While this list is not completely comprehensive, these are common reasons why those with male anatomy seek treatment:

• Bowel Dysfunctions

  • Constipation and Obstructed Defecation

  • Frequent complaints of diarrhea

  • Accidental bowel leakage (aka incontinence of stool, gas, or liquid)

  • Digestive issues that can lead to pain, i.e. IBS (aka irritable bowel syndrome)

• Pain

  • Erectile Dysfunction

  • Prostatitis

  • Pudendal Neuralgia

  • Myofascial Pain

  • Painful bladder syndrome / Interstitial Cystitis

  • Pelvic girdle pain

  • Low back pain / general orthopedic pain

  • Tailbone pain

  • Pain with ejaculation

• Under-active Pelvic Floors

  • Urinary incontinence (urge "gotta go gotta go", stress incontinence, increased frequency, or a mixture of everything)

  • Loss of gas or stool when not desired or appropriate

It really isn’t any different than pelvic floor therapy for those identifying as women, however there are unique conditions to a male pelvis that require education and experience regarding treatment.

To read more about what pelvic floor PT is in general, refer to our blog here. You also may find detailed answers to your questions not seen on this page on the general pelvic floor page.

The first appointment to pelvic floor physical therapy can be nerve-wracking, especially if you don’t know what to expect! Our first appointments are broken down into 4 categories:

• Subjective history: We sit down with you and have a dialogue about your symptoms, health history, and goals.

• Physical Assessment: Depending upon what priorities and goals you identified, we together choose where we want to start with the assessment. Sometimes it could be looking at your body orthopedically as it relates to your symptoms (i.e. breathing mechanics, posture, hip and shoulder mobility, etc). Sometimes it could be focusing on the pelvis and pelvic floor if we identify that is most important to start with. Your preferences are what drives the session.

• Treatment: It is important to do some form of treatment day of, whether that is manual therapy, dry needling, exercises, etc. The main goal is to kick-start relief day-of.

• Planning: From here we discuss when a follow-up should take place, and plan out a home program for you to work on to maintain therapeutic gains between sessions.

To discuss more of what a session would look like for you and your unique needs, schedule a free phone consultation here.

The evaluation is two hours long, and follow ups are 90 minutes long. Due to that duration, sessions usually are less frequent, with the average cadence being every 2-3 weeks. Some clients choose to return sooner based on their plan of care, especially if they’re experiencing chronic pain. Some return less frequently because a huge part of their plan of care are the exercises they’re doing at home. The frequency really is up to you and your goals, with our recommendations taken into consideration.

For a more detailed answer, read here.

The primary difference is the time and quality offered in private sessions. Both types of care are needed in this world. We need access to insurance-based care. We also need to have private pay care when insurance-based falls short of the quality and comprehensive attention required for complex cases.

When sessions are really short in the insurance world, your therapist (as great as they may be) does not have the time to step back and get the whole big picture in one go. This delays progress because oftentimes the root of the issue might not even be in the pelvic floor itself.

If insurance is important to you, and that’s okay too, you can go to insurance-based pelvic floor PT and see if your issues get solved. If it does, great. If you need continuing care after insurance kicks you out of treatment, that is where private pay can step in.

There’s no right or wrong answer, you have to do what feels right for you.

Yes, both cover pelvic floor therapy from our clinic. We are able to provide you with the necessary documentation - receipt and superbill - that is also often required by HSA and FSA.