Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, the London Clinic and the BMI London Independent Hospital both work with all major health insurances. However, you might need to check in advance if your insurance policy covers physiotherapy.

For patients who are unsure about whether pelvic and women’s health physiotherapy treatment could help; or patients who need advice and cannot come to the clinic or the hospital for in-person consultations, the online consultations are a great option. The online consultation is a quick and effective way of initiating your treatment or getting professional advice. A careful, confidential and detailed history will be taken and the options for further treatment will be discussed. During our online consultation, you should expect to have an active role in helping me understand the possible causes and onset of your symptoms.

I am very passionate about women’s and men’s health and I am qualified to help patients suffering from chronic pelvic pain, coccydynia, pelvic floor dysfunction, sexual pain, vulvodynia, vaginismus, bladder and bowel dysfunction, rectal pain, pelvic organ prolapse, pregnancy related pelvic girdle pain and postnatal disorders.

A referral letter is not required to book a pelvic and women’s health physiotherapy consultation, unless you are claiming from your insurance company who may require that you are referred by either your GP or a Consultant. Conditions vary so please check with your Insurance Company. If you are paying for yourself, you can book your consultation directly.

With every pelvic physiotherapy consultation, you should expect confidentiality and respect as well as discussion and explanation of your presenting condition. A careful, detailed and confidential history will be taken in order to understand the nature of your symptoms, possible triggers and what contributing factors aggravate them. Most importantly, I need to understand how this is affecting your life and what you can start doing to change it.
This is a very important part of the assessment as it will be from here that your physical examination and further treatment will be planned.

The second part of the assessment is the physical examination.
This part can vary from person to person and depending on the condition.
The physical examination will likely start with an assessment of your posture.
The way you move and breathe will give me valuable information about the pain you are experiencing and how your muscles, fascia and joints are feeling and behaving.

The next step is to examine your abdominal and lower back muscles and fascia as well as the pelvis, hips and lumbar spine joints.
Once all this information has been gathered from the external structures, a pelvic floor muscles internal examination may be required.
This is an important part of the examination as it will provide valuable information about the way your pelvic floor muscles are working and how this can be a contributor to your pain.
The findings from both the subjective and physical assessment will be discussed with you and a personalized treatment plan will be established according to your individual needs.
The treatment will be a journey, and the assessment will be an ongoing process.
This will involve teamwork so you can expect a lot of discussion and to have an active role on every decision.

The initial consultation will take around one hour and patients are advised to bring any results of tests, letters or additional information regarding their medical history.

You can read more about this here.

1. Pelvic Floor Exercises – The Do’s and Don’ts
2. When Should You Have a Pelvic Floor Assessment?

If you are experiencing pelvic floor dysfunction symptoms or have had a baby recently a pelvic floor examination will likely be indicated.
You can read more about it here. It is important that you know that an internal pelvic floor examination whilst important, is not fundamental to start treatment. If you are not ready to have one then I can start by addressing the symptoms found on the external structures and combine that with important advice on lifestyle changes that will improve your condition.

Read More

Yes, you can still have a pelvic floor examination if you are on your period. This is a personal decision based on how comfortable you feel with it.

At the initial consultation you may be asked to undress to your underwear to assess posture and mobility.
Should you require a pelvic floor examination you may be asked to partially remove your underwear.
In this case you will be given a gown or towels to cover yourself and some privacy to change at the beginning or end of the assessment.
You can wear your normal clothes for the initial consultation and will be told in advance if exercise clothing is required for the follow-up consultations.

Although sometimes mild discomfort can be present during a pelvic floor examination because of the nature of the problem it is important to mention that this type of examination and treatment should not be painful – the goal of the physiotherapist is to create a safe environment in which the patient feels comfortable and in which it is possible to relax and regain function of the pelvic floor muscles.

You will be offered the option to have a chaperone present during the initial consultation or follow up treatments if you require one to be present. However, a chaperone might not be available at the time of your consultation and if you require one, we might need to arrange one for the next consultation, depending on availability.

Postnatal detailed physiotherapy assessments of the back, abdominal and pelvic floor are recommended at any time after six weeks postpartum regardless of the type of delivery. On a postnatal check-up I will check your posture, breathing, lower back and hips, tummy gap and pelvic floor function.
An individualised treatment plan, advice and exercise programme will then be created for you.

You can find out more about pregnancy and postpartum care here.

If you feel comfortable bringing someone else to the consultation with you, you are welcome to do so. Children are also welcome in the consultation room.
Your baby can stay comfortably in the pram or playing with some toys while you are having a pelvic floor examination or other treatment interventions.

The number of consultations, duration of follow-up consultations and how long a course of treatment will take varies according to your clinical history and symptoms. We will have a better idea after the initial consultation. The findings from both the subjective and physical assessment on the initial consultation will be discussed with you and a personalized treatment plan will be established according to your individual needs.

Pelvic and Women’s Health Physiotherapy is a specialized field of physiotherapy that helps women, men and children with problems affecting their pelvic floor and pelvic health.
Pelvic and women’s health physiotherapists are specialists qualified to treat problems such as: chronic pelvic pain, bladder dysfunction, bowel dysfunction and rectal pain, sexual pain, pelvic organ prolapse, pregnancy related problems, menopause related problems, lower back pain and tailbone pain. You can read more about these here.