from OrthoPelvic
At OrthoPelvic Physical Therapy (a primarily pelvic health physical therapy clinic for women and men) we encourage spouses/partners to come to at least one session to help them understand what their loved one is going through and to be a part of their recovery plan. Pictured is one of our patients and her husband learning how to help facilitate her healing at home.
It’s important to us as pelvic health specialists to give our patients manageable homework to work on every day so that they are always progressing towards their goals. It isn’t enough for them to feel amazing after their physical therapy session and then slowly feel uncomfortable again until their next session. We want to make sure they are always progressing to the next goal!
Partners can be such a supportive, integral piece to the care-plan puzzle.
When I (Molli) was struggling with pain with intercourse after the birth of my son, Dr.Kelly (OrthoPelvic PT’s founder and owner) and I started slowly with breathing and stretching homework which built a solid foundation to help me gently relax my pelvic floor and reconnect my brain to that part of my body that was very disconnected after the trauma of birth.
Then I progressed to doing internal stretching on myself and saw a huge difference in the mobility of my pelvic floor tissue!
Then, Kelly said if we wanted to take it up a notch, that my husband, Brad, could help even more. So, he did! She taught him what to do, and he massaged and stretched tissue I couldn’t reach, and he did such a wonderful job.
Was it difficult to find 10-15 minutes alone together with a new baby to do this every day?
Sure.
Was it worth it?
Absolutely.
Brad felt like he could finally actively care for me in this new and sometimes foreign body. The routine forced us to make time every day to catch up and connect. We both ended up really looking forward to our PT homework time every day.
A lot of times spouses and caregivers feel helpless because they cannot bear our burden for us, but by inviting them into our pelvic floor physical therapy sessions, we can share some of that weight and not only ease our own burden but help our partners to feel proactive in our recovery.
So at your next session, invite your spouse along. You’d be surprised how positive it canbe both for your body and your relationship.
Be empowered in education.
At Reclaiming Intimacy, we welcome our partners to share articles and blogs covering their specialties and topics that they feel the population needs more information about. Thank you, OrthoPelvic, for sharing this article with our readers!
Resources Used:
OrthoPelvic Physical Therapy (writer, owner of article and images)