8. Pelvic organ support
• Peritoneum (minimal)
• Relative negative abdominal pressure due to
respiration (decreases functional weight of
organs up to 50%)
• Pelvic floor muscles and connective tissues
Take home message: If you’re teaching core/trunk stabilization
exercises, you MUST be certain your patient is also contracting
their PFMs, or prolapse and stress incontinence will worsen!!
Kisner book, p803
9. Pelvic anatomy
• Supportive connective tissue/ligaments
– Disrupted with abdominal incision
• Pubovesical ligaments (lower abdomen)
• Peritoneal fascia
• Pelvic and endopelvic fascia
– Disrupted with pregnancy, ablated with hysterectomy
• Cardinal ligament
• Broad ligament
• Round ligaments
• Uterosacral ligaments
10. Pelvic anatomy
• Innervation
– Perineal branch of pudendal n.
– Inferior rectal branch of pudendal n.
– Pudendal n.
– 3rd and 4th sacral nn.
– Ventral rami sacral nn.
– Autonomic nervous system
– Somatic nerves
11.
12. Urinary Incontinence—
Incidence
• UI is often key factor in determining the need for
nursing home placement
• 50% all institutionalized elderly in US suffer from UI
• 46% young female athletes with UI
• 42% girls 15-18 with UI
• 31% women 42-50
• 38% women community-dwelling 60+
Dockter 2007, Dockter 2008, Burgio 1991, Dionko 1986
13. Financial Implications
• Cost to nursing facilities is high, with estimates
as high as $10-20 billion/year
• Supplies
• Caregiver support
• Laundry
14. Neurological control
• Bladder fills>stretch receptors>micturation reflex
• Midbrain inhibits reflex until appropriate social
setting to void
• Sphincter relaxes>detrusor contracts>voiding
occurs
15. Neurological Control
• Sensory nerves
• Parasympathetic S2-4: stretch receptors
• Sympathetic T9-L2: filling sensation to cortex
• Motor nerves
• To detrusor muscle: sympathetic S2-S4
• To bladder neck: sympathetic T11-L1
16. Neurological Control
• Spinal Cord Center
• S2-S4 (vertebral level T12, L2, L3)
• Coordinates the external urethral sphincter with
bladder contraction
17. Types of Incontinence
• Stress (involuntary leakage on effort or
exertion, or on sneezing or coughing)
• Urge (involuntary leakage accompanied by or
immediately preceded by urgency)
• Mixed
• Overflow (loss of urine secondary to over-
distention of the bladder)
• Functional
18. Informed consent
• APTA recommends no additional informed
consent document for assessment and
treatment of the pelvic floor muscles
• Informed consent
– Alternatives
– Prognosis
– Effectiveness of treatment
19. Professional responsibilities
• State practice act
• Terminology
• Referral sources know your procedures
• Specific training
• Ethical and professional behavior
20. Professional responsibilities
• Patient education
– Anatomy and equipment
– Tests to be used
– Verbal consent
– Observing assistant available
– Mirror for observation available
21. PT treatment for UI
• Stress urinary incontinence
– Strengthening
• Vaginal/anal weights
• Biofeedback
• Electrical stimulation
• Progressive resistive exercises
– Coordination
• Isolation
• Co-contraction
• Contraction during body movement
23. PFM functions
• Maintain continence
• Support pelvic contents
• Control and elevate intra-abdominal pressure
(IAP)
• Stabilize the sacroiliac joints
• PFM are activated in a manner consistent with
lumbopelvic control
“Due to their role in modulation of IAP and their mechanical effect on the
pelvis, the PFM are likely to have a role in other functions that involve
control of the abdominal contents” Paul Hodges, PhD, MedDR, BPhty
24. Consequences of
dysfunction
• Respiratory disease and incontinence are
more strongly associated with LBP than are
elevated BMI and physical activity combined
(Smith, Russell, Hodges 2005)
• Women with, or who develop, SUI or
breathing disorders are more likely to have
