Sarah* is a 37 year old mother with a 5 month old baby, this is her third child. The delivery of the baby involved forceps, as a result of the childbirth she is now experiencing some incontinence issues.
Sarah* has noticed that when taking part in her daily activities she is suffering from a loss of bladder control, this occurred when she was doing activities that included lifting her new born. After doing her household chores, she had also noticed mild lower back pain and heaviness in her pelvis.
Sarah* came into our Aberfoyle Park practice to see a Physiotherapist for pelvic floor Physiotherapy. After a thorough investigation by our Women’s Health Physio, it was found that her pelvic muscle tone was low. Manual testing of the pelvic floor revealed that her strength wasn’t good and she had poor endurance and coordination.
Sarah’s* initial Physiotherapy sessions involved information and training on exercises to increase her pelvic floor awareness. She was given a real time ultrasound, this helped her to see how her pelvic floor muscles work; it also allowed her to learn how to do a pelvic floor contraction properly. She is now going to progress to a Pilates rehab program for core stability exercises as well as pelvic floor strengthening in functional movements and positions.
After 8 weeks of Physiotherapy treatment combined with a Pilates exercise routine, Sarah* began to regain control over her bladder. She also feels stronger and is able to do her household activities with less pain and fatigue. As her symptoms of incontinence have decreased, she feels more confident whilst she is shopping, walking and socialising this has improved the quality of her life.
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*The name has been changed to protect the privacy of our client.