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THE PELVIC FLOOR: ANSWERING FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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January 27, 2022

BODY

Dancers train to develop a strong core to protect themselves from injury. But
even they might not know about the importance of pelvic floor muscles. These
muscles not only provide stability to the pelvis and back, they also play a
major role in control of bowel, bladder and sexual appreciation. Learn what
happens when they’re not functioning properly and what treatments are available.
And yes, men have them too.

Who am I?

My name is Sarah Hwang (she/her). I am the director of Women’s Health
Rehabilitation and Pelvic Health Rehabilitation at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. I
treat people who have pelvic pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, bowel and bladder
issues, and pain during pregnancy. I work closely with physical therapists and
other physicians (such as gynecologists) to provide multidisciplinary care for
patients with pelvic floor dysfunction.

Do only women have pelvic floor muscles?
No! Women, men, and transgender and nonbinary people all have pelvic floor
muscles. Let me say that again—men have pelvic floor muscles! Pelvic floor
dysfunction is more commonly seen in women but can occur in men as well. About
15% of my patients are men.

What do the pelvic floor muscles do?
To understand what pelvic floor dysfunction is, we first have to talk a little
about the normal functions of the pelvic floor. These muscles have five
important jobs:

 1. Stability: These muscles are part of the core muscles as I mentioned above.
    The pelvic floor helps to provide stability to the pelvis and low back.

 2. Support of internal organs: These muscles support the pelvic organs,
    including bowel, bladder, and, in females, the uterus and ovaries.

 3. Maintaining continence of bowel and bladder: The pelvic floor prevents
    leakage of bowel and/or bladder. When the time comes to have a bowel
    movement or urinate, the pelvic floor has to relax to allow this to occur.

 4. Circulation: These muscles help to pump lymphatic fluid from the legs back
    up to the heart.

 5. Sexual appreciation: These muscles contract and relax during orgasm.


What happens when the muscles aren’t functioning normally?
This is what we call pelvic floor dysfunction. There are two sides to pelvic
floor dysfunction. Some people have high tone pelvic floor dysfunction, which
means the muscles are constantly in a state of high tension and unable to relax.
When people have this problem, they typically present with pelvic pain, pain
during intercourse, chronic constipation, and/or urinary frequency or urgency.
The other type of pelvic floor dysfunction happens when the muscles are weak,
making contraction difficult. Patients with this problem typically present with
incontinence (or leaking) of urine or stool or pelvic organ prolapse. One other
important thing to know is pelvic floor dysfunction can result in problems in
the hip-pelvic-spine complex.

What can we do for patients with pelvic floor dysfunction?
The most common treatment we use is pelvic floor physical therapy. We can also
use medications or injections to help with high tone pelvic floor dysfunction.

MENTIONED PAGE

PELVIC HEALTH THERAPY

Service

mentioned in this article


MEET THE AUTHOR

MENTIONED PROFILE

SARAH HWANG, MD

Attending Physician Director of Women's Health Rehabilitation

mentioned in this article

BODY

Dr. Sarah Hwang is the director of Women’s Health Rehabilitation at Shirley Ryan
AbilityLab. She is an assistant professor of Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation and Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg
School of Medicine. Dr. Hwang completed her Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Residency at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly Rehabilitation Institute of
Chicago). She served as director of Women’s Health Rehabilitation at University
of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, before joining Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in
2018. Dr. Hwang also serves as the associate program director for the
Northwestern PM&R residency program.

Dr. Hwang is an active member of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation. She serves as a member of the Program Planning Committee and has
completed the Future Leaders Program. She is a member of the Association of
Academic Physiatrists and serves on the Diversity and Community Engagement
Committee. She has completed the Program for Academic Leadership through the
Association of Academic Physiatrists and the Early Career Women Faculty
Leadership Development Seminar through the AAMC.

BODY

This blog was originally posted on https://chicagodancersunited.org/

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