Endo and Chronic Pelvic Pain

Living with Endometriosis often involves dealing with Chronic Pelvic Pain. In fact, Chronic Pelvic Pain may be diagnosed first and it can take years before Endometriosis is identified as the cause of this pain. 

Although not commonly considered, a women’s health physiotherapist can play an important role in managing Endometriosis and the associated pelvic pain. The team at iMove Physiotherapy have broken down how physiotherapy can help - read on to find out how.

What Is Chronic Pelvic Pain?

Chronic pelvic pain is different for every person and may be felt anywhere between the stomach and the pelvic area. It can be aggravated by many things including bladder or bowel movements, periods or intercourse.

How can physiotherapy help and what will treatment involve?

LOTS OF QUESTIONS

We will ask many questions starting from your early life through to the present to gain a real understanding of when your symptoms started and what might be happening throughout the body in response to this.

PELVIC FLOOR ASSESSMENT 

We will likely do an internal assessment to assess your pelvic floor muscles. It is common that when pain has been present for a long time, the body will begin to contract and tighten the pelvic floor muscles as a protective mechanism. This increased tone in the pelvic floor (also known as hypertonic or overactive) can often increase the level of pain you are feeling.

Depending on what is found, we then help you to relearn how to use your pelvic floor again. This can include gentle pelvic floor release, relaxation techniques as well as some homework.

WHOLE BODY ASSESSMENT

We will also want to assess the rest of your body. Everything is connected and often there can be things coming from other areas of the body that contribute to your pain or that have changed in response to your pain. Taking a holistic approach to address the whole picture will help you to move more efficiently and get back to the things you love.

ENCOURAGE A MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM APPROACH

Endometriosis and the associated pelvic pain are complex and there are many factors that can contribute to your pain. We want to make sure that all are being addressed and that you have the appropriate practitioners at your side on top of a women’s health physiotherapist.

If you are after more personalised physical therapy support, reach out to the physiotherapists at iMove Physiotherapy who will help you get back to what you need to be doing and more importantly what you love to be doing.