Running is a high impact sport and this can place alot of force through the body and onto the pelvic floor which can lead to hip, pelvis and back pain as well as urinary incontinence.

Our running Guru Ingrid Vollweiler does head to toe running assessments to figure out the actual cause of the dysfunction, pain or leaking during running.  Ingrid is a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist, Exercise Scientist and functional movement geek. Changing strategies, and a few tweaks, will see you lift performance and run stronger, faster, longer… with a life long sustainable technique to prevent dysfunction.

After a comprehensive assessment to figure out the points that need attention to improve performance, our therapists will compose an individualised program for your needs.  This will usually involve a combination of strength, conditioning, pilates type exercise, and always functional movement.

A pessary is a flexible silicone device that goes inside the vagina and can help improve the anatomical position of the pelvic organs, and relieve prolapse symptoms such as vaginal bulge, heaviness or difficulty emptying the bladder or bowel. They can be worn all the time, or you can choose to wear them just when you need them, like in impact sport. Pessaries can also be used to improve urinary incontinence, as a rehabilitation tool for feedback of downward pressure into the pelvis during exercise and to facilitate pelvic floor strengthening.  No two vaginas are shaped the same, so there are a number of different pessary design options that may be of benefit, depending on your anatomy and type of prolapse.

All of our clients are taught how to insert, remove and self manage their pessary during a fitting. We work in collaboration with doctors to make sure that a pessary is safe and able to be used for each client.

A prolapse often feels like a vaginal bulge or presents as pelvic/ perineal pressure or as lower back ache. There are loads of measures we give on how to help with your symptoms and we urge you to know that surgery does not have to be the first port of call.  Basically, we need to increase support from below the pelvic organs and reduce downward pressure from above the pelvic organs.  We have to make sure the bowels are working well and the bladder and bowel is emptying properly.

We can also provide support devices such as pessaries if indicated, which help support the bladder, uterus and bowel if they’ve dropped a bit. We can give you advice on appropriate exercise, when to rest with feet elevated in the middle of the day, management of constipation and respiratory conditions, weight loss and advice on avoiding / safe lifting.

Getting these muscles optimised to their full potential is what we are best at! This is our jam! No flimpsy pamphlet and generic instruction given… we assess you fully, and get your started on how to get these wonderful muscles, power house strong, and able to respond to what you will throw at it. Your program will be individualised to EXACTLY what you need. We don’t want your pelvic floor muscles to be your weakest link! Sometimes that might involve pelvic floor muscles relaxation first, before we can work on the strength, power, co-ordination and endurance of these muscles. They have to be fast enough to catch those coughs and sneezes, and have enough endurance to last your run! They have to have enough tone to support your pelvic organs, and be able to fully relax to wee, poo and have sex! They need to be able to respond to impact during a lift or a jump…. And if you follow our recommendations… who knows…. Maybe you just might be able to shoot that ping pong ball across the room!