Hip & Happening – My Physio Journey to Healing
If you missed my last post, I recommend going back and giving it a quick read as I discuss how my injury happened and a bit of background on recovery up to this point.
Onward and upward if you have already checked that out.
My first visit with Laurence Roy of Arnprior Pelvic and Pediatric Physiotherapy was really taking in a lot of information, for both of us. Sitting down and really going over my medical history, this discomfort I’ve felt and then getting a game plan idea.
Going in, I honestly thought we would be starting with a pelvic floor assessment (which having had one before, I was prepared for). What I loved about our initial assessment was Laurence was really able to get an idea of what was going on with my body and suggested that we focus on the hip pain I was having in hopes that would help ease stress in my pelvis.
Maybe you have never seen a pelvic floor physio before, so let me back it up a bit and go over what you can generally expect (keep in mind every physiotherapist works a little differently).
- Your physiotherapist is likely going to asking you a series of questions like;
- How long has this been going on?
- What exactly is going on?
- Do you have any specific pain complaints?
- They are then going to want to take a look more closely at orthopedic things like your range of motion, strength, muscle tension and do a movement assessment. You know, typical physio things ..
- Depending on discoveries (and as long as you as the patient feel comfortable and provide consent to do so!) the physiotherapist may want to move into a pelvic exam. This could be external and may also require an internal exam depending on your condition.
In this exam your physiotherapist will assess for things like strength, range of motion of the pelvic floor, ability to contract and relax, coordination with breathing and address any pain complaints.
With this information they will be able to develop and diagnosis what is happening. Once there is an idea of what is going on with your body a plan of care will be created for you to follow up with things like home exercise and self care techniques that could be helpful, as well as a planned schedule for frequency of in clinic visits. *Please note I am not a physiotherapist and this has just been my experience in how the process went.*
Now back to my visit ..
We established at this point a pelvic floor exam was not needed as top priority is getting my rigid painful hip moving and strengthened. Some hands on manipulation was done and I was given some basic home exercises to try and get my pelvic bone loosened up a bit.
Fairly basic and very comfortable. It was great feeling like a part of the process and having Laurence really break down why we were moving in the direction we were and discussing what the overall goals were.
If you are someone who has struggled with postpartum pelvic pain, urinary or bowel incontinence, painful intercourse (the list goes on) please remember that just because something is deemed “common” that in know way means that it is normal. Talk to your family doctor and see if a pelvic floor physiotherapist could be helpful for you.