You Have Found The Best Pelvic Floor PTs in Grand Rapids!
Here at Purple Mountain Physical Therapy we offer advanced and expert pelvic floor PT in Grand Rapids for women, men and children. We understand that when you have a pelvic problem you don’t know where to go to receive your care and you want to make certain that you are getting the best results. Our doctors of physical therapy are uniquely qualified and offer you many years experience and advanced post-doctoral education specific to the challenging needs of pelvic health. To connect, connect us here, or call us at (616) 516-4334.
Pelvic Floor PT Explained!
Some patients tell us “I was skeptical this could help my urinary urgency and frequency, but now I’m a believer because it is so much better.”
We know that pelvic floor PT can be a bit of a mystery. Most of our patients tell us that they had no idea what pelvic PT would do for them. Pelvic floor PT is a specialty field within physical therapy that focuses upon treating bladder, bowel, pain and intimacy related problems for women, men and children. Our pelvic floor PT clinic in Grand Rapids is a place for you to be evaluated and treated with expertise and compassion in a trauma-informed setting that truly elevates the standard of care you should expect to receive from all of your providers. Our Doctors of Physical Therapy have passed their physical therapy boards and have also gone on to complete extensive post-doctoral training specific to the field of pelvic health physical therapy.
What to Expect at Your First Appointment
It all begins with the first phone call!
First, you will know from your first phone call that you are receiving care from people who truly care about you and who strive to provide you with excellence. Our care is always welcoming, holistic, compassionate and trauma-informed.
Your Pelvic Floor Evaluation Appointment is Holistic.
Your first appointment will be an evaluation, where we will go into depth with talking about your pelvic concerns. Some people come to us with focused and specific concerns, such as chronic lower abdominal pain that worsens with a full bladder. Other people come with more general pelvic concerns; for example, they had a child ten years ago and since then they have had some mild, annoying urinary incontinence and intimacy has not been quite the same. Men often present with severe pain that has been frustrating and ongoing. It is common that men have chronic prostatitis pain and/or nerve related problems of the pelvic floor. We are experts in nerve pain, including pain that radiates into the genitalia, perineum, anus and sit bones, as well as sciatic pain and other nerves. Rest assured, we will evaluate and treat every patient for the specifics related to numerous nerve conditions. Contact us for more information!
We begin treatment on the first appointment.
During this evaluation we begin treatment right away. This includes advising you on how to optimize bladder, bowel and intimacy function. If your child is our patient, we include the child and parent into all evaluation and treatment methods and all care is age-appropriate and focused upon optimizing the child’s bladder and bowel function. Our examination may include an in-depth assessment of your posture, hip mobility, low back function, thoracic spine and diaphragm. We examine and treat your abdominal wall strength and diastasis recti abdominus. Every adult patient receives a comprehensive myofascial assessment of all tissues from your shoulders to your knees (we check your neck and feet, if warranted, also). It is common that we find trigger points and areas of decreased blood flow in the tissues we evaluate and treat. As we discover items that are contributing to your symptoms, we educate you about our findings, commence treatment and help you understand what you can do to help yourself at home. Call us at (616) 516-4334 to speak with our knowledgeable staff to your questions answered and see about how we can help you!
What is Pelvic Floor Dysfunction?
Broadly speaking, pelvic floor dysfunction refers to the muscles at the base of your pelvis not working quite right. In many cases these muscles have stiffness, tightness and trigger points. In some cases, the muscles are weak. Other times the muscles have adequate strength, but their timing and coordination with other muscles is impaired, leading to urinary or gas leakage or pelvic organ prolapse symptoms. When these muscles are not working properly, because they work in concert with your abdominal wall and low back, they often contribute to pain in the abdomen, hips or back. Some people with pelvic floor dysfunction have considerable pelvic pain. These muscles also provide you control of your bladder and bowel, so if they are dysfunctional you may experience urinary leakage or frequency and urgency. The pelvic floor muscles have both superficial and deep layers; for some of the women and men we treat their primary problem is in the superficial layers. We check all of the layers of your pelvic floor muscles so that you can receive the right treatment to effectively recover your problem. To read more about the benefits of physical therapy, check out this blog we wrote or contact us here!
What does Pelvic Floor PT Involve?
Our treatment is holistic. This means that we evaluate and treat the numerous things that contribute to your pain, so that you experience excellent results. Our treatment is not cookie-cutter. You get specific care related to your body’s needs. Our care is often hands-on manual therapy that includes myofascial release, trigger point release, and nerve release. We also focus quite a bit on improving blood flow to your tissues because blood flow is the source of life & nutrition for your body, especially your nerves. We also offer treatment that is exercise based and focused upon recovering the coordination and firing of your pelvic floor muscles with your abdominals, low back, hips and knees/feet. For some people’s needs, we include balance training, jumping exercises and dynamic exercises that challenge the pelvic floor muscles so that they begin to fire more appropriately. We will assess and treat your abdominal wall so if you have a diastasis recti abdominus, we will provide very targeted exercises and myofascial work to facilitate recovery of your abdominal wall. Connect with us here to get started.
Why Should I Choose to Come To Purple Mountain Physical Therapy?
