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• Summary
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• Diagnosis and Tests
• Prevention and Risk Factors
• Treatments and Therapies

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• Related Issues
• Specifics

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Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

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• Patient Handouts

Summary

The pelvic floor is a group of muscles and other tissues that form a sling or hammock across the pelvis. In women, it holds the uterus, bladder, bowel, and other pelvic organs in place so that they can work properly. The pelvic floor can become weak or be injured. The main causes are pregnancy and childbirth. Other causes include being overweight, radiation treatment, surgery, and getting older.

Common symptoms include:

• Feeling heaviness, fullness, pulling, or aching in the vagina. It gets worse by the end of the day or during a bowel movement.
• Seeing or feeling a "bulge" or "something coming out" of the vagina
• Having a hard time starting to urinate or emptying the bladder completely
• Having frequent urinary tract infections
• Leaking urine when you cough, laugh, or exercise
• Feeling an urgent or frequent need to urinate
• Feeling pain while urinating
• Leaking stool or having a hard time controlling gas
• Being constipated
• Having a hard time making it to the bathroom in time

Your health care provider diagnoses the problem with a physical exam, a pelvic exam, or special tests. Treatments include special pelvic muscle exercises called Kegel exercises. A mechanical support device called a pessary helps some women. Surgery and medicines are other treatments.

NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Start Here

• About Pelvic Floor Disorders (PFDs) (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish
• Pelvic Organ Prolapse (Food and Drug Administration)
• Power to the Pelvis: Strengthening Your Pelvic Floor Muscles (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• How Are Pelvic Floor Disorders (PFDs) Diagnosed? (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish
• Pelvic Floor MRI (American College of Radiology; Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish
• Pelvis Ultrasound (American College of Radiology; Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

• Pelvic Organ Prolapse - Prevention (American Urogynecologic Society)

Treatments and Therapies

• Anterior vaginal wall repair (surgical treatment of urinary incontinence) - series (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• How Are Pelvic Floor Disorders (PFDs) Treated? (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)
• Kegel Exercises (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
• Pelvic Organ Prolapse -- Surgery (American Urogynecologic Society)
• Urogynecologic Surgical Mesh Implants (Food and Drug Administration)
• Vaginal Pessary (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Urinary Retention (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
• What is a Urogynecologist? (American Urogynecologic Society)

Specifics

• Cystocele (Prolapsed Bladder) (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
• Posterior Vaginal Prolapse (Rectocele) (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Rectal Prolapse (American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons)
• Rectocele Expanded Information (American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons)
• Stress Incontinence (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Uterine Prolapse (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Cystocele (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Pelvic Floor Disorders (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Rectal Prolapse (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Rectocele (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Uterine Prolapse (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Study of the effectiveness of different pelvic floor muscle training methods...
• Article: Effects of intravaginal conjugated oestrogen on pessary continuation for pelvic organ...
• Article: Outcomes of laparoscopic ventral mesh rectopexy versus trans-vaginal repair in management...
• Pelvic Floor Disorders -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons
• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Patient Handouts

• Anterior vaginal wall repair (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Pelvic floor muscle training exercises (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Rectal prolapse (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Uterine prolapse (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish