Gain Freedom from Bladder and Pelvic issues

When you become a mother, it changes everything—your former “alone time,” the supremacy of your personal schedule, and maybe even how often you brush your hair. Unfortunately, control of your bladder and pelvic area are sometimes affected as well. These problems are often overlooked or rarely discussed due to their personal nature (you know, that time last week when that funny joke did more than just make you laugh…). Yet you are not alone. Many women suffer, even those who haven’t had children, from pelvic and abdominal pain or incontinence and have no idea that there is hope for an end to the pain and embarrassment.

With help from physical therapy, women can trade in their pain and frustrations for their former control and pain-free existence.

The Physical Therapy Room is a private clinic that opened May 2011 in Tulsa that specializes in women’s health, particularly pelvic floor rehabilitation. Physical therapist Christian McSoud, MPT seeks to put a stop to women’s abdominal and pelvic pain. With a specialization in pelvic floor rehabilitation, McSoud is changing Tulsa women’s health.

Health problems such as stress incontinence, urge incontinence, constipation and dyspareunia (pain with intercourse) plague women and negatively affect their day-to-day lives.

“Women are walking around thinking, it’s okay—I just don’t leave my house without a pad on,” McSoud said. “And that’s all ages, not just elderly.” So McSoud began her new physical therapy clinic to correct women’s misconceptions regarding pelvic health irregularities.

“I don’t know if anybody talked about it in the older generation,” McSoud said. “And now I think we talk about it, but we almost laugh like, ‘Oh yeah, I pee in my pants all the time…it’s the price I pay for having a kid.’”

With her physical therapy training and additional certification in women’s health, McSoud offers education and relief to women regarding health issues all across the board. Many factors can cause pelvic floor problems such as childbirth, surgery and aging, but physical therapy can help lessen the effects of these cases.

“The truth is, you can rehabilitate your pelvic floor just like you can any other muscle in your body,” McSoud said. The approach is similar to any type of physical therapy, which works muscles to improve physical health problems. The Physical Therapy Room’s specialization simply sets it apart as one of the few clinics in the area with an emphasis on women’s health, though the clinic also offers general orthopedic services.

McSoud is passionate about physical therapy as a solid, first choice for women who are experiencing pain or problems.

“There is always a place for medication, and there is always a place for surgery,” McSoud said. “But physical therapy offers that first line of conservative treatments—it’s noninvasive, it’s less expensive and it makes the person more of an active participant in their own health care.”

Through an initial screening, McSoud is able to assess the condition and problem areas of a patient and then subscribe appropriate care and physical therapy to target the need. Pelvic floor rehabilitation retrains the pelvic muscles—whether strengthening or relaxing the pelvic floor—reinstating pelvic floor and core stability. Many times, childbirth or surgery compromises the integrity of the pelvic floor muscles, so with education, exercises and manual therapy, McSoud helps women restart mobility in their abdominal and pelvic area.

With help from the many services offered at The Physical Therapy Room, women can find relief.