What will happen at my first pelvic floor physical therapy visit?

Many people are nervous for their first visit with a pelvic floor physical therapist. Your therapist will ensure that you are very comfortable and will explain all tests and procedures that she is doing.


Our evaluations take 90 minutes to complete. This is because we want to get a thorough history and hear your story regarding your symptoms so that we can best help you manage them!


During the first part of you evaluation, your therapist will thoroughly review your medical history. She will ask you questions about when your symptoms started, contributing factors, what makes your symptoms worse/better, and more. Your therapist will also ask about bowel, bladder and sexual function and likely ask that you keep a thorough bowel and bladder diary.


Once your therapist has taken a thorough history she will examine how you are moving and may ask you to perform functional movements such as squatting, walking, lunging and more. She will look at how some of the larger muscles in the abdomen, back, hips and legs are functioning.


With your permission, your therapist will then ask you to undress from the waist down and will perform an examination of the muscles that sit inside the pelvis. This is very similar to a gynecological examination. Your therapist will be assessing how the muscles in the pelvis are functioning and may be playing a role in your symptoms. Often, dysfunction in these muscles can cause radiating pain, and bowel, bladder and sexual dysfunction.
After your internal examination, your therapist will discuss her findings with you and come up with a treatment plan that is agreeable between you and her. Your therapist will throughly discuss your goals for therapy and will make sure that they are being addressed at each visit.

​Your therapist will give you specific exercises and education to address your symptoms and will ask you to complete them in between your treatment sessions with her.


We understand that pelvic floor physical therapy deals with private issues and ensure that you, the patient, is most comfortable prior to performing any assessment or treatment.