Specialized care to protect, repair and strengthen the pelvic floor during pregnancy and after delivery.
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles and connective tissue in your pelvic area that forms a bowl-like network between the hip bones, pubic bone and tailbone. This area can be seriously impacted by pregnancy or childbirth.
Damage to the pelvic floor can result in lasting complex vaginal, urinary, bowel, intercourse and pain problems.
At The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, our specialists are experts in the pelvic floor and understand the dramatic impact this can have on your overall quality of life. We are here to help.
Our goal is to prevent pelvic floor injuries in the first place, but when they occur, our focus is on your recovery and improving your symptoms.
To help us develop an individualized treatment plan, we’ll conduct a physical exam and review your medical, surgical and obstetric history, with particular focus on your current or most recent pregnancy issues and recent delivery.
To address all aspects of your postpartum care, we’ll also screen for and discuss concerns related to breastfeeding problems and postpartum depression.
We’ll evaluate for bowel or bladder problems, assess overall pain levels and answer questions about pelvic floor anatomy or tears you suffered during delivery.
Specialized diagnostic testing, including 3D ultrasound equipment, may be used to evaluate the anal sphincter and pelvic floor muscles.
Pelvic floor disorders can be confusing.
Our goal is for women to understand how their pregnancy and delivery may have impacted their current issues. And while treatment may be necessary for some patients, we’ll also discuss diet and lifestyle changes that can prevent incontinence later. Many women have questions about the impact of their pregnancy and delivery on future deliveries as well, which will be addressed in your visit, if applicable.
After recommendations and discussion of treatment options, you’ll partner with your physician to map out the best course of prevention or recovery from your particular pelvic floor issue.
We offer a range of innovative outpatient and inpatient procedures, including:
We’ll always consider nonsurgical treatments first, but we work with each patient to provide the most effective, lasting treatment possible that also meets her personal goals.
If you have weakness or injury in your pelvic floor muscles, you may benefit from specialized physical therapy exercises designed for this area.
Pelvic floor physical therapy is useful for preventing muscle injury altogether, reversing minor damage before it advances to a more serious level or supporting recovery in conjunction with other recommended treatments.
At The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, you’ll learn techniques for recovering these muscles based on your individual condition from specially trained physical therapists. This may include:
Schedule pelvic floor physical therapy: 614-293-4643
A sitz bath is a warm, shallow bath that cleanses the perineum. It’s helpful following delivery or surgery.
If you’ve been advised to take a sitz bath by your physician, this is easy to do at home. All that’s required is a small amount of warm (not hot) water in a bathtub or shallow basin that has been freshly cleaned (you can find plastic kits that fit over your toilet bowl at many stores or pharmacies).
The warm water increases blood flow to promote faster healing and provide relief from itching, irritation or minor pain. Sometimes women prefer cool water and as no research has supported a specific water temperature, this is a fine option for those who find the cooler temperature more soothing. Women sometimes think they need to put additives in the sitz bath, such as Epsom salt, vinegar or baking soda. Typically these agents don’t provide additional benefits to the patient and aren’t necessary. If Epsom salt is preferred, ½ cup of salt to every 1 gallon of water is the typical regimen.
It’s common to have soreness following delivery, particularly if you had a vaginal tear or your doctor performed an episiotomy.
Keep the area clean and try to reduce swelling, infection risk and inflammation.
Kegel exercises contract and then relax the pelvic floor muscles to help strengthen and improve the support provided to your uterus, bladder, small intestine and rectum.
These exercises are especially helpful for preventing or improving urinary incontinence and can be effective even years after delivery or as your muscles weaken with age.
Don’t hold your breath; stay relaxed, trying to tighten only the pelvic floor muscles, not the muscles in your stomach, legs or buttocks.
Our team of experts is trained in postpartum care and dedicated to your full recovery. Your treatment will be managed by a urogynecologist who specializes in pelvic muscle, bowel and bladder issues during pregnancy and after delivery.
And because our clinic is part of one of the nation’s largest academic health care centers, we can access a full range of medical and university experts as needed. Even if you have physical or mental health concerns unrelated to the pelvic floor conditions we’re treating, we’ll ensure that every aspect of your health is addressed.
Lastly, we understand the challenges presented by pelvic floor conditions and the unique stresses faced by pregnant women and new moms, so we’ll provide the empathy, respect and careful evaluation you deserve.
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