We get it.  

You are a teensy bit worried about having a stranger get all up in “there” to find out how well your pelvic floor muscles are working.  I’ll bet there are quite a few of you out there who know you need to come, but are just dreading the appointment. Since we do it all the time, we tend to forget how awkward the whole experience can be.  

I’m here to tell you what to expect.  

First of all, you can BET your therapist will first get to know you a little first and tell you EVERYTHING about what is about to happen.  We will show you an anatomy model, tell you what we’re looking for and why we’re doing it. If you’re feeling very nervous, we can hold off on the internal assessment for another visit.  

We don’t have stirrups.

You won’t feel the indignity of having your feet strapped down.  We don’t have speculums, because we’re not really examining your cervix or uterus. And, most of the time we aren’t using our eyes to look for problems, so we don’t have weird bright lights.  

Our rooms are comfortable and not clinical.  

We often have essential oils diffusing. We call our front room the living room because it feels cozy.

Here’s what you CAN expect.  

We use our fingers to feel your pelvic floor muscles and measure how well they work.   This is a little different than any other internal assessment because most of the time other providers ignore the pelvic floor muscles.  

Most of the time we feel the pelvic floor muscles vaginally, but occasionally it is necessary to feel and measure the muscles via the anus (especially if the problem is with anal or rectal pain, tailbone pain, constipation or pants pooping).   

Yes, this muscle check might be a little uncomfortable (both mentally AND physically), but we can assure you that our assessments are MUCH more gentle that your traditional OB-GYN.  

If you have ANY questions or concerns about this assessment, please share them with your physical therapist, or call ahead of time.  We would love to chat with you about it first.