Frequently Asked Questions

Pelvic Health Physiotherapy is the assessment and treatment of the various conditions that involve the pelvic floor and symptoms that manifest in this area. The pelvic floor includes your muscles, ligaments, nerves and connective tissue. Pelvic health is a pelvic floor that is strong and coordinated with breath and movement, and that functions well in all aspects of your life.

Poor pelvic health can manifest in conditions such as incontinence, prolapse or pain; for example leaking urine when you laugh, an inability to control wind, a dragging sensation at the end of the day, low back pain when sitting or abdominal bulging when lifting.

Carrying out a pelvic floor examination lets me assess the pelvic floor fully. Lying down with a towel placed over your pelvis, I will use a gloved hand to palpate the internal vaginal walls. We will work together to make sure it is a comfortable exam, and you are in full control of the situation the whole time. I will be looking for the muscle attachments, any areas of muscle tightness, or soreness, the strength of that muscle will be tested and your ability to coordinate it with the breath. To reassure women - I don’t care what state your lady garden is in at all!

The exam provides a lot of useful information that we can’t get from an external pelvic floor exam. You will also leave with a much clearer understanding of how to complete your pelvic floor exercises. An examination will only be performed if it is necessary and this can be at your initial assessment or at a later date.

Many patients report the exam wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be and they are pleased they had it done, as they leave with so much information thats specific to their body.

Your pelvic floor is the base of the core, and is hugely connected to the low back muscles. Weak, tight or poorly coordinated pelvic floor muscles can manifest in problems not just in the pelvic floor but in other areas of your body such as the lower back.

Back pain can also sometimes be a result of a prolapse. To improve your symptoms, I will complete a full postural screen on the pelvis and lower back, once I have established how you move, we can work on solutions to the problem.

My approach is hugely varied, and will focus on what is troubling you and how to get you back to where you want to be. It’s likely to involve exercises, lifestyle guidance and advice. Everything I offer is evidence-based and customised to you to help you get back to doing the things that are important to you.

Pelvic Health Physio is not all about completing ‘kegals’. A healthy pelvic floor is one that can fully lengthen and fully contract under load and is coordinated with breath and everyday movements.

You might be surprised to hear that sometimes the treatment doesn’t initially involve any squeezing at all, until we’ve addressed factors such as muscle tightness,  breathing patterns, lifestyle and everyday movement. Sometimes the pelvic floor is too ‘tight’ and requires relaxation and lengthening instead. This is why there can’t be a rule that one treatment works for everyone, we are all different, have different pregnancies, postures and birth stories…

Yes, our program is not just a fitness program. It encompasses many aspects of pelvic health, to help you get:

• Stronger pelvic floor

• Improved posture

• Better breathing patterns

• Safer lifting technique

• Improved diastasis/tummy gap

• Increased body awareness 

• Better understanding of bladder, bowel and sexual function

• Increased energy and strength to deal with mum life

The program is delivered online via our a paid membership website over at www. the-mothership-physio.com.

We host our monthly clinic calls via zoom, and have a supportive and nurturing WhatsApp community called 'The Village' 

The sessions are prerecorded, and videos are kept ‘short and sweet’ so that you can fit them in around your schedule. Videos are released on a Monday and we ask that you try and complete each video that week, if you have time to do them twice, or three times then great- that’s a bonus!

Yes, this program is not only safe for these issues but will enable you to work on them to improve them. One of the reasons we are so passionate about delivering this program is to empower and support mums like you not to put up with these complaints and others like it such as back pain, pelvic pain, poor posture, incontinence or pelvic floor weakness after having your baby.

No, it isn't too late for you to join. This program is beneficial whether you're months or years postpartum. One of our recent participants had a child that was in their 40’s!

You can join us 6 weeks post vaginal birth and 10 weeks post c-section, and many mums comes to us years later.

Email me at hello@fitzandphysio.com and I will answer any questions and send you an application form to complete. Or you can sign up here!

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