Pelvic floor physiotherapy in Vancouver — for all genders, at South Granville and False Creek.
Pelvic Health Physiotherapy is a service provided by specially trained physiotherapists to help women and men experiencing challenges with intimate issues related to their bladder, bowel, sexual function, and/or pelvic pain.
Envision Physiotherapy has a team of four pelvic health focussed physiotherapists with the knowledge, skills and tools to help you understand and sensitively manage dysfunctions related to the pelvis. Vancouver Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy services are offered at both our clinics — South Granville and False Creek — for clients of all genders.
Appointments are approximately one hour and start with a conversation about your story, your challenges, and your goals.
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Pelvic floor physiotherapy assesses and treats the muscles, nerves and tissue of the pelvic floor — for incontinence, prolapse, pelvic pain, and prenatal or postpartum recovery. Envision provides it for all genders at both Vancouver clinics, no referral needed.
What does a pelvic floor physiotherapist actually do?
After a history and a consent-based assessment, your physiotherapist builds a plan — targeted exercises, hands-on techniques, bladder and bowel retraining, biofeedback, and education. Treatment is tailored to your goals, whether that's stopping leaks, easing pain, or recovering after birth.
Appointments are approximately an hour and will start with a conversation about your story, your challenges, and your goals.
Your pelvic health focussed physio will teach you about some of the relevant anatomy and walk you through a whole-body assessment that may involve an internal vaginal and/or rectal exam to help understand what you are experiencing. We recognize and respect that an internal assessment may be triggering for our clients and want to emphasize that an internal exam is helpful, but not mandatory.
Your physiotherapist may also use a Real Time Ultrasound to help you visualize your abdominal muscles and/or a biofeedback device that helps you connect with muscles that you have lost touch with. You will develop goals together with your physio and come away from your appointment with a proposed treatment plan.
Follow up sessions are commonly fifty minutes and may involve guidance on exercise, education, manual therapy, biofeedback, dry needling and or real-time ultrasound. Your appointments will be tailored to your needs to help restore your function to help meet your goals.
A pelvic floor physiotherapist assesses and treats the muscles, nerves and connective tissue of the pelvic floor. After a history and a consent-based assessment, they build a treatment plan — targeted exercises, hands-on techniques, bladder and bowel retraining, and education — for issues like incontinence, prolapse, pelvic pain, and prenatal or postpartum recovery. Care is provided for all genders.
Most people see meaningful change within a handful of sessions, with the total depending on the condition and how long it has been present. Your physiotherapist gives you an estimate after the first assessment and reassesses as you progress — much of the work is exercises you continue between visits.
While it may be common, it isn't something you have to live with. Leaking with sneezing, coughing, laughing or running is called stress urinary incontinence, and pelvic floor physiotherapy is a first-line, evidence-based treatment for it — often resolving or substantially improving symptoms without medication or surgery.
Yes. Men have a pelvic floor too, and physiotherapy helps with conditions including incontinence (especially after prostate surgery), pelvic pain, and bladder or bowel symptoms. Envision provides pelvic health physiotherapy for all genders at its Vancouver clinics.
Gentle assessment and education can begin in the early weeks postpartum, with a more complete internal assessment typically around six to eight weeks, once you've been cleared by your maternity health professional. There's no need to wait months — early guidance helps recovery, whether your delivery was vaginal or by caesarean.
Yes, in many cases, but you should check with your physician first. Pain during intercourse can often be related to pelvic floor muscle tension, provoke vestibular vulvodynia, hormonal changes (peri/menopause) or other factors. A pelvic floor physiotherapist will assess and determine whether treatment is appropriate, and may use techniques such as education, pelvic floor muscles relaxation/ awareness exercises, pain desensitization and graded inserts to help manage/reduce the pain.
Medically reviewed for clinical accuracy by Dikla Barer, Registered Physiotherapist (MScPT, BHK (ExSc), CGIMS) with special training in Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy, Associate Physiotherapist at Envision Physiotherapy.
Our four pelvic health focussed physiotherapists have an approach rooted in the teachings of pioneer Marcy Dayan, and each brings their own experience and continuing education. Click a card to read each therapist’s full bio and book.
If you have questions or concerns about booking an appointment for pelvic floor physio, you can call our reception staff at either office:
South Granville 604-737-7309 or False Creek 604-876-2344
If you would like to book online, you can do so by clicking on the Booking Link above and pick which clinic and which physio you would like to see.
