiliac joints, and muscles that surround or attach to the pelvis—including the rectus abdominis, iliopsoas, and piriformis—to check for pain, tightness, or tenderness.  
• During the internal exam, your physical therapist will assess your pelvic floor muscles for tone, elasticity, pain, and tenderness. They may insert one or two gloved fingers into your vagina and/or rectum to palpate the pelvic floor muscles from the inside. A lubricant is often used to help ease the discomfort.
• Your physical therapist will also examine your ability to perform voluntary contraction and relaxation of your pelvic floor muscles, as well as movement of your pelvic floor with your breathing patterns. 

After your physical therapist has completed the examinations and made a clinical assessment about the possible causes of your symptoms, you will be scheduled for follow-up sessions. Each session will take place in a private treatment room. 

Pelvic Floor Therapy Exercises and Treatment Techniques

Your treatment may consist of the following:

• Exercises to relax or contract the muscles of your pelvic floor, such as Kegels
• Manual therapy, often performed internally by your physical therapist, to relax the pelvic floor muscles and relieve trigger points
• Biofeedback, with the use of a sensor pressure probe that is inserted into your vagina or rectum, to sense the strength of contractions of the pelvic floor muscles to help you be aware of when you are contracting or relaxing these muscles
• Electrical stimulation to help elicit pelvic floor muscle activation
• Pelvic floor therapy devices like vaginal dilators, which are cylindrical objects of varying widths that are inserted into the vagina to gently stretch the pelvic floor muscles and allow them to relax with insertion
• Weighted cones, which can be inserted into the vagina or rectum, and used during contraction exercises to provide increased resistance

Who Does It

Pelvic floor therapy involves specialized treatment from a physical therapist who is specifically certified in treating pelvic floor disorders.

A physical therapist will either obtain a Certificate of Achievement in Pelvic Physical Therapy (CAPP) or more extensive training and specialization as a Women’s Health Clinical Specialist (WCS) to evaluate and treat all diagnoses related to women’s health.

What Does Pelvic Floor Therapy Do?

Pelvic floor physical therapy is used to treat all types of disorders classified as pelvic floor dysfunction. Pelvic floor dysfunction can be subdivided into hypotonic, or low tone, and hypertonic, or high tone, disorders.

Muscle tone refers to the amount of resting tension in a muscle when it is not contracted. Too little or too much tone in the pelvic floor muscles can cause different forms of pelvic floor dysfunction.

Low Tone Disorders

When a muscle has low tone, the muscle is more relaxed and looser than normal, making it difficult to actively contract.

When the pelvic floor muscles are weak due to low tone and you have difficulty actively contracting them, your core cannot be adequately supported and your control over your bladder and bowel movements may be affected.

Low tone pelvic floor disorders that can be helped by pelvic floor therapy include:

• Pelvic organ prolapse: Abnormal descent of the pelvic organs, including the uterus, vagina, bladder, or rectum, from their normal positioning
• Stress incontinence: Involuntary leaking of urine during activities that increase intra-abdominal pressure, including coughing, sneezing, laughing, squatting, and heavy lifting
• Overactive bladder: A condition characterized by urinary urgency, frequency, and urge incontinence when your bladder involuntarily contracts
• Anal incontinence: Involuntary leaking of gas, fluid, or stool from the rectum

High Tone Disorders

When a muscle has high tone, the muscle is tighter and more restricted than normal. This can often cause pain when you try to relax or stretch the muscle.

When the pelvic floor muscles are excessively tight due to high tone, you may experience pelvic pain, muscle spasms, as well as pain and difficulty with insertion during intercourse or during a gynecological exam.

High tone pelvic floor disorders for which pelvic floor therapy may be recommended include:

• Pelvic floor myofascial pain: Chronic pain that results from tightened pelvic floor muscles 
• Vaginismus: Uncontrolled, involuntary spasm of the muscles surrounding the vagina that occurs with penetration 
• Dyspareunia: Pain during sexual intercourse from vaginal penetration
• Vulvodynia: Pain and discomfort in the vulva, often referred from tight and dysfunctional pelvic floor muscles

How to Prepare

To prepare for pelvic floor therapy, you should arrive dressed in comfortable clothes that allow you to move your legs freely without restricting your movement. Your exam includes an internal component, so make sure your groin and genital area is clean before your appointment.

It is helpful to come prepared with a list of questions or concerns you want to ask your physical therapist during your exam and evaluation. Give yourself extra time to arrive at the physical therapy facility to fill out initial paperwork before your first visit.

You should bring the following with you to your first appointment:

• Form of identification, such as a driver’s license or passport
• Health insurance card
• List of any medications you are taking
• Prescription from a referring physician, if needed

When Do You Need Pelvic Floor Therapy?

Pelvic floor therapy is appropriate for those with low tone or high tone forms of pelvic floor dysfunction and related pelvic floor muscle pain.

Pain in the pelvic region may not always be related to pelvic floor muscle dysfunction, however. The following symptoms may be signs of a more serious condition:

• Burning sensation during urination
• Heavy bleeding during menstruation
• Severe menstrual cramping
• Irregular periods
• Blood in urine or stool
• Abnormal vaginal discharge
• Fever
• Chills
• Nausea and vomiting

Make sure to contact your primary care physician or gynecologist if you have been experiencing any of these symptoms. You may have an infection or another condition related to your gastrointestinal, urinary, or reproductive organs that requires further medical treatment.

Summary

Pelvic floor therapy is a treatment option for pelvic floor dysfunction, whether the pelvic muscles are too tight or too weak. It can help with problems with urination, sexual intercourse, and more.

The initial assessment for this type of physical therapy includes an internal exam. Check with your healthcare provider to make sure this is an appropriate treatment for you.

A Word From Verywell

Symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction tend to get worse over time and can have a significant impact on your quality of life. Starting pelvic floor physical therapy as early as possible can help alleviate pain and other symptoms to help you regain control over your life.

If you have been experiencing chronic pain for more than three months or problems with urination, bowel movements, or sexual intercourse, contact your healthcare provider to see if additional testing is needed to determine if there is a more serious issue underlying your pelvic symptoms.