Pelvic Floor Health – What You Need to Know

One in three women experience pelvic floor disorders, but only one in eight of these women are doing anything about it.

If you have or suspect you may have a pelvic floor disorder, there's world-class care close to home at The Christ Hospital Pelvic Floor Center—one of only a few centers of its kind in the U.S. (source)

In today's WISe Well Within 10 podcast, Stevi Carr, CEO of WISe Wellness Guild, talks with urogynecologist Dr. Aparna Shah, MD at The Christ Hospital Health Network, who specializes in female urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.

Your pelvic floor is a group of muscles, ligaments, connective tissues and bones that form a bowl at the base of the pelvis and support the organs within the pelvis. When anything goes wrong with any part of this structure, the result is a variety of pelvic floor disorders. 

Dr. Shah reviews common pelvic floor disorders, including:

• Urinary incontinence
• Pelvic organ prolapse
• Vaginal hernias
• Involuntary stool leakage
• Pelvic floor related pain syndromes
• Trouble emptying bladder
• Recurrent bladder infections

Pelvic organ prolapse is multi-factorial, meaning there isn't a single risk-factor that causes this disorder. However, Dr. Shah explains certain things may pre-dispose someone to pelvic floor disorders, such as:

• Genetics & family history
• Aging & menopause (although pelvic floor disorders can happen across the age spectrum)
• Pregnancy & child birth
• Obesity
• Smoking
• Connective tissue disorders
• Chronic lifting or straining

Treatment options aim at correcting support in the pelvic floor. This may include a combination of lifestyle modifications, pelvic floor physical therapy, nerve stimulation & other procedures, use of small support devices, and medications.

Check out the full episode below and share your thoughts with us!

For more information on Women's Health at the Christ Hospital, check out our resource page here.

Aparna Shah, MD, earned her bachelor's degree in biomedical sciences and her medical degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She then completed her residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women's and Massachusetts General Hospitals in Boston. After her residency, she pursued a three-year fellowship training program in urogynecology and now practices exclusively Urogynecology. She was also voted into the Cincy Magazine Top Doctors multiple times.

Dr. Shah specializes in female urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. She has strong expertise in minimally invasive and robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgical treatments as well as non-surgical treatments for these conditions. 

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