Maybe you are just learning that pelvic floor physical therapy exists, or you have had to be a long time advocate for yourself just getting an opportunity to start. Or maybe you are curious if something could help with symptoms like urinary incontinence, urinary urgency/frequency, constipation, or painful intercourse. No matter where you are in your journey, the first appointment can feel intimidating. Here is what you can expect for your first appointment, and how you can prepare.

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History Intake

We really want to get to know YOU and what brings you in to see us. The first visit will involve a lot of questions, and sometimes these questions can seem personal. The pelvic floor muscles help with all things related to bladder, bowel, and sexual function. Know that all of the questions we ask are aimed at getting to the bottom of what is going on, and you are the driver with where the conversation goes.

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Postural Assessment

After we get a chance to learn more about you, we will go through a few different assessments. Posture is one of the first things we look at because all of us spend most of our day needing to hold ourselves up either sitting or standing. This can have a big impact on tension through our pelvic floor and other various parts of our body. Through work environments, needing to hold babies and kids, and various sports, our posture can impact how we feel and therefore contribute to symptoms.

Movement Analysis

Just like our posture, we spend our days moving in various ways. Taking a look at how you walk and move can give a lot of information as to why you may be leaking while running, or having pain when getting out of the car. Seeing how you move is foundational in helping someone get better meet their goals.

External examination

The pelvic floor muscles do not work in isolation. Therefore we want to assess what is going on with your back, hips, sacroiliac joint, pelvis, lower extremities, or anything else mentioned in the history intake, to get the whole picture. You are not just a pelvic floor but an entire person, so we look to have an entire in-depth assessment.

Internal Examination (if applicable)

This is the part of the assessment where we can truly assess the pelvic floor. It just so happens that these muscles are located internally, so the only way to directly assess them is to do an internal assessment. It is not a pelvic exam that is typically performed at an OB/GYN office.  We do assess for muscle tightness, strength, and coordination at this point. The biggest thing to know is that you can opt out of this part of the evaluation if you are not comfortable. We can still glean a lot of information about what is going on through the rest of the appointment.

Treatment

After all of the assessments have been completed we will move to treatment & a plan of care. We want you to leave feeling a little better! Treatment can be manual therapy, exercises, or education depending on what you need the most.

Plan of Care

As much as we would love to be able to help you in one visit, most often folks need more than one session to really feel better. At TZero we pride ourselves on getting patients back to 100% and being able to meet whatever goals they have. We will take all the data we collected from the entire evaluation and walk you through our process to get you back to living your fullest life.

Please contact us to schedule your first appointment today - or click here!

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