Athletes: Take Control of Your Pelvic Pain

“I went from being a woman who weight lifted, mountain biked, played rugby and practiced Muay Thai at a high-performance level to a woman who was unable to tie her own shoes due to immense pain.”

Strength. Athleticism. Consistency. Performance. These don’t seem like attributes of someone who is suffering physical ailments, does it? That’s just what characterizes pelvic floor conditions — invisible to those around us, but so so impactful on one’s daily life.

This is Maria. She suffered from lower back, hip, SI joint and pelvic pain for most of her adult life, but it became debilitating for her about 4 years ago. The pain had begun to affect every aspect of her daily living, and she could no longer be the athlete she had always trained to be.

Athletes are often put on a pedestal of supreme health and wellness, but the truth is that the physical toll taken by years of training and athletic performance takes no small toll on the body.

“I saw several doctors and received dozens of injections (epidurals, facet blocks, hip blocks, SI joint blocks, PRP, prolotherapy) to absolutely no avail.

It wasn’t until one doctor said, ‘maybe you have pelvic pain, and in that case, I can’t help you’ that my true journey to pelvic floor wellness and pain management began.

I began to do extensive research to find the best pelvic floor physical therapy clinics in southern California and was extraordinarily lucky to find Sarton Physical Therapy just a stone’s throw away! Dr. Allea Francis (or Allea, as I call her), has been my physical therapist since my first day when I came in with no expectations after so many years of pain and feeling betrayed by my own body. After the very first session of receiving holistic patient education and top quality pelvic floor PT, my mind and body began to change for the better.

My life has only been on the upswing since then, and every week (now every other week because I’m doing so well) that I go in, I feel stronger, more flexible and simply put, more able to live the life I was meant to live.

The timing of finding Sarton PT could not have come at a better time in my life, as I had just been accepted into my top choice of accelerated graduate nursing programs and I was terrified that I would be unable to keep up with the rigor and physical demands of the program. Thanks to Allea, and by extension, Sarton PT, I have excelled both academically and physically because pelvic pain DOES NOT RULE MY LIFE ANYMORE!”

Maria, we are so proud of you! Your dedication to healing and spreading hope to others ROCKS

Click to learn more about sacroiliac joint dysfunction (SIJ).