Pediatric Pelvic Floor Therapy | restoredphysiquecopy

Pediatric Pelvic & Abdominal Physical Therapy Services

Services for Children from Birth - 18 years old

Some common conditions that we can address for pediatrics include:

Bedwetting
Urinary leaking (Incontinence) during laughing, sports or play
Constipation
Potty/Toilet Training difficulties
Frequent or infrequent urination
Abdominal, pelvic, or stomach pain
Accidental bowel movements
Pain with bowel movements
Straining for bowel movements
Pain or difficulty with tampons or menstrual cups
Painful periods

Treatment is focused on restoring optimal muscle tone, strength, coordination, and flexibility in the surrounding pelvic musculature of the back, abdomen, thighs, and pelvic floor using various manual therapy techniques, biofeedback, real-time ultrasound, education, and exercises. For more information about what we do during these session please see "What to Expect" below.

Did you know?

Your child is NOT alone!

20% of pediatrician appointments are for incontinence problems
Bedwetting affects 5-7 million children in the US
Bedwetting affects 15% of girls and 22% of boys over the age of 6
15% of GI doctor visits are for bowel dysfunction such as constipation
Junior high & high school athletes often experience urinary leakage during sports

Many children with bladder and bowel issues experience embarrassment or anxiety about their symptoms which can impact their friendships, behaviors, and ability to participate in social activities like sleepovers and sports.

What to Expect: Treatment Sessions

The pediatric pelvic PT session is a one hour individualized session with the child and their caregiver. We will review the child's history, symptoms, and bladder/bowel diary that will be filled out prior to our appointment and assess the child's core and pelvic floor tone, strength, and coordination as needed. We do not provide internal pelvic floor assessments or treatment in the pediatric population and instead focus treatment on external manual techniques and technology such as biofeedback and real-time ultrasound as appropriate (more information below). Education on anatomy, bladder and bowel habits, and posture will be reviewed and the child and caregiver will be given homework and exercises to perform at home. One huge benefit of having this session at home is the PT will be able to see the current set up for toileting and be able to adjust the toilet setup for optimal results and to see the child in the actual setting where toileting will happen (including being able to do biofeedback on their toilet as needed).

We will review:

Pelvic and abdominal anatomy
Bladder and bowel habits
Toileting posture and mechanics
Toilet Training
Breathing techniques
Core and Pelvic Floor exercises
Biofeedback
Real-time abdominal ultrasound

Physical Therapy Treatments Provided:

Each treatment session typically includes a combination of manual techniques including myofascial release, trigger point release, strain-counterstrain, scar tissue mobilization, visceral mobilization, muscle energy techniques, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, neuromuscular re-education and exercises including core stabilization, therapeutic exercise, postural education, and body mechanics training.

Biofeedback is another tool that we can use to assess and train your child's pelvic floor and abdominal muscles. This is a tool that measures nerve activity in the pelvic floor muscles and then transmits it to a machine where we can see the pelvic floor muscle activity as the muscles contract and relax. It provides a great visual to see the strength, endurance, and relaxation of the pelvic floor muscles during kegels. We can also use it to monitor both the pelvic floor and transverse abdominus activation during functional activities like squatting and on the potty to determine if your child is using their pelvic floor and core muscles appropriately.

Real-time Ultrasound is an additional tool that we can use to assess the pelvic floor and view the layers of the abdominal muscles to train them for optimal recruitment. With this technology we can see how the pelvic floor and core muscles activate and use these visual cues to train optimal function.