LBP or develop it (Smith, Russell, Hodges
2005b)
25. Palpation lab
• In side lying
– Adductors
– Pubic ramus
– Ischial tuberosity
– Levator ani
– Ischiococcygeus
– Internal obturator
28. PT treatment for SIJD
(pregnancy)
• Alignment: Muscle Energy Techniques
• Treat muscle and soft tissue
• Therapeutic Exercise
• Education/Self-Care and Comfort measures
• External supports if appropriate
• PLAN: 2-4 visits and then prn till delivery
29. SIJ activity precautions
• Avoid standing with weight on one foot
• Keep weight equal on both feet when getting in/out of vehicle
and moving sit to/from stand
• Avoid stairs; if necessary, take one stair at a time
• Place a pillow between knees when sleeping on your side; a
pillow under your knees and thin pad under low back when
lying on your back
• Avoid sleeping semi-prone (frog-legged)
• ABSOLUTELY avoid combos of: sitting, twisting, bending (such
as reaching into the back seat of the car, lifting small child
from the side of a chair)
30. Treatment for general
LBP/disc
• Exercises to decrease cumulative strain
throughout the day
– Anterior/posterior pelvic tilts
– Lateral pelvic tilts
• Positioning to decrease strain
– Quadruped, change positions frequently
• Activation of TrA and modified pelvic tilts to
“neutral spine”
• Supports
31. Pre-partum guidelines
for positioning and exercise
• ACOG guidelines
– http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_educat
ion/bp119.cfm
• Do not exceed 5 minutes supine after 1st
trimester (tilt pelvis to left to decrease vena
cava compression)
• Limit single-leg stance and postures
• Limit width of stance in asymmetrical yoga
postures
32. Post-partum guidelines
for positioning and exercise
• Avoid buttocks higher than head for 6 weeks
post-partum
• TrA contractions may be initiated immediately
• Rectus abdominus exercise and rotational
exercises MUST be avoided if there is a
diastasis
• Limit single-leg stance and postures
• Limit width of stance in asymmetrical yoga
postures
33. Gestational diabetes
• More than half go on to have Type II diabetes
– Great opportunity for intervention/prevention
– Lifestyle changes
– Exercise
34. Implications for post-partum
physical therapy
• Musculoskeletal pain complaints
• Abdominal muscle
• PFM rehabilitation
• Clogged milk ducts
• UI that persists more than 3 months
35.
36. Pelvic pain statistics…
• PP most common form of chronic pain in women of
childbearing age in U.S.
• Women with pelvic pain report lower QOL than other
types of chronic pain (e.g. back pain)
• Hysterectomy most common surgery in U.S.; C-
section 2nd-most common
• ½ of U.S. women age 30 have had Chlamydia, which
causes PID—a risk factor for CPP and infertility
38. Gynecologic origins
• 24%-86% of cases of pelvic pain
• Endometriosis is diagnosis in 52% of these
• Intra-abdominal adhesions in 10%-51%
• Endometriosis, adhesions and fibroids do not cause
pain in all patients
• 50% of women have no known historical cause for
adhesions
• More than 50% of adhesions have nerve fibers in
them (Tulandi 1998, Kligman 1993)
40. Chronic Pelvic Pain
• Continuous or episodic pain in the area of the pelvis
(true and false) for at least 6 months
• 10-40% of all gynecologic consults
• Multifactorial etiology
– Poor posture
– Decreased flexibility and strength
– Core muscle weakness
– PFM dysfunction
– Pelvic joint pain and dysfunction
42. Pelvic Pain progression
• Painful episiotomy
• Pelvic floor muscle spasm/tension
• Pain referred to abd wall, low back, hips and
thighs
• Pelvic visceral hyperalgesia
• Postural changes
• Adaptive muscle imbalances
• Spine pathology, abd trigger points
43. Indications for physical
therapy
• Initial conservative management of CPP
• PFM dysfunction
• Dyspareunia
• Vaginismus
• Scarring of the abdominal and/or vaginal walls
• History of abdominal or vaginal surgeries