Pediatric Pelvic Floor Therapy
Children who have challenges with one or more of the following bowel or bladder conditions may benefit from specialized pelvic floor therapy.
Aspire Therapy offers specialized pediatric pelvic floor services for any child 3 years and older.
- Daytime or night time wetting
- Urine leakage with laughing, sports, or activity
- Accidental bowel movements
- Constipation, straining, or pain with bowel movements
- Abdominal pain due to poor bowel habits
- Reliant on stool softeners (e.g. MiraLAX) for bowel management
- Withholding or refusing to use the bathroom
Aspire Therapy offers specialized pediatric pelvic floor services for any child 3 years and older.
What is pelvic floor physical therapy?
Pediatric pelvic floor therapists are physical therapists who have specialized training that focuses on bowel and bladder conditions. Pediatric pelvic floor physical therapists assist in training the muscles of the pelvic floor to work synchronously to have effective, efficient, and pain free bowel and bladder control.
Pelvic floor muscles are a group of muscles that are located inside the pelvis. The purpose of these muscles are to support internal organs. However, they also work together with core muscles to control bowel and bladder function. Any muscle in the body can be tight, weak, or have poor muscle coordination and this holds true for muscles of the pelvic floor. If these muscles are not working properly, bowel and bladder issues can arise.
Treatment Sessions
Aspire's physical therapist will meet with you and your child for an initial evaluation. The therapist will discuss the child’s medical history, understand the areas of concern that the child/family has, and discuss
your child’s goal for therapy. The therapist may assess your child’s strength, range of motion, flexibility, posture, and movement patterns.
Formal external pelvic floor assessments may be recommended by a physical therapist based on findings from other assessments and subjective history. If recommended, a visual inspection of the perineum will be performed, though this may occur after a few sessions to help ensure the child is more comfortable with the clinician. This exam will be performed only with explicit parental/guardian consent and with the parent/guardian present in a private treatment room. This
visual exam is beneficial for the therapist to observe any skin irritation, redness, pelvic floor muscle activation/relaxation,
sensation, and reflexes with light touch. Internal vaginal and rectal exams are NOT performed. Collectively, this information helps guide treatment interventions and the development of a treatment plan to help your child.
Why is pelvic floor treatment important?
Children without bowel and bladder control may suffer from low self-esteem, embarrassment, or anxiety. Aspire helps our clients realize that their challenges with bowel and bladder function are not an intrinsic problem. In short, THEY are not the problem. Rather, we help our clients and families look at these incidents as a physiological issue of the pelvic floor, bowel, or bladder.
Next steps
Contact Aspire to schedule a free screening or evaluation to see if pelvic floor therapy is appropriate for your child.
Pediatric pelvic floor therapists are physical therapists who have specialized training that focuses on bowel and bladder conditions. Pediatric pelvic floor physical therapists assist in training the muscles of the pelvic floor to work synchronously to have effective, efficient, and pain free bowel and bladder control.
Pelvic floor muscles are a group of muscles that are located inside the pelvis. The purpose of these muscles are to support internal organs. However, they also work together with core muscles to control bowel and bladder function. Any muscle in the body can be tight, weak, or have poor muscle coordination and this holds true for muscles of the pelvic floor. If these muscles are not working properly, bowel and bladder issues can arise.
Treatment Sessions
Aspire's physical therapist will meet with you and your child for an initial evaluation. The therapist will discuss the child’s medical history, understand the areas of concern that the child/family has, and discuss
your child’s goal for therapy. The therapist may assess your child’s strength, range of motion, flexibility, posture, and movement patterns.
Formal external pelvic floor assessments may be recommended by a physical therapist based on findings from other assessments and subjective history. If recommended, a visual inspection of the perineum will be performed, though this may occur after a few sessions to help ensure the child is more comfortable with the clinician. This exam will be performed only with explicit parental/guardian consent and with the parent/guardian present in a private treatment room. This
visual exam is beneficial for the therapist to observe any skin irritation, redness, pelvic floor muscle activation/relaxation,
sensation, and reflexes with light touch. Internal vaginal and rectal exams are NOT performed. Collectively, this information helps guide treatment interventions and the development of a treatment plan to help your child.
Why is pelvic floor treatment important?
Children without bowel and bladder control may suffer from low self-esteem, embarrassment, or anxiety. Aspire helps our clients realize that their challenges with bowel and bladder function are not an intrinsic problem. In short, THEY are not the problem. Rather, we help our clients and families look at these incidents as a physiological issue of the pelvic floor, bowel, or bladder.
Next steps
Contact Aspire to schedule a free screening or evaluation to see if pelvic floor therapy is appropriate for your child.