Tools and techniques your physiotherapist may use during a pelvic-health visit.
Your physiotherapist will explain all the relevant anatomy around the pelvis and how it relates to the rest of your body to help give you context to understand what you are experiencing. You will have the opportunity to ask questions in a safe environment with a health profession
Biofeedback is an important tool for both accurate physiotherapy diagnosis and client learning. It senses how much tension is in a muscle. The technology works the same as a heart monitor. When the heart is monitored, electrodes on the chest detect heart (a muscle) activity and t
The timing and coordination of muscles and movement is important for painfree, healthy function. The deep muscles of your pelvis and abdomen (the pelvic floor, transversus abdominus, multifidus and the diaphragm) turn on milliseconds before you move your arms or legs in order to
A pelvic health focussed physiotherapist will first talk through your story with you to determine what type of assessment is most appropriate to help you. She will look at your global posture and movement patterns and try to determine what role your pelvic anatomy may be playing in your is
A pessary is an internal assistive device that is worn in the vagina to stop incontinence or support pelvic organ prolapse. It can be easily inserted and removed by the wearer and should not be felt when using it. It can be used just for activities when the prolapse is bothersome
Real-time ultrasound images your pelvic floor, transversus abdominus (lower abdominals) and multifidus (deep lower back muscles). Research shows that if you have low back or pelvic girdle pain or dysfunction (incontinence, vaginal, perineal or anal pain) or have been pregnant, th
Manual Therapy involves hands on physiotherapy that uses a variety of techniques with the aim to restore normal movement to the various tissues of the body, including joints, muscles, fascia and nerves. All Envision physiotherapists use this in conjunction with postural education
Common pelvic-health concerns we assess and treat. Contact us if you have any more questions regarding Pelvic Health Physiotherapy.
Many women are concerned that they will not regain their waistline after pregnancy. Sometimes, the right and left abdominal wall separates during pregnancy. This is called a diastasis rectus abdominus. You might notice a bulge down the centre of your abdominals when you move or that you can sink your fingers into the space between your abdominals across the midline of your tummy. When your abdominals are stretched and separated, they are no longer able to adequately stabilize your low back and pelvis. There are a lot of misconceptions regarding a diastasis. It is possible to do abdominal…
Bladder incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine. It is not a disease, but a symptom of a physical or neurological problem. It is estimated that up to 25% of adults have urinary incontinence and that women are affected twice as often as men. Although the chance of becoming incontinent increases with age, it happens to people of all ages and is NOT a natural part of aging. Stress incontinence: Many people leak urine when they cough, sneeze, walk, run or otherwise exert themselves. This is called stress urinary incontinence. These actions increase the pressure within the abdomen. This…
Bowel or fecal incontinence is the involuntary loss of stool or gas. It is not a disease, but a symptom of a physical or neurological problem. Symptoms can include: Correctly performed pelvic floor muscle (Kegel) exercises can help stop this leakage and/or control the urgency. Research shows that based on verbal and written instruction, 75% of women are doing these exercises incorrectly. We do not have the research for men, but our clinical experience shows it to be about the same. Treatment varies depending on the problem. At Dayan Physiotherapy, we use both real-time ultrasound and…
Tailbone pain, or coccydynia, can make it difficult to sit, lie flat or go from sit to standing. The joint where the tailbone (coccyx) joins the sacrum can become strained leading to both joint problems and problems in the surrounding pelvic floor muscle. We have the clinical knowledge, experience and tools (biofeedback and real-time ultrasound) to fully assess and treat both the joint and surrounding muscles.
