Pelvic floor physical therapy is one of the first line treatments for pelvic pain.  Pelvic pain affects 1 in 3 women during the course of their life-  honestly, the statistic is probably higher, just dreadfully under reported.  Of those women, nearly 200 million women are affected by endometriosis- that is A LOT, and sadly likely underreported as well.  Diagnosis and treatment is poorly understood not just by patients, but by medical providers too!  Yes, I cringe- even physical therapists.   

Some things to know:

• Gold Standard for diagnosing endometriosis is laparoscopic surgery with a biopsy to confirm if tissue is affected.

• Gold standard treatment for endometriosis is expert incision: a highly skilled surgeon goes in laparoscopically and takes out all the affected tissue- removing the disease.  Ablation just burns the surface off. 

This is all great, but now what?  You may have to wait months to just consult with a surgeon then jump through hoops to actually get insurance to pay for the surgery etc etc . . meanwhile going to bed everyday hurts, you back and head hurt, your partner is getting frustrated that sex is so painful.  What to do?!

Answer: pelvic floor physical therapy.

Pelvic floor physical therapy does not cure endometriosis, it does not remove the affected tissue- nope, sorry.  Endometriosis is a progressively worsening inflammatory response all over the body ( wherever you have affected tissue/ lesions).  It is like this inflammatory bomb going off in your body over and over  . . . you muscles react to those inflammatory events- and you guessed it, they tense up!  You get into these awful holding patterns, see below.