Pelvic Floor Exam Female How To

Pelvic floor dysfunction can interfere with a woman s reproductive health by affecting the uterus and vagina.

Pelvic floor exam female how to.

But a pelvic exam may be done. Female pelvic floor health needs to be assessed and recorded using specific tools. Pelvic floor examination is a skilled procedure that requires compliance with consent chaperone and infection control policies. Pelvic floor dysfunction is very different than pelvic organ prolapse.

The pt will then explain to you how physical therapy can help and why an internal examination is important for assessment and treatment. Your provider may also need to give you an intrarectal inside the rectum exam or vaginal exam. Your provider may also do a physical exam to test how well you can control your pelvic floor muscles. Because of the location of the pelvic floor muscles the best way to assess and treat them is to work internally.

Pelvic exam is a important part of the exam for female patients and important towards making various diagnoses such as yeast vulvovaginitis bacterial vaginosis lichen sclerosis cancers such as cervical cancer anal rectal cancer sexually transmitted infections gonorrhea chlamydia trichomonas syphilis herpes and human papillomavirus and many other diagnoses. 3 the pelvic floor rests at the bottom of the pelvis and is formed mainly by the levator. An internal pelvic exam is not mandatory but is the gold standard to assess how your pelvic floor muscles and connective tissue within the pelvis are working. Women who get pelvic floor dysfunction may also have other symptoms like pain during sex.

Some women have a pap smear done during a pelvic exam to screen for cervical cancer. That s especially true when it comes to pelvic floor health because a weak pelvic floor is the culprit behind some of the biggest health challenges women face especially as we get older. Examination of a female patient s pelvic floor must be preceded by a full continence assessment. Pelvic floor dysfunction in women.

The test may be done with a human papillomavirus hpv test. Using single digit palpation the clinician should assess for changes of the pfms including hypertonicity trigger point formation and muscle shortening. Pelvic organ prolapse happens when the. An internal exam may be highly recommended to further investigate the symptoms you are describing or to prevent conditions from occurring.

Using their hands your provider will check for spasms knots or weakness in these muscles. This can be through the vagina in the female or the rectum in the male. You may also be given other tests including. The pelvic floor also called the pelvic diaphragm is a bowl shaped muscular sheet whose main functions are to support the abdominal and pelvic organs and to control the opening and closing of the urethral and anal sphinters.