Pediatric Pelvic Floor Therapy

– Getting Children Dry with Effective Treatment Solutions

Does Your Child Suffer from Incontinence?

Physical Therapy Specialists empowers you and your child with tailored PT treatment.
Our multifactorial approach offers peace of mind!
  • Establish Continence
  • Decrease Urinary or Fecal Leakage
  • Increase Function
  • Provide Education
  • Empower You and Your Child with Confidence
  • Give Freedom to Enjoy Activities and Daily Life
Schedule a FREE Discovery Visit or Phone Consultation.

Pediatric Incontinence

Bowel and bladder problems occur for many reasons in children due to pelvic floor muscle dysfunction. These muscles stop working with the bladder and/or bowel causing disruption of normal voiding and/or bowel emptying reflexes. When a chronic abnormal pattern of elimination develops, the bladder or bowel doesn’t empty completely.

Symptoms of Pediatric Incontinence

  • Difficulty urinating or controlling bladder function
  • Frequent bladder infections
  • Constipation
  • Not urinating enough during the day
  • Failure to sense bladder fullness
  • Urine leakage during the day or bedwetting
Pedriatric Incontinence
The Importance of PT Treatment for Children

Incontinence is embarrassing and uncomfortable. Along with the mental health impact, urinary tract infections (UTI) impact your child’s physical wellbeing.

With the right treatment, your child can find relief from incontinence. They gain confidence and restore their quality of life. Your child no longer needs to fear having an accident or leak. They can pursue healthy and typical childhood activities, like sports, school and playdates free from the embarrassment of incontinence.

Physical Therapy Treatment for Pediatric Incontinence

Some children suffer from Post Void Residual (PVR). This is a condition where residual urine remains in the bladder after peeing due to the bladder not emptying completely. Non-relaxing pelvic floor muscles can cause this situation to occur. Physical therapy can help with this!

A Real Time Ultrasound (RTUS) looks at the bladder to see if it has emptied completely. This is a non-invasive procedure. The physical therapist places a sound head over the lower abdomen and takes ultrasound pictures of the bladder to measure the volume inside. This tool also gauges progress, ensuring the bladder is emptying completely as therapy progresses.

Optimally, the bladder and pelvic floor muscles work opposite each other to successfully urinate. When the bladder muscle contracts or the bowels need to empty, the pelvic floor muscles relax. Based on your child’s customized treatment plan, they learn exercises to relax and strengthen the pelvic floor muscles at the appropriate time. This allows them to empty completely and to avoid urinary and/or bowel leakage.

Therapy provides the tools your family needs to take control of your child’s bladder and bowel functions. You receive a home program specifically developed for your child. The treatment program includes education and exercises to empower your child with sustainable healing solutions.

Therapy also helps your child learn correct postures for toileting, foods that may be irritating to the bladder and how to create a regular pattern of filling and emptying the bladder and bowels through a toileting schedule.

Incontinence Treatment Tools

  • Rehabilitative Ultrasound

  • Pelvic floor muscle visual evaluation and treatment (no internal assessment)
  • Bladder schedule to improve bladder habits
  • Rehabilitative Ultrasound to retrain your deep core muscles for stability
  • Neuromuscular re-education
  • Modalities, such as therapeutic ultrasound and cold laser
Pedriatric Incontinence

Specialists Treating Incontinence in Children

If your child has experienced any of the above symptoms, their physician or specialist may recommend therapy to relax and retrain the pelvic floor muscles. At Physical Therapy Specialists, we have advanced training with a focus on incontinence treatment.

Pediatric Physical Therapy FAQs

Pediatric physical therapists work with children to address the issues of incontinence, injury or delayed development. The goal of PT is to improve muscle strength, flexibility and movement. Work with highly experienced physical therapists with the advanced training needed to diagnose and properly treat pediatric conditions.

Each patient receives a customized treatment plan designed with the best tools and strategies to promote healing. During their PT sessions we use a combination of tools, including exercises, therapies and modalities. Our primary goal is to create a relaxing environment where your child feels comfort, thereby promoting healing and wellbeing.

We offer pediatric PT for a variety of conditions including: incontinence, chronic pain, sports-related injuries, developmental delays, orthopedic disorders and other conditions. Physical therapy offers a non-invasive solution to address pain, increase function and restore quality of life.

FAQs About Pediatric Urinary Incontinence

Most children require 6-8 visits in therapy to accomplish daytime dryness. If your child has daytime, as well as night time wetting, this may be longer. Patients are usually seen once every two weeks, then 3-4 weeks as progress is attained.

Sessions last 60 minutes.

No. Vaginal or rectal exams are NOT done by physical therapists in the pediatric population. Visual inspection of the perineum will be conducted to observe the following:

skin irritation or redness from soiled underclothing
pelvic floor muscle contraction to see if the child understands how to use the muscles correctly
normal sensation and reflexes of the anus with a light touch

Biofeedback, also called Surface Electromyography (SEMG), is a learning technique that utilizes specialized equipment to assist a person in gaining control of their natural body functions. It involves the monitoring of a life process (bio) and the return of that information to the patient and therapist in a meaningful form (feedback).

Biofeedback training uses sensitive equipment that enables you to see or hear how your muscles are responding to your instructions on a computer. The computer shows animated pictures (dolphin, space shuttle) to encourage proper muscle function. Becoming aware of these responses is the first step in learning to control them. By combining this information with special exercises, you can learn to relax tense muscles or strengthen weak muscles.

Your health care provider may recommended biofeedback evaluation and treatment for the muscles of your pelvic floor. These muscles are responsible to assist in bladder and bowel control. Anyone interested in learning how to relax tense muscles, strengthen weak ones, or to control and coordinate use of muscles may benefit from biofeedback.

For the evaluation, you will use external stick-on sensors placed near the rectal opening. These sensors are used to monitor the muscle activity of your pelvic floor. This enables you and your therapist to see and evaluate resting muscle activity as well as evaluate your muscle strength and endurance. The results of your evaluation will help your therapist design a specific treatment plan for your needs. We use “magic” lotion to remove the sticky part so it is virtually pain free!

Your exercise program will depend upon the results of your evaluation. Almost everyone is asked to carry out a home exercise program utilizing the skills and exercises they learn in the clinic. Occasionally people need special home biofeedback equipment to help them monitor their exercise program. If this is necessary for you, the equipment can be either rented or purchased.

Insurance plans that do not require you to go to an “in network” provider, such as a HMO, will reimburse you according your plan. If you have a Preferred Provider network (PPO), you will be reimbursed according to your plans’ “out of network” benefit. You most likely will have to satisfy your deductible first.

If your child is seeing us for Dysfunctional Elimination Syndrome, Dysfunctional Voiding, daytime or night time incontinence, and you do not have a physical therapist specializing in this in your network, you can request “in network” reimbursement. If your plan cannot provide you with an “in network” provider they may allow you to have an “in network” benefit for an “out of network” provider. You should get pre-authorization from your PCP if you belong to a HMO or a plan that requires referrals.

Pediatric Kaiser Permanente patients have been successful in getting prior authorization and coverage for treatment. You must start with a pediatrician’s referral for pelvic floor physical therapy. Give us a call to find out the process.

Healing and Confidence for Your Child

Physical Therapy Specialists serve patients throughout the Denver Metro area at our Centennial clinic.

Contact us today to schedule a FREE phone consultation or discovery visit.
pts-happy family at Physical Therapy Specialist

You have nothing to lose but pain or worry.

Come see for yourself what Physical Therapy Specialists can do for you!