This continuing education course is a three-day seminar designed to provide a thorough introduction to female pelvic floor function, dysfunction and treatment interventions. It is geared to the physical therapist who wants to synthesize the information and apply it to individual treatment programs for urinary incontinence or the musculoskeletal components of urogynecologic pain syndromes such as chronic pelvic pain (CPP), vulvar pain, and interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC/PBS). This continuing education seminar teaches evaluation and treatment interventions by instructional assessment of the pelvic floor muscles with internal vaginal examination and SEMG biofeedback assessment. The information is immediately applicable to clinical practice.
Presentation of evidence-based evaluation and treatment techniques will be emphasized. Outcome measures and quality of life questionnaires will be presented for both urinary incontinence and pain syndromes. Daily lab time allows for supervised instruction of pelvic floor muscle evaluation with external palpation and internal vaginal examination of pelvic floor musculature. For each condition the therapist will learn to: recognize the key signs and symptoms that lead to impairment, functional limitations and disabilities; use an evaluation/outcome tool; and perform a suggested protocol of treatment interventions. Clinical treatment interventions will include therapeutic exercise, SEMG biofeedback, external manual therapy, patient related education/behavioral instructions and electrotherapeutic modalities.