Dry Needling for the Pelvic Floor Can Work Wonders!
When you think of dry needling for the pelvic floor, does it make you cringe? You want to stick a needle where?! While dry needling some of the pelvic floor muscles is an option, we most commonly use dry needling in the surrounding areas. There are SO many muscles closely associated with the pelvic floor – glutes, hip adductors, lower back muscles, and abdominals to name a few. But how can dry needling muscles that are NOT the pelvic floor actually help the pelvic floor? Well, I’m so glad you asked! Get ready for me to be a bit nerdy here.
When Do We Use Dry Needling for the Pelvic Floor?
Dry needling is an AWESOME manual technique that we use in our clinic in Lake Country ALL THE TIME. And if you’ve been treated by any of us, you know how often we use it and how much of an impact it can make in your symptoms! It’s incredibly effective in getting muscles to loosen, relax, and become less painful.
We most often use dry needling for the pelvic floor when treating someone with pelvic floor tension, who may have symptoms such as incontinence, pelvic/back/hip pain, constipation, or pain with intercourse. (Yes, sometimes we do use dry needling for the pelvic floor when the issue is weakness IF there is tension in surrounding muscles, but it’s not nearly as common).
In Lake Country, we see clients with pelvic floor tension in all phases of life! We commonly see pelvic floor tension in athletes, during pregnancy (yes, we can use dry needling during pregnancy!), during postpartum recovery (vaginal delivery or C-section), perimenopause, and post-surgery (especially following a hysterectomy or any other abdominal surgery).
Dry Needling Our Pelvic Floor BFFs
We have 36 muscles that attach to our pelvis. You heard that right! All of these muscles need to work together and do their job for all the other muscles of the pelvis to function well and feel good. Let’s talk about some of these muscles that work hand in hand with our pelvic floor and why they are included in dry needling for the pelvic floor.
The Glutes
We have 3 glute muscles – glute minimus, glute medius, and glute maximus. All of the glutes provide pelvic stability and help maintain a good position of our pelvis, which (obviously) is where our pelvic floor muscles lie. When the glutes are weak or tight and painful (and thus not working like they should), the pelvic floor muscles often compensate and become overworked, angry, and tight. Getting the glutes to function properly is HUGE in improving pelvic floor function. This is probably the most common group of muscles we target with dry needling for the pelvic floor.
The Adductors
Our hip adductors (the inner thigh muscles) attach to the pubic bone and act like anchors for the pelvis. These muscles also contract together with our pelvic floor. Because the adductors work so closely with the pelvic floor, when one has tension or weakness, the other often has similar tension or weakness. Thus, getting the adductors to relax with dry needling is super helpful in getting the pelvic floor to relax.
The Abdominals
Yes, we do dry needling for the abdominal muscles! And, yes, it does feel weird! Our abdominal muscles are important for proper pelvic floor function for so many reasons. Our deep, stabilizing abdominal muscle (transversus abdominis) is another muscle that contracts simultaneously with your pelvic floor. The function of one will directly affect the function of the other! Again, if you get rid of tension in one, you can greatly help reduce tension in the other.
The positioning of our pelvis and ribcage is super duper important for pelvic floor function. All of our abdominal muscles attach to both the ribcage AND the pelvis. If any of the abdominal muscles are tight or weak, it’s then going to change the position of our ribcage and/or pelvis. We can get tension in the abdominal muscles when they are overworked, constantly gripped (holding in your tummy all day), or cut through (like with a C-section or any other abdominal surgery). Reducing tension in the abdominal muscles with dry needling and ensuring they have adequate strength is going to help us have better posture and a better position of our ribcage and pelvis.
The Back Muscles
The back muscles are another group of muscles that are often tight when the pelvic floor is tight. Relaxing one helps relax the other! (Yes, I realized I’ve said this a lot. When one area is tight, that tension really does spread to a lot of surrounding areas!) The back muscles are an area we also focus on quite often with dry needling for the pelvic floor.
Dry Needling Our Double Agents
Did you know that we have 2 muscles that are hip muscles AND form the deepest layer of the pelvic floor? These muscles are the piriformis (I’m sure you’ve heard of this muscle before) and the obturator internus. If you have tight hip internal rotation (see the picture below), you may have tension in these double agents!
Do I Need Dry Needling for the Pelvic Floor?
Maybe! And it depends! The most important part when treating pelvic floor dysfunction is figuring out if pelvic floor tension or pelvic floor weakness is causing your symptoms AND figuring out what else may be contributing to that dysfunctional pelvic floor. This is best determined with a thorough pelvic floor evaluation with a physical therapist. If you are in Lake Country, reach out! And if you ARE dealing with pelvic floor tension (or if you have tension in any of the pelvic floor BFFs), then, yes, dry needling is most likely a wonderful option for you!
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