I’m a specialist in treating pelvic floor disorders. I want to talk a little bit about what biofeedback is and how it could be beneficial for people who are experiencing pelvic floor dysfunctions.
You may have heard the term biofeedback, or maybe not. Sometimes people are referred specifically to physical therapy for biofeedback training. I’d like to explain what biofeedback is and how it may be helpful for you when there’s a pelvic floor dysfunction.
What is Biofeedback?
Biofeedback is a way to give you more information about what your body is doing. Typically, in pelvic floor therapy, we are monitoring the pelvic floor muscles. Those are the muscles down in the bottom of the pelvis which should contract and relax at appropriate times.
We may use biofeedback for conditions like these:
- Incontinence
- Pelvic floor prolapse issues
- Constipation
- Pain
It could really just be any type of pelvic floor dysfunction where we need to get you more information about what your muscles are doing at any given time. In some of those conditions, we may be focusing on how to strengthen the muscles. How do we properly get those muscles to contract and engage and provide more support for the bladder or the bowels?
How We Use Biofeedback at Rebound Physical Therapy
Here’s how we use biofeedback: We’ve got electrodes that are either hooked up to the skin of the perineum area or an internal sensor, kind of like a tampon. Those sensors are picking up what your muscles are doing and sending that electrical activity to the computer. You can see on the computer screen when your muscles contract so you know exactly when you are contracting your muscles.
Then when you relax, you can again see it happen on the computer screen. That’s really helpful to tell if you’re contracting or relaxing the right muscles.
Why Biofeedback Helps with Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
Sometimes, especially if those muscles are weak or you’re having a hard time coordinating them, you might be trying to compensate by using different muscles. For example, sometimes the leg muscles or abdominal muscles may be trying to activate more. That’s not really what we’re going for.
With the sensors and the computer screen, we can pinpoint that, yes, you are getting those right muscles that we’re trying to target. It helps for you to be able to see that on the screen. Your brain gets that immediate feedback that, yes, you are actually doing what you were trying to do.
Being able to see that response immediately on the computer screen can be really helpful in getting control of those muscles to gain the confidence that you are correctly coordinating them.
Biofeedback Assists Muscle Relaxation, Too
Another scenario that we use biofeedback for is that sometimes those muscles may not be resting when they should be at rest. Think about your arm muscles. When they’re relaxed, they should be pretty much shut off. But for some people, when they think they’re relaxed, they may actually be holding tension in those muscles all the time.
By monitoring those pelvic floor muscles with biofeedback, we can see that, “Oh, when you think you’re relaxed, your muscles are actually still actually working.” Being able to see that on the computer screen and make that connection helps our patients learn how to shut those muscles off and find that more relaxed state.
This can also be used in situations when you’re experiencing constipation. In that case, those muscles should be able to shut off. From their normal relaxed condition, they should be able to shut off even more than that when you try to go to the bathroom.
Some people can’t figure out how to get those muscles to relax further than just their normal, relaxed state. We can work with them using biofeedback monitoring. Just that very minute fine-tuning of achieving that relaxation helps them learn how to do that process correctly.
Learn More About How We Can Help
Those are examples of how biofeedback can be used in the clinic. If you’re experiencing any symptoms or you are referred by your doctor or have heard biofeedback mentioned, but really weren’t sure if you were willing to try it, I would really encourage you to. It can definitely be beneficial.
Even if you’re just struggling with, “Okay, I don’t even know if I’m getting my muscles coordinated correctly,” biofeedback can really be a great tool to help give you some more confidence and help improve your symptoms. Definitely reach out to me at 785-271-5533 if you have any questions or feel like that’s something you’d like to learn more about.
Christina Bausch graduated from Kansas University in 2008 as a Doctor of Physical Therapy. Her specialty is women’s health and pelvic floor therapy. She loves seeing the improvements her patients make in their lives through physical therapy. She is married, has three kids and lives on a farm north of Topeka.
