Pelvic floor muscle weakness is a debilitating condition that affects mostly women, but can also be seen in men. It has a negative impact quality of life; work productivity and can cause embarrassment.
A person with weakness can have urinary of faecal incontinence, pain in pubic area called symphysis pubic dysfunction (SPD), radiating pain in the lower back, buttock, or thighs and organ prolapse in severe cases. These symptoms can occur during pregnancy, following birth, after pelvic surgery and simply from the ageing process.
The most common method of treatment is pelvic floor training and lifestyle changes. Hydrotherapy can be a valuable addition in this process.
The pelvic floor is made of muscles that have different functions such as provide support organs such as the bladder, the uterus and intestine, help in maintaining continence, in maintaining optimal intra-abdominal pressure and in facilitating child birth. The pelvic floor muscles need to be able to contract to keep continence Relax to urinate, enable bowel movement, give birth and have sexual intercourse.
One specific way to train the pelvic floor muscle is to use a biofeedback device. The benefit in using a biofeedback device is to provide visual feedback on pelvic floor muscle activation/contraction, relaxation and control. It is an amazing tool to target individualised training in improving muscle tone and gaining pelvic control and life change.
The London Physiotherapy & Wellness Clinic has a unique biofeedback machine within the UK. The machine provides visual feedback, short training: the optimal training is about 10 minutes, comfortable can be performed wearing clothes, is non-invasive and offers an individualized approach
This biofeedback machine has been has been tested in a study conducted by The Faculty of Health and Social Studies of the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Cologne and they showed that it was a valid, reliable and suited for pelvic floor muscles training