1. The typical woman neglects her health throughout her child-raising years.
2. More notably, her pelvic floor—a network of muscles, ligaments and connective tissue that supports the bladder uterus, intestines and rectum—is often neglected.
3. Injuries to the above pelvic floor support can result in urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, fecal incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse.
4. It is typical and quite unfortunate that many women wait many years after the onset of these problems before seeking help.
5. Most of the above pelvic floor problems start during pregnancy, occur after childbirth and become symptomatic a few years after childbirth.
6. Despite symptoms, patients and physicians are not identifying an addressing these problems sooner.
Perhaps this is because so many women believe this is “a normal part of aging,” which is an old wives tale.
Or it is because women are often embarrassed to talk about these issues with their primary care providers?
7. Pelvic floor disorder, though common with increasing age, is not a “normal part of aging.”
8. Dedicated prevention during the woman’s obstetrical age and thereafter is the key to early intervention.
THE FEMALE CONTINENCE AND PELVIC SURGERY CENTER in collaboration with CENTRAL FLORIDA HEALTH ALLIANCE will soon launch their first ever OBSTETRICAL AND MENOPAUSAL PELVIC FLOOR HEALTH AND SAFETY INITIATIVE.
This unique initiative will involve obstetricians, gynecologists, family physicians, midwives, and nursing staff, and will be aimed at early intervention seeking to decrease the incidence of pelvic floor disorders resulting from childbirth and potentiated by menopause.
Obstetricians will carefully assess a woman’s pelvic floor health after childbearing as well as assess her risks of developing pelvic floor problems in the future. Consequently, these physicians can customize a plan for intervention and prevention of maternal perinatal trauma.
Primary care physicians will also ask about and look for early symptoms and signs of these disorders in the post-child-bearing woman and appropriately educate these patients on lifestyle modification to help stay progressing and/or refer then to a urogynecologist for proper early treatment.
Neuromodulation is a clinically proven, FDA approved (since 1997) therapy for management of Refractory OAB (Overactive Bladder), Incomplete Bladder Emptying (not due to outflow obstruction), and Fecal Incontinence (the latest since March 2011).