Holistic Pelvic Care™

The female body is miraculous and complex, and women and menstruators go through incredible changes at every stage of life, each providing its own unique physical challenges - from starting the menstrual cycle in adolescence to the fluctuation in hormones and physiology during pregnancy and postnatal recovery to menopause and beyond. These natural changes can cause discomfort, pain, and challenges for some women and menstruators. Holistic Pelvic Care can support you during the transitions (and any stage of your life!), aiming to restore balance in your pelvic bowl, ease pain, and enhance your overall health and support your creative expression.

If you’re seeking support for your female body or pelvic health but are unsure whether you need osteopathy or HPC™, you’re welcome to book a free call with me to find out more.

I offer Holistic Pelvic Care™ at Butterfield Osteopathy in London. A beautiful treatment room with garden view is awaiting you!

What is Holistic Pelvic Care?

Holistic Pelvic Care™ is an integrative gynaecological approach developed by Tami Lynn Kent, a women’s health physiotherapist based in Portland, Oregon. It incorporates a range of therapeutic practices to restore balance in a woman and menstruator`s pelvis. HPC combines gentle internal work on the pelvic floor muscles and fascia with techniques that address core patterns (including emotional imprints) held in the pelvic area. This may include guided dialogue, visualisation, breathwork, and external abdominal contact. The treatment supports pelvic floor balance and enhances circulation to pelvic organs, which can help alleviate various symptoms.

What can I expect at a treatment?

The initial consultation is 75 minutes and includes a detailed case history, discussion of treatment aims, basic introduction to female pelvic anatomy, a pelvic floor assessment and treatment. With your consent you will be asked to remove your lower underwear so that the practitioner can assesses the pelvic muscles intravaginally (like a “squeeze” exercise). This is done with a gloved, lubricated finger inserted in the vagina. Pelvic muscle engagement, trigger points, tension and pain patterns are noted.

The assessment is followed by a treatment to balance the pelvis. Techniques include intravaginal massage with myofascial release and trigger point work assisted by breath-work and visualisation tools for both physical and energetic balance. Follow-up consultations are 60 minutes and begin with a brief re-assessment and then focus primarily on treatment. The pelvic work is gentle and respectful, following the lead of the body. It should never hurt, and the response of a woman’s body guides the depth and direction of the hands-on work.

The number of treatments depends on the extent of a woman’s symptoms and how long she has been having them. Usually, three sessions are recommended and encouraged to restore basic pelvic balance, but this will be discussed with our practitioner Flurina during the first consultation. She will also be able to recommend if you benefit from an Osteopathic session as part of your management plan.

 

What can Holistic Pelvic Care support you with?

There are many reasons women and menstruators seek out and benefit from HPC™. It may support you with the following:

  • Prepare for pregnancy, physically and emotionally.

  • Post-partum recovery: including episiotomy and c-section scar work, pelvic prolapses and the experience of birth traum.

  • Menstrual challenges, irregular cycles, painful cycles, endometriosis

  • Urinary leakage, incontinence

  • Pelvic organ prolapse, uterine prolapse, cystocoele

  • Pain during intercourse

  • Vaginismus

  • Coccyx pain

  • General pelvic pain

  • Improve pelvic floor tone

  • Enhance general health and wellbeing

  • Fertility challenges

HPC™ is basic women`s health and is encouraged to receive yearly to prevent pelvic health issues in the first place. Treatments can also offer help for women who seek to reconnect with their pelvic space, natural cycles, and creativity.

Can I have treatment when I’m pregnant?

Internal pelvic work is not done during pregnancy, but the process of postnatal recovery is greatly assisted by HPC. Any pelvic floor imbalances that may have occurred during pregnancy or birth can be addressed early on. Six weeks post-partum is a good time to begin but it can be useful months, even years, after birth.

What if I have a caesarean birth?

Women who have had a caesarean birth will benefit from HPC as well, with fascial work directly to the caesarean mark and internal work to address the imbalances caused by any prolonged vaginal birth attempt.