Child-birth and motherhood are intense physical and emotional experiences. The greater changes occur at this point, which will determine the health and well-being of the mother and child.
The postpartum physiotherapy program, performed by a physiotherapist specialized in the area of Women's Health, is involved in the evaluation and treatment of pelvic floor, abdominal core and postural education, promoting a rapid recovery of their physical form, preventing post partum’s side effects.
Our goal is to intervene, to make you capable and confident in your body / mind.
Breast Cancer
Physical therapy plays an essential role in the treatment of the sequel of the intervened patients. According to the needs of the patient, we develop an individual program that aims to optimize the surgical result by returning its performance quickly and safely. Regardless of the type of breast surgery, early physiotherapy has the following main objectives: - Restore upper limb function - Preventing respiratory complications - Decrease pain - Preventing lymphedema - Treat scars and adhesions Early recovery after mastectomy provides gains in health, allowing to perform medical treatment (chemotherapy / radiotherapy / pharmacological) and successfully promoting the rapid return to active life.
Abdominal
The success of abdominal surgery doesn´t depends exclusively on the medical approach. Within the postoperative care, the physiotherapy has particular importance given that its action focus on the following plans: - Accelerate the healing process - Reduce edema - Prevent adhesions in the scar tissue - Re-educate the abdominal muscles and the pelvic floor
Gynaecological
Surgical procedures may vary according to the purpose of the gynaecological intervention, the most common being: - Prolapse correction - Incontinence - Oncological (hysterectomy)
The fast recovery in the postoperative period and the optimization of the surgical outcome, depend on the early intervention of the physiotherapist that aims to teach and promote the appropriate exercises, personalised to each woman needs, as well as the activities to be avoided and the strategies to be fostered for the quick return to daily life.
- to teach exercises that stimulate the circulatory system - to teach how to cough and how get up of bed - to stimulate hygiene habits - to teach exercises for the Pelvic floor - to build a program of progressive intensity exercises (initially of low intensity and pelvic floor protectors)
The urinary incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine.
In Portugal, it affects 33% of women and 16% of men, over 40 years of age. The most common is stress urinary incontinence in women (cough, physical activity). In men, it is usually associated with prostate surgery or urge incontinence due to prostate hyperplasia.
Physiotherapy is the treatment of choice given the cost-benefit assessment and maintenance of life-long outcomes with no side effects.
We developed a weekly treatment program based on manual therapy, with particular focus on the training of the pelvic floor and abdominal core muscles, in order to eliminate urinary loss and to build a maintenance plan for the maintenance of results outside the physiotherapy plan.
Fecal incontinence is defined as involuntary passage or inability to control the loss of fecal matter, including gases, through the anus.
It affects 2% to 17% of people living at community level and about 50% of institutionalized individuals.
The strategy used on the treatment depends essentially on the specific cause (vaginal delivery, anorectal surgery, anal cancer, anorectal malformations, neurological diseases, etc.), the severity and age of the patient.
The central point is the quality of life of the patient and in this sense we provide an approach made by a physiotherapist specialized in pelvic floor dysfunction to develop a training program of the pelvic floor muscles according to the needs of each person.
Our program is usually once a week session focusing on the training of pelvic / abdominal floor muscles:
- to increase muscle strength and endurance
- to stimulate the nervous supply
- to increase blood flow to the rectum, anal region and pelvic floor
- to improve body awareness
- to integrate fecal support activities at rest and activities of daily living
- Behavioural intervention in eating and bowel habits
Menopause is a natural process that occurs in the lives of women characterized by biomechanical and metabolic changes. Weight gain begins to be an issue, bone density a concern and the symptoms related to bladder control or pelvic organ prolapse a drama when they appear or worsen. The quality of sleep can be altered by the existence of night sweats and insomnia.
Being an inevitable physiological process it needs to be faced with optimism and determination.
In this sense, our team can help with exercises and training programs for weight control and weight loss, increased muscle strength and bone density, postural control and motor coordination (PhysioFitness).
We also intervened at the level of the pelvic floor in the prevention or treatment of urinary / fecal and pelvic static dysfunction (maintenance of the pelvic organs).