Our goal is to provide you excellence in care so that you experience meaningful results. Each appointment is with the same physical therapist, is private and lasts upto 55 minutes. We never bounce you around to a lesser trained person or someone you don’t know. Because we have extensive post-doctoral training and experience treating very challenging pelvic conditions, you can expect an expertise that is difficult to find. You will find that our physical therapists provide trauma informed care in a compassionate setting that is focused upon clinical excellence. We are here to provide you world class pelvic health PT care in Grand Rapids.
Meet Dr. Katharine Cline, DPT Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist
Dr. Katharine Cline, DPT practiced and managed a very busy clinic on the east side of the state, treating individuals across the lifespan, many of whom had very challenging conditions including complex chronic pelvic pain and pediatric related severe bladder and bowel problems. Her leadership and clinical excellence allowed her to serve and manage a staff of other physical therapists. We are fortunate that Dr. Cline has chosen to relocate back to her hometown. She is a Forest Hills graduate and has been eager to come back to Grand Rapids, but only if the right opportunity emerged that offered her a place to provide the high level of care she wants to give her patients. Dr. Cline knew that Purple Mountain PT, with its strong focus on providing 1 on 1 treatment, appointments upto 55 minutes long and holistic methods would be an excellent fit for her clinical skills. Dr. Katharine Cline, DPT, is both an adult and pediatric pelvic health specialist PT. Dr. Cline has years of experience and post-doctoral education specifically related to the unique needs of pediatric pelvic health. Additionally, she has always had an interest in neurologic conditions and has additional training specific to vestibular rehabilitation and also is LSVT-Big certified, a Parkinson disease treatment program that focuses upon movement deficiencies and enhancing function in individuals with Parkinson’s. Her knowledge of how to optimize movement and the brain/bladder/pelvic floor function informs the care she is able to offer every patient she helps at our clinic. She enjoys working with individuals across the lifespan, beginning with children who have complex constipation or bladder control problems and working with women and men who suffer from complex pelvic pain and bladder disorders. She is so enthused about helping kids learn to control their bladder and bowel, she is a published author of a children’s potty training coloring book. Her treatment for children optimizes bladder and bowel function to address overactive bladder, incontinence, constipation and pelvic floor dysfunction. Dr. Katharine has pursued extensive post-doctoral training related to pelvic health, including offering her patients advanced hands-on and myofascial treatments that effectively address a person’s pain and bladder dysfunction. In particular, her post-doctoral manual therapy training is unique and extensive; her patients can expect excellence in her evaluation and treatment methods. Her patients commonly express their gratitude to Dr. Katharine, recognizing her exceptional insight into how to best treat their pelvic floor dysfunction and to do it in an uplifting and positive manner.
Meet Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT Pelvic Health and TM Joint Disorder Physical Therapist
Dr. Maureen O’Keefe is a pelvic health & TM joint physical therapist specialist, serving the West Michigan region. Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT practiced for 20 years in Chicago working with some of the top surgeons and physicians in the country at Northwestern Medicine Chicago, Loyola University Health Centers and Rush University Medical Center. She had patients travel to her from all over the country and world, seeking relief from their pelvic pain and bladder conditions. As the founder of Purple Mountain PT, Dr. Maureen opened this clinic to provide expert, one-on-one treatment to her patients by giving them the time needed (upto 55 minutes each appointment) to properly and holistically treat everything needed to get results for her patients. She provides experienced, results-focused treatments to women, men & children who have pelvic floor dysfunction or TM joint disorders. Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT is proud to be a member of numerous professional societies that are leading organizations in the field of pelvic health and pelvic research. These include the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health and the Intl Society for Sexual Medicine, The North American Menopause Society and the American Physical Therapy Association. Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT has even taught physicians, surgeons and other pelvic health physical therapists techniques for evaluating and treating complex pelvic health conditions. Dr. O’Keefe offers 20+ years experience that is a culmination of broad post-graduate pelvic health, sexual health and menopause related advanced education including osteoporosis rehabilitation and blood sugar dysregulation. Her expertise in treating individuals with chronic TM joint disorders also provides relief from their headaches, neck and jaw pain and difficulty with chewing and yawning. She enjoys working with individuals with challenging TM joint disorders or complex pelvic problems, including painful intercourse, pelvic floor dysfunction and chronic pelvic pain. She has a special heart for women in the pregnant or postpartum recovery stages, as she loves those special times and understands the difficulty it can cause to a women’s body. She herself had a traumatic birth injury and had to recover her body through extensive rehabilitation. She creates a healing environment, in partnership with the patient, to optimize results and address all contributing factors in the pelvic condition. Dr. O’Keefe is committed to providing top level care to her patients and is actively engaged in ongoing advanced education to keep up with the latest research and methods.
How Do I Get Started with Pelvic Floor PT? I Have Some More Questions.
The first step is to call our office at (616) 516-4334 to schedule an evaluation. We like to understand what your needs are, so we can know that we can meet your needs. Feel free to check out our FAQs page to learn more. You can find it here. We love this work and consider it a privilege and honor to help people in such a meaningful way! We look forward to meeting you and helping you to feel like yourself again.
Peace,
Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT and the Purple Mountain PT Team.
