You Don't Know What You Don't Know

Short and sweet, many people don't know about the breadth of treatments offered by a physical therapy practice that specializes in pelvic pain and pelvic muscle dysfunction. 

And it goes way beyond that.

"Of course we treat the pelvis," said Connie Strey, a physical therapist at PT Center for Women in Appleton, "but we also treat fibromyalgia, pregnancy, osteoporosis, lymphedema, and cancer as well."

Strey, a passionate provider who speaks really, really fast, went right to her role with your pelvis.

"If you've ever been to a physical therapist (PT), you know we're about restoring function: good range of motion, good strength, get you to where you can do the things you want to do," said Strey. "But the pelvic floor, those fast and slow muscles, they're in a private area, a lot of taboo with incontinence and pain with intercourse, so we don't talk about them as much. But we should."

And she does.

"The pelvic muscles are used for bladder control and relax so you can have a bowel movement and urinate, they support so things don't come out of our vagina," said Strey. "The muscle on the outside of the vagina has to relax to have intercourse, and the deeper muscles have to relax too."

Strey adds, "If that's not happening, you're not having intercourse."

Her goal, she said, is different than other PT's: her realms are bowel and bladder, sexual, and supportive. When the pelvic muscles are too tight, it's her job to help you retrain the muscles and strengthen the pelvic floor.

With a brief pause for breath, Strey then launched into a related topic about which she had much to say, but we'll save that for another time.

Her final thought was uttered quickly as she was moving from her office to a treatment room.

"I'm not really healing my patients," said Strey. "I'm empowering them to do the right things to get them better. It's really a matter of getting their body in the position to heal itself."

Connie Strey is a Physical Therapist at PT Center for Women, 3232 N Ballard Rd, Appleton, WI 54911. To make an appointment with Connie call or text 920.729.2982.

PT Center for Women is one of the only physical therapy centers in Wisconsin that specializes in pelvic pain and pelvic muscle dysfunction, offering women of all ages comprehensive evaluation and treatment for their physical therapy needs.