What Now?

Pelvic floor disorders affect the quality of life and are not generally life threatening. That means the primary reason to seek treatment is for relief of your symptoms.

There are effective treatments. Your decision to seek treatment should be based upon how much you are bothered by the symptoms.

What to Expect When Seeing a Provider

Our goal is to give you a better understanding of what normal pelvic floor function is as a background for understanding pelvic floor disorders. See normal pelvic floor function and pelvic floor disorders.

Once you and your provider decide to pursue care, you will need to choose the right provider for you. You can get contact information for specialist providers to arrange a consult in our Provider page.

The first visit usually includes an in depth discussion of your pelvic floor function, which is often initiated with a questionnaire. The provider will then do a physical exam that includes a pelvic exam to evaluate the anatomy and function of your pelvic floor.

Sometimes more involved testing is required to determine the best treatment for you. If you need these tests, your provider will arrange them and see you for a follow-up visit to plan treatment.

Depending on what treatment you and your provider choose, there may be a delay in starting treatment. Your provider will see you after the treatment to assess how well it has relieved your symptoms.

Each of these steps in your evaluation and treatment will have some waiting time. To better understand these wait times we have added this information to the detailed provider information.

Testing - Why Is It Necessary?

Sometimes your provider needs additional information to recommend the best treatment. There are a number of special tests that provide detailed information about how your pelvic organs work that cannot be determined by pelvic exam.

Some of these tests use imaging, such as ultrasound or x-ray, while others are minor procedures. They do not require you to go to sleep (anesthesia).

Wait Times

Once you and your physician choose a provider, a referral can be made.

It is important for you to know what wait times can be expected when choosing a provider.