At OrthoPelvic Physical Therapy, we encourage spouses/partners to come to a session (or more!) to help understand what their loved one is going through and to be a part of the recovery plan. Above is one of Dr. Brita’s patients and her husband learning how to help her heal at home.
It’s important to us to give our patients PT homework to work on every day so that they are always progressing towards their goals. It isn’t enough for them to feel amazing after their session and then slowly feel uncomfortable again until their next session. We want to make sure they are always progressing to the next goal!
Partners can be such a supportive piece to the care-plan puzzle.
When I (Molli) was struggling with pain with intercourse after the birth of my son, Kelly and I started slow with breathing and stretching homework which built a solid foundation to help me gently relax my pelvic floor and reconnect my brain to that part of my body that was very disconnected after the trauma of birth.
Then I progressed to doing internal stretching on myself and saw a huge difference in the mobility of my pelvic floor tissue!
Then, Kelly said if we wanted to take it up a notch, that my husband Brad could help even more. So he did! She taught him what to do and he massaged and stretched tissue I couldn’t reach and he did such a wonderful job.
Was it difficult to find 10-15 minutes alone together with a new baby to do this every day?
Sure.
Was it worth it?
Absolutely.
Brad felt like he could finally help and take care of me. We had time every day to catch up and connect. We both ended up really looking forward to it every day.
So at your next session, invite your spouse along. You’d be surprised how positive it can be for you both.
Be empowered in education,
OrthoPelvic Physical Therapy
