This is the second installment in our 3 part pediatric blog series written by Amanda Moe DPT, PRPC treats women, men, and children with disorders of the pelvis and pelvic girdleAmanda enjoys assistant teaching with the Herman & Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute in her free time as well as working out, practicing yoga, and spending time with her family. You can find Amanda online at www.pelvicphysicaltherapyandmore.com and on Instagram @amandampelvicpt.
Just as Mora from @PracticallyPerfectPT mentioned in the previous blog post, Big Issues for Tiny Humans, pelvic health specialists treat pelvic floor and pelvic girdles for all humans of all ages. This blog post aims to introduce why pre-teens and teenagers could need pelvic floor therapy for pee problems!
Pelvic girdle-related dysfunction in young children often manifests as bowel or bladder complaints such as constipation, poo leakage (fecal incontinence or encopresis), and day or nighttime pee leakage (incontinence or nocturnal enuresis). Young children can be potty-trained with NO pee or poo complaints for several years then suddenly develop these very same symptoms in the pre-teen or teenage years! Occasionally there is a cause for the change in pee or poo symptoms such as trauma, the birth of a sibling, moving to a new city, divorce, or other changes in family situation. However, oftentimes there isn’t a signifying event attributed to the onset of these symptoms—which is where assessment and treatment from a skilled Pelvic Physical Therapist (or Occupational Therapist) may be beneficial!
Amanda Moe, DPT, PRPC specifically treats women, men, and children with disorders of the pelvis and pelvic girdle. Amanda earned her Pelvic Rehabilitation Practitioner Certification (PRPC) in 2015 to distinguish herself as a highly qualified and specialized practitioner in the field of pelvic health and worked at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, TX. There Amanda assisted with the development and expansion of the pediatric pelvic physical therapy program treating children with a variety of diagnoses such as bowel and bladder dysfunction, constipation, encopresis, coccydynia, abdominal/groin pain, as well as other disorders related to the pelvic girdle. Amanda enjoys assistant teaching with the Herman & Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute in her free time as well as working out, practicing yoga, and spending time with her family.
I started off my career in Pelvic Physical Therapy treating adult women and men as do many physical therapists entering the pelvic niche. My local children’s hospital discussed a need for pelvic physical therapy in children which, with the help of Herman and Wallace’s Adult/Pediatric courses as well as mentoring from my local Gastroenterology department, I devoted the next few years of my career to.
I aided in program development and expansion of Pediatric Pelvic Physical Therapy services at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas. After moving out of state, I then collaborated and expanded Pediatric Pelvic Physical Therapy services in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—working closely with both the Urology and Gastroenterology Department at UPMC’s Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. While treating children with pelvic dysfunctions is similar to treating those in adults, there is much to be considered when providing education to children, parents, and even referring providers about pelvic floor dysfunction and Pediatric Pelvic Physical Therapy.