We’re thrilled to welcome Edwina Powe to Flow as our newest Sutherland Shire women’s physio. With postgraduate training and experience across hospital and private practice, Edwina supports women with pelvic floor rehab, pregnancy and postnatal care, continence concerns and complex pelvic pain.
If you’re seeking a Shire women’s health physio who combines clinical expertise with a kind, practical approach, Edwina is now accepting new patients.
Bladder Pain Syndrome (Interstitial Cystitis)
Bladder Pain Syndrome (Interstitial Cystitis)
Charlotte Conlon & Heidi Barlow are a Women’s Health Physiotherapists from Flow Physio Co Sutherland. Today they talks to us about Bladder Pain Syndrome (Interstitial Cystitis)
What is bladder pain syndrome?
The bladder is a pelvic organ that stores urine which is produced by the kidneys, until we decide to empty, the urine then travels down the urethra and is expelled from the body.
Interstitial cystitis is a condition causing bladder pressure, bladder pain and sometimes pelvic pain. Symptoms can vary from person to person and can range from mild to agonising.
Common symptoms of interstitial cystitis
Pain in the bladder/abdomen when the bladder is filling up with urine. The kidney’s make urine constantly so they rarely get a break from pain, some may experience some temporary relief when they empty their bladder
Bladder urgency and frequency. A person with a healthy bladder may urinate 7 times per day, in comparison to someone with bladder pain who may urinate in excess of 20 times day and night.
Lower back and pelvic pain
Worsening of symptoms with menstruation
Pain with sexual intercourse
Ulcers/sore/bleeding in the bladder which sometimes can be seen in the urine
Lack of sleep to due increased urination over night
Treatment options
Lifestyle factors such as avoiding smoking and alcohol
Dietary factors such as avoiding caffeine, coffee, acidic and spicy foods
Managing constipation
Physiotherapy - Bladder pain syndrome is associated with an overactive tight pelvic floor, as the bladder fills the pelvic floor tightens and this can increase the severity of symptoms. Physio’s will perform internal and external releases of the pelvic floor and deep internal hip rotators and they can teach you how do do this. They will teach you bladder training and give you techniques to use to try and space out the time between urinating.
Medication: Pain relief medication can help and your doctor may prescribe medication to help the bladder urgency and frequency
**There is currently no single treatment that has been found to be effective for majority of patients with bladder pain syndrome and to achieve symptom relief, many treatment options may need to be combined**
Pelvic Floor Pain | Common but not NORMAL
Women’s Health Wednesday
Here is a great video below that talks about how pelvic floor health issues are common, but how they are not spoken about and are not normal.
Let’s start talking about it, so we can lead happier and lives.
What is an over-active pelvic floor? Women's Health Wednesday
This week charlotte, our women's health physio in sutherland, explains AN OVER-ACTIVE PELVIC FLOOR?
Like any muscle in the body it is important that the pelvic floor can both contract and relax.
If you think of your bicep muscle this needs to be able to contract to pick something up and relax to put something down. Imagine if the bicep was contracted all day long, it would be really hard to use your arm functionally and your bicep muscle would not work efficiently. Especially when strength is needed, the pelvic floor is the same.
Some women have pelvic floor muscles which have difficulty relaxing and remain constantly contracted. This however does NOT mean they are strong, imagine how tired they would be when you need them!
OVER-ACTIVE ≠ STRONG
What are the symptoms of an over-active pelvic floor?
Symptoms will vary from person to person, but often include:
Pain with sex
Pain with using tampons
Pain with pap-smears
Pelvic or back pain
Difficulty emptying bladder or bowel (constipation)
Incontinence
Increased sensation of needing to urinate
Who is at risk of an over-active pelvic floor?
People who tend to have a higher risk for an over-active pelvic floor include:
People with an overactive bladder, this is due to always needing to squeeze their pelvic floor to minimise leaking
Strong athletic women with strong outer core muscles
People with anxiety
Sedentary work/life style (poor posture can shorten the pelvic floor muscles)
Mouth/chest breathers
What is the treatment for an over-active pelvic floor?
Our initial treatment will always look at the way you breathe!
If you imagine your core and trunk muscles as a box, your pelvic floor is the base of your core with your transverse abdominus being the walls and your diaphragm muscle (breathing muscle) being the ceiling.
It is really important that all aspects of your core are working efficiently. If you are always breathing through your mouth, with a chest pattern of breathing the pelvic floor does not have a chance to relax.
Diaphragmatic breathing or “belly” breathing is essential as this allows the pelvic floor to descend and relax.
Can I still do pilates with an over-active pelvic floor?
Yes! However more focus should be on the strength of your muscles (not including your pelvic floor initially) therefore you should not actively contract your pelvic floor during initial pilates sessions.
As symptoms decrease, we start to add in a graded strengthening program for you pelvic floor
