Endometriosis is growth in different parts of the uterus. It’s tissue that should be a part of the uterine lining that is growing outside of that area on different parts of the uterus, fallopian tubes or ovaries. This growth causes significant pain and menstrual dysfunction.
Our physical therapist uses craniosacral techniques and manual therapy techniques to help loosen up the fascia, , the connective tissue that surrounds all of our muscles and all of our organs. Restrictions in the fascia can impact mobility within the abdominal cavity. Tight hip flexors, the muscles that bring the knees up toward the chest can also impact posture and mobility in the pelvis and abdominal cavity, as some of them originate at the front of the lumbar spine and others at the front of the pelvis. They come down from the abdominal cavity and through the pelvis, attaching to the femur, or the leg. When those muscles are tight, they can affect the position of your pelvis and they can affect blood flow through the area and overall movement/mobility in that area. Often, constipation due to decreased movement of the intestines will result as things get stuck and do not move optimally.
How PT Can Help
We’ve found that working on loosening hip flexors, via manual therapy technique and then using craniosacral techniques, can help open up restrictions in the fascia.
The connected tissue itself is very strong. Our PT usually explains what it is to patients with the following analogy: you eat chicken; there’s a thin layer of white tissue that you can either eat, or you can peel off. If you peel it off, it comes off in one layer. It’s not going to break apart because it’s very strong.
Those layers of connective tissue surrounding different organs or different muscles should glide along one another, but we sometimes get adhesions between the layers and they get stuck. It may not be an obvious pain that someone comes in with, but things aren’t moving quite the way that they’re supposed to. That can be part of what leads to some menstrual dysfunction.
What to Expect
- This will be strongly based on a subjective history. Our PT will ask the following:
- What are your concerns?
- How long have you had problems with endometriosis or menstrual dysfunction?
- What have you tried in the past?
- How consistent have things been or how have your concerns changed?
It’s important that you have medical clearance to make sure nothing serious is going on. If you’ve had any history of surgeries, that can lead to scarring. That will contribute to the restriction of movement. If you do have scarring we would use scar massage techniques to loosen up the area.
In many cases, a patient will note that they are not having a regular menstrual cycle or going a long time between cycles. We have found these treatments to help cycles become more regular.
We will test for muscle tension and look for any tightening of the hip flexors, specifically looking at hip range of motion, low back range of motion, and then doing some craniosacral assessment, looking at how balanced the craniosacral rhythm is.
Our Multidisciplinary Clinic
As our practice is a multidisciplinary clinic we offer chiropractic, physical therapy and massage therapy, but anyone can come in for one, two or three types of therapies.
Meet Our PT Crystal Luxmore
Crystal earned a master’s degree in physical therapy from the College of St. Scholastica. Before joining the Family Chiropractic + Wellness team she worked in hospital settings, focusing on outpatient, but including some inpatient care. Crystal has spent several years doing pediatric care on an outpatient basis. The rest of her career has been in outpatient clinic settings focusing on orthopedic and neurological dysfunctions.
For Crystal, what she enjoys most about working at our practice is learning about our patients and building rapport with them. She wants to find out what their specific goals are and how their pain or range of motion challenge is affecting their functioning. Crystal wants to help them get back to doing what they love in life.
Contact Us
With chiropractic, physical therapy and massage therapy available in-house, we’re your center in the community for natural healing. Give us a call today to schedule an appointment!