Irregular, infrequent or difficult elimination of stool that does not have an underlying medical disorder can often be addressed by physiotherapy. Many people with constipation have anismus and are unknowingly contracting their sphincters when they are trying to have a bowel movement. Research shows that based on verbal and written instruction, 75% of women are unable to contract and relax their pelvic floor muscle correctly. We do not have the research for men, but our clinical experience shows it to be about the same. Biofeedback is a useful tool for both diagnosis and treatment. Treatment…
Pelvic organ prolapse occurs when the bladder, uterus or rectum slips out of place down into the vagina. Bladder prolapse, also called a cystocele or anterior vaginal wall prolapse, is when the bladder loses its support, slips down and bulges into the front wall of the vagina, pushing it down. Uterine prolapse is when the uterus looses support and slips down into the vagina. A rectocele, also called a posterior vaginal wall prolapse, is when the rectum loses its support, slips down and bulges into the back wall of the vagina, pushing it down. It then forms a pocket that stool can get trapped…
Research shows that our deep muscles (core stabilizers) automatically contract milliseconds before we move, stabilizing our low back and pelvis. This creates a stable platform from which we can move our arms and legs. When there is low back pain, this automatic contraction does not occur, resulting in excess movement of the vertebrae and pelvis. Pain can worsen and further injuries can occur. At Envision Physiotherapy we have the skill, knowledge and tools (real-time ultrasound) to assess your movement patterns. We create an individualized treatment program to enable you to return to…
Vaginal pain – it’s not in your head! Many women suffer from a common and often misunderstood vaginal pain condition called vulvar vestibulodynia, also know as vulvar vestibulitis syndrome (VVS) or vulvodynia. Pain can be experienced with intercourse or other sexual contact, tampon use, a medical exam, riding a bike, sitting, or wearing tight pants. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association [2003] demonstrated that 16% of the female population experienced vaginal pain at some point in their life. Many women chose not to seek treatment, of those that did, 60%…
Mechanical dysfunction of the pelvis can result in a few different problems, including SI (sacroliac) joint pain or pubic symphysis pain or separation. SI joint problems can occur during pregnancy but also can occur during other stages of life and affect both men and women. Determining what tissues are affected, what biomechanical faults may be contributing to the pain, and determining the root of the problem is the main focus of therapy. The faults may lie in a combination of poor stability or hypo-mobility (stiffness). During pregnancy and after delivery some women experience pain at their…
Pudendal neuralgia is irritation, compression or entrapment of the pudendal nerve — the main sensory and motor nerve of the pelvic floor. It causes burning, sharp or aching pain in the perineum, vulva, vagina, scrotum, penis or rectum that often worsens with sitting and is partially relieved by standing. Pelvic floor physiotherapy assessment looks at the muscles, joints and posture of the pelvis and lumbar spine to identify mechanical contributors. Treatment may include manual therapy, internal pelvic-floor release, nerve-glide work, posture and pressure-management retraining, and a graded…
Also know as prostatitis, pelvic pain syndrome, chronic nonbacterial prostatitis, chronic genitourinary pain, pudendal neuralgia, painful bladder syndrome or interstitial cystitis. Prostatodynia or Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CPPS) is a pelvic pain condition in men. Symptoms may include a few or all of the following: Investigations for bacteria and yeast are negative. Physical examination does not usually show anything unusual, although the prostate may be swollen, soft or firm, warm and tender. What can make the problem even more confusing is that often young, otherwise healthy men develop…
Many men find that they are incontinent (involuntarily leaking urine) following a prostatectomy. Although we do not have the statistics for men, research shows that based on verbal and written instruction, 75% of women are unable to contract and relax their pelvic floor muscle correctly. Our clinical experience shows it to be about the same for men. At Dayan Physiotherapy we use biofeedback to assess your ability to contract your pelvic floor (Kegel’s) and if needed, to teach you how to contract and strengthen the muscle. Once you can do this and have enough strength in your pelvic floor, we…
Some women suffer from a pain condition called vulvodynia. Pain is not only isolated to the opening of the vagina, as in vestibuldynia, but can be felt anywhere in the vulva, perineum and vagina. Pain is usually constant, but can be intermittent and triggered or worsened by contact such as intercourse or other sexual touch, tampon use, a medical exam, riding a bike, sitting, or wearing tight clothing. Considering that vulvodynia is often misdiagnosed, it is important that women are informed about this condition – the causes, treatment and supports – enabling women to make informed decisions…
Vaginal pain – it’s not in your head! Many women suffer from a common and often misunderstood vaginal pain condition called vulvar vestibulodynia, also know as vulvar vestibulitis syndrome (VVS). Pain can be experienced on penetration with intercourse or other sexual contact, tampon use, a medical exam, riding a bike, sitting, or wearing tight pants. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association [2003] demonstrated that 16% of the female population experienced vaginal pain at some point in their life. Many women chose not to seek treatment. Of those that did,…
Book a pelvic health appointment with one of our physiotherapists at either of our Vancouver clinics. No referral needed.
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