Pelvic health physiotherapy

About

Our pelvic health physiotherapy service offers specialist assessment and rehabilitation for pelvic, bladder and bowel pain and dysfunction.

Our specialist services for women include treatment for pregnancy-related pain, bladder or bowel problems and those with pelvic floor muscle dysfunction. We have one of the largest teams of women’s health physiotherapists in the UK. In addition to running outpatient clinics, our service also provides support and advice on the Trust’s postnatal and gynaecology wards, to women who have a high risk of pelvic floor dysfunction after birth or gynaecological surgery. 

Our specialist services for men include treatment for bladder or bowel problems.

Our aim is to diagnose a patient’s condition and set out a treatment plan with them in order to achieve the best possible outcome. We try to provide physiotherapy at the most convenient location for patients at community clinics as well as at Hammersmith and St Mary’s hospitals.

Conditions we treat

Musculoskeletal conditions we treat in pregnancy include: 

• pelvic girdle pain
• back pain
• rib pain
• abdominal pain
• hip pain
• carpal tunnel syndrome

Gynaecological conditions we treat in women are:

• stress urinary incontinence
• urgency urinary incontinence
• mixed (stress and urgency) urinary incontinence
• overactive bladder
• bowel incontinence
• pelvic organ prolapse
• pain during sex
• vaginal and/or vulval pain
• constipation (obstructive defecation)

Urological conditions we treat in women and men are:

• urinary incontinence
• overactive bladder
• voiding dysfunction (difficulty passing urine or fully emptying your bladder)
• bowel incontinence
• constipation (obstructive defecation) 

Treatments we offer

We offer the following treatments:

• advice on lifestyle changes to reduce the chance of symptoms increasing
• individualised exercise programmes to improve movement, increase flexibility and strengthen muscles
• hydrotherapy
• core stability classes – group exercise for core strengthening of the muscles of the back, pelvis and hips
• mobilisation and manipulation techniques to reduce pain and improve movement
• soft tissue techniques to reduce pain and increase flexibility of a muscle
• biofeedback – specialist equipment to improve normal movement
• neuromuscular electrical stimulation to increase awareness and strength of pelvic floor muscles
• acupuncture to reduce pain or increase relaxation of a muscle
• provision of equipment – pelvic belts, elbow crutches, wrist splints 

Further online resources

• Pelvic Obstetric and Gynaecological Physiotherapy (POGP)
• Continence Foundation
• Bladder and Bowel community
• Chartered Society of Physiotherapists
• Pelvic Pain Support Network
• Mothers with anal sphincter injuries in childbirth
• Squeeze app: pelvic floor muscle training apps