The female body undergoes a phenomenal transformation in the journey from becoming a girl to a woman. With every stage of mental growth and development, the body too changes drastically. Considering the additional effects of hormonal and menstruation cycles and pregnancy, delivery, and lifestyle effects, it is worth acknowledging the human body’s resilience. 

Resilient and strong as the body may be, a lack of proper exercise and physical care leaves a damaging effect on the body. It is no wonder that many women experience chronic pains, acute injuries, and physical ailments. Most of these complaints can be managed and treated with specialized, personalized, and expert physical therapy care. 

This post looks at the common health problems that women go through, their causes, and physiotherapy practices that can help resolve them.

1. Pregnancy-related pain:

The pregnancy period leads to a lot of bodily changes in a woman. In early pregnancy, the womb starts to expand and causes pain in the abdomen region. The pelvic muscles may become stiff and cause discomfort during pregnancy. This pain is called Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PGP) or Symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD).

Most doctors agree that pregnancy pain can be managed greatly by prenatal exercises and good physical care therapy. Physical therapy is a safe and effective treatment modality for pregnant women experiencing low back pain. Your PT can teach you specific exercises that can help take the pressure off of your spine to decrease your pain.

2. Bladder Pain and Incontinence:

Bladder pain and incontinence are very common in women and are not just age-related issues. Urinary incontinence means loss of bladder control and results in urine leakage. The leakage could vary from a few drops when you cough or sneeze to an urgent urge to urinate.

It is estimated that as many as half of the women suffer from incontinence due to pelvic floor displacement at some point in their lives, but most do not discuss this problem even with their doctor. There are four types of incontinence, viz.

• Stress Urinary Incontinence
• Urge Urinary Incontinence
• Bladder pain
• Bladder Prolapse (Cystocele)

Physical care therapy and physiotherapy can prescribe exercises that can help reduce and eliminate incontinence. 

3. Pelvic Pain:

There are different symptoms and causes of Pelvic pain. It is important to discover the reason for the pelvic pain before proper treatment can be prescribed. 

• Pain during Sexual Intercourse (Dyspareunia)
• Pelvic Pain Syndromes
• Menstrual pelvic pain
• Sacroiliac Dysfunction (SIJ Dysfunction)
• Diastasis Recti Abdominus
• Pudendal Neuralgia

Good physiotherapists and physical care experts can help you manage Pelvic pain by practicing certain exercises. These exercises effectively manage pelvic pain, even during the diagnosis phase. 

4. Diastasis Recti Abdominus:

Diastasis Recti Abdominus (DRA) means tearing the attachment between the right and left sides of your most superficial abdominal muscles. This is most common during pregnancy and can affect your strength and the appearance of your abdomen. 

The Common causes of DRA are:

• Pregnancy
• Frequent or rapid changes in weight
• Stomach obesity
• Genetics

Poor training technique or overloading the stomach wall during heavy lifting activities

Physical therapy can help manage the prevention and effects of DRA. Many women struggle to regain core control after delivering babies. Whether you had your baby by C-section or via natural birth, postpartum care under the guidance of the best physical care therapists following delivery is important.

Elevate Physical Therapy:

Elevate Physical Therapy is owned and operated by two expert Physiotherapists, Shivani Patel and Manisha Patel, who have a combined work experience of 30 years in providing the best physiotherapy care in Chicago. Shivani and Manisha are highly qualified physical care therapists who provide personalized care in relieving chronic pains, women’s health and body strength and muscle training, help in post-delivery recovery, and pelvic injury remedial expertise. 

Being women themselves, they understand the changes that a woman goes through every step of her life cycle and use their own experiences, education, and expertise and offer the best personalized physical therapy care for all their clients.