I am a physical therapist here at Rebound Physical Therapy in Topeka, Kansas, and I specialize in treating pelvic floor disorders. I want to tell you today what the benefits are of pelvic floor rehab both before and after pelvic surgery.
If you think about pelvic surgeries or abdominal surgeries, they all kind of go together. There are many examples of this type of surgery:
- Pelvic support surgery, perhaps due to a prolapse or something similar
- Surgery to address incontinence
- Bowel-related surgery, such as a bowel resection
- Cancer-related surgery of the abdomen or pelvic area
- C-section or hysterectomy
- Surgery for endometriosis
- Laparoscopic-type surgery
- Hernia repair
- Appendix surgery
- Gallbladder surgery
- Anything else in that abdominal-pelvic area
Some of those surgeries are emergency surgeries so obviously those must be done right away. But other conditions addressed by surgery might be able to be helped by physical therapy so that you don’t even need surgery.
It’s also possible that maybe you do need surgery, but you’re going to be better off in the long run if we do some therapy beforehand to treat those underlying reasons that surgery is needed. When physical therapy is done first, then the surgery can work as well as it possibly can, and then its benefits can last, too. We’re able to maintain your improvement from the surgery and give you the best overall function and quality of life.
Benefit of Seeing a Physical Therapist Before Pelvic Surgery
So how can a physical therapist help you at this time, when you are thinking you’re going to need pelvic surgery? I’ll explain why.
Physical therapists look at the musculoskeletal system. We are going to examine the function of your muscles. When we’re looking at the muscles of the pelvic floor, we’re looking at the abdominal and core muscles, and we look at your breathing and just how your body’s moving and functioning in general. If any of those areas are not functioning well or not coordinating correctly, that could be causing pain. It could also cause issues that lead to prolapse. Or this poor function could be causing whatever symptoms you are experiencing.
It’s always a good idea to do some physical therapy if you are looking ahead at pelvic surgery. Just as long as it’s not an emergency situation or it’s not something that is definitely going to need surgery. In that situation, it could be a really good idea to do some physical therapy ahead of time that may address your symptoms. You might avoid needing surgery.
Even if you don’t avoid surgery, you’re going to learn how to use your body correctly.
We talk to our patients about subjects like how to just breathe correctly or use your muscles correctly as you’re bending and picking things up around the house.
We also explain how to go to the bathroom correctly. A lot of times our patients might be straining or doing things that they really shouldn’t be doing when going to the bathroom. I know that’s something that we don’t really talk about. A physical therapist can help you learn how to do that correctly so that your muscles are doing what they’re supposed to be doing and you end up with a good result.
More Benefits After Pelvic Surgery
Once you do have surgery, you might end up with scars and potentially with pain. That’s something that we can really help with, using physical therapy. Keep this in mind following your pelvic surgery.
As soon as your doctor gives you the okay, we could go ahead and do some physical therapy with you. Here’s some ways we could help:
- Are your muscles weak following surgery? That’s really common, so we can help teach you how to properly use those muscles and help build up that strength in the muscles.
- Is there scar tissue or tightness in the muscles? We can address that in conjunction with strengthening them. We can work on some manual techniques to help loosen up scar tissue and help teach you how to do things on your own at home that can help.
I hope that kind of opens up your thought process about physical therapy or surgery for pelvic issues. It’s not necessarily one or the other. A lot of times they work the best together.
Reach Out to Us to Learn How We Can Help
If you are having symptoms and you’re thinking, “Oh, I think surgery is my only option,” definitely I would try physical therapy first. Talk to your doctor about it and see if that’s something that would be appropriate, or you can reach out to me and we can talk about your symptoms and see if PT is something that would be beneficial.
If you’ve already had surgery, that’s another good opportunity to reach out and say, “Hey, here’s where I’m at. Are there some things that I can do to help?”
We look forward to hearing from you if there’s something going on that we can help with. Reach out to us anytime. Just call our office at (785) 271-5533
Tags: Physical Therapy
