If you’ve ever gone through a menstrual cycle, then chances are you have experienced pain during that cycle at some point in your life. But how many of you have experienced debilitating pain during menstruation that has kept you from getting out of bed for days? Debilitating pain that has caused you to miss school, work, and events with your family or friends? While periods can be painful, particularly during heavier flows, it is not common to have excruciating pain [...]
Whether it’s pelvic pain, discomfort with sex, incontinence, difficulty having a bowel movement, or feelings of fullness or heaviness in your lower abdomen or pelvic region. The signs and symptoms of an pelvic organ prolapse can be extremely overwhelming. Let’s start with the most important question…what exactly is a prolapse? A pelvic organ prolapse (POP) occurs when your pelvic organs move from their original position. It can be due to a multitude of factors including but not limited to: Weakness [...]
Body Myths: The Pelvic Floor Edition We get a lot of information about our bodies from all sorts of sources today (your Instagram feed, the news, and even your friendly neighbor who’s been on “WebMD” a few too many times…) So what is the truth and what is a myth? We will start with the “Pelvic Floor” which remains a mystery to MANY of us. So let's set the record straight: “Wetting yourself with every sneeze, cough, or belly laugh, that’s [...]
The body is really a phenomenal system that has the unique ability to completely rebuild our tissues when we get injured, biologically stitching our wounds back together. It’s quite amazing! The special cells that lay down the collagen to create a scar do a fantastic job of closing the body off from the unforgiving world. The problem is that the collagen fibers don’t get laid down in a very organized fashion (think of a string of Christmas lights that mysteriously [...]
Welcome back! We’ve spent the last two blogs introducing the mystical Postpartum period, specifically Diastasis Recti and Stress Urinary Incontinence. Today, we discuss two more issues that you maybe haven’t heard so much about, but that can occur and could cause pain and dysfunction down the line. Number 3 → Dysfunctional Scar Following a c-section, there will be a scar across the suprapubic region. You can also tear or have an episiotomy during a vaginal birth, which would leave a [...]
Hello again, ladies! Our last blog on this topic introduced you to postpartum recovery and how Physical Therapists can bridge the disconnect between what we know and what we don’t regarding normal recovery. In this post, we will delve into two conditions that you may have heard of or even experienced before, how they can affect you, and how to get help. Number 1→ Diastasis Rectus Abdominis (otherwise known as Diastasis) Diastasis occurs when the rectus abdominis, or the “6 [...]
A series for all moms! This is the first of a series about postpartum recovery, some issues that may arise from pregnancy or childbirth, and a handbook to knowing what is normal and when to seek help. Okay, ladies, let’s go back to school! Motherhood is a wild and crazy adventure, and the very beginning of the adventure is definitely the most confusing. The market is flooded with information on what happens to the baby immediately postpartum, but very little [...]
Dr. Anisha Drake, PT, DPT, WCS Many of the structures in the body change during pregnancy. As the ligaments stretch, the rectus abdominis muscles split, the organs get moved around, and the brain is finding new and efficient ways to move the body. In the past, much of the complaints pregnant women had during pregnancy were given a sympathetic nod and a promise it would get better. However, new research shows that this is not always the case. Although discomfort [...]
I spend a lot of my time around cyclists, and the most common complaint I hear from my friends, clients, and patients is saddle pain. Some have given in, resigning themselves to a life of painful riding because they were once told to “suck it up, because all saddles are painful”. Some have significantly reduced how much they ride, or stopped riding entirely. For women getting back on the bike after having a baby, or trying to start cycling for [...]
By Melissa Baudo Marchetti Calling all moms! Have you recently had a baby, or still struggling with post baby pain and weakness? Pregnancy places high demand on the musculoskeletal system and can be very traumatic for some women leaving them with myofascial pain, internal pelvic pain, nerve pain, diastasis recti (a gapping in the abdominal muscles), weakness in the core from a C-section, neck and shoulder pain from holding your newborn baby, and much more. In December, after a five-year [...]
