The Pelvic Floor Place

The Pelvic Floor Place Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from The Pelvic Floor Place, Women's Health Clinic, 3205 NE 78th Street, Suite 101, Vancouver, WA.

Christina is the creator of The Pelvic Floor Place and her desire is to treat women dealing with pelvic floor and core dysfunction such as incontinence, prolapse, pelvic pain, pain with s*x, diastasis recti, low back pain and more.

New sign is up! Love having all 3 of us in here throughout the week! Monarch Midwifery and The Pelvic floor place have o...
08/04/2026

New sign is up! Love having all 3 of us in here throughout the week! Monarch Midwifery and The Pelvic floor place have officially been here for almost 2 years and we just added another provider! If you don’t know the other two businesses here is a little bit about them!

Monarch Midwifery 🦋

Monarch Midwifery are home birth midwives delivering experienced, caring and personalized midwifery care. Sam, Brittany and Kyra are amazing midwives and give you and baby the attention and care that you need. They offer prenatal care, home birth and water birth, and prenatal and postpartum care with hospital delivery. Check out their new website for more info @ www.monarchmidwifery.com

Sprouted Joy Psychological Services 🌱

Ryanne Smith Ryanne just officially joined our space this summer and are so lucky to have her! She is a clinical social worker, perinatal therapist, nonprofit consultant, behavior, specialist, community builder, and fierce advocate for inclusive, affirming care. Her services include private therapy sessions in person or via telehealth or individualized coaching. Check out her website to learn more! www.sproutedjoyservices.com

Love our space filled with women empowering women! Such a great wellness space we have created and hope you see us soon!

There are a lot of "myths" out there of the pelvic floor and here are just a few that I think we should clear the air on...
07/22/2026

There are a lot of "myths" out there of the pelvic floor and here are just a few that I think we should clear the air on.

Myth #1: You are leaking because you are weak

Yes one reason for leaking can be weakness but its usually more complex than that and generally just kegels is not the answer. We want to treat the root cause, not just the symptoms.

Myth #2: Leaking is normal after you have a baby.

Common? Yes. Normal? No. It is not normal to leak, ever. It means you are not managing pressure well and we want to fix that!

Myth #3: A little pain with s*x is normal.

Pain with s*x is never normal. Although it can be common the first time you ever have s*x, the first time after birth, during menopause and feel achy at times if the cervix is hit during s*x. But, if its painful due to too tight muscles, PF imbalance and scar tissue, we can fix that!

Myth #4: Straining with a BM is normal.

Nope. You should not be straining to have a BM. You should be able to exhale and breathe out a BM without exerting force. If you are, that usually means that you need more water, fiber, or mag citrate.

Myth #5: PF exercises are only for women who have given birth.

Nope! Everyone has a pelvic floor and men, kids and women who haven't had kids can also benefit if there is dysfunction.

Myth #6: Everyone should do kegels and PF strengthening.

Nope! Not everyone has pelvic floor dysfunction and not everyone needs to do kegels.

Myth #7: Opting for a C-section will prevent pelvic floor dysfunction

Not true. You can still very much have pelvic floor dysfunction with a C-section. Remember the PF still held a baby for 9 months so it may need be re-trained and coordinated.

Myth #8: Women are the only ones that need to work on their pelvic floor

Nope! Everyone has a pelvic floor and everyone can have pelvic floor dysfunction. It is the most common in child bearing women but kids and men can have bowel and bladder dysfunction, pain and other issues as well!

Hope you learned something new! Questions? Drop us a DM!

Perimenopause is the phase before menopause in your late 30s to early 40s where ovaries make less estrogen and progester...
07/07/2026

Perimenopause is the phase before menopause in your late 30s to early 40s where ovaries make less estrogen and progesterone. It can last 4-10 years and stops once you go 12 months without a period.

I just started this phase and its wild!

There are significant changes in hormones daily, weekly and monthly and they are very sporadic. There are a lot of symptoms that start happening during this time and some of them are specific to the pelvic floor.

Due to declining and fluctuating estrogen, tissues in the bladder lining and vaginal walls start to thin, while altering pelvic floor muscle elasticity.

Because of the declining estrogen, you may start to experience some symptoms in your pelvic floor.

PF symptoms:
⭐Urinary urgency
⭐Urge Incontinence
⭐Stress Incontinence
⭐Pain with s*x
⭐Chronic constipation
⭐Prolapse

You may have had some of these symptoms for awhile but you will usually see an increase during this phase due to the declining estrogen

Estrogen plays a huge role in pelvic floor health!

If you have any of these symptoms, see a Pelvic PT to help support your bladder, vaginal wall and PF.

Talk to your gynecologist to see if you are a candidate for vaginal estrogen!

If you don't have a gynecology provider, please reach out and I can recommend someone for you!

*x

The amount of new moms who come to see me postpartum with a severe perineal tear, pain, and weakness and wonder how thei...
07/06/2026

The amount of new moms who come to see me postpartum with a severe perineal tear, pain, and weakness and wonder how their birth went wrong is astounding.

They are strong, active, read all the books, went to every appointment, did all the proper tests and still ended up with a grade 2-3 tear, pain for weeks, prolapse, hemorrhoids and constipation.

What went wrong? We didn't actually train your pelvic floor what to do during pushing. We just forced a baby out without teaching the pelvic floor what to do.

Its not more kegels. Its definitely not forceful pushing. Its not timing your epidural correctly. Its not more core strengthening (although very important). Its not more hip and pelvic mobility (again also very important). Its not stretching. Most of these are important but just not the MOST important.

The most important: Exhaling while pushing, and engaging your deep core and lengthening (relaxing) your pelvic floor.

This is not a natural movement and must be trained prior to birth. Only two times the body does this is with BM and birth. However, most people don't do this with having BM. They usually strain, take enough Magnesium or fiber to avoid having to do this correctly.

This needs to be practiced with your BM, and in different laboring positions. And no your midwife or OB won't teach you this. Only a Pelvic Floor PT will. And yes, its hard.

Any patient coming in to see me during their pregnancy will learn this and we will practice it a lot. It will most likely decrease chances of tearing, help with a more efficient labor and give you confidence during your birth.

Want to learn how to dissociate your PF from your core? Schedule a visit today, link in bio!

06/17/2026

Norms! If you are dealing with hemorrhoids and want some relief, reach out to me for some samples!

Hemorrhoid cream (12 ct normally $30)-made with lidocaine to help with pain and phenylephrine HCL to decrease swelling and ease pressure

Medicated wipes (24 ct normally $18)- made with witch hazel for fast relief from itching, burning and irritation

Finger gloves to help apply cream!

06/16/2026

The Birth Book! All your medical questions answered by an evidenced based OBGYN here in PDX! Buy it!

You can't really treat the PF and the Core without addressing the emotional aspect. Your nervous system, emotions and yo...
06/16/2026

You can't really treat the PF and the Core without addressing the emotional aspect. Your nervous system, emotions and your deep PF and core are very intricately related.

How they interact with one another differs from person to person, the cultural messaging you have taken in, personal experiences, trauma, hormones, prenatal, postpartum, menopause, birthing history, pregnancies, car accidents, or abuse amongst many other things.

If we look at the nervous system in its 3 main states, it can tell us a lot.

😡Activated-this is fight or flight, charged emotions, crying, yelling, anxious, angry, scared, protective. This is when the tiger is chasing you. Your body doesn't know the different between a severe and mild threat, just knows its not safe. This is survival mode which is important to help you survive, but its not a place to live.

This is also when your PF and core are protecting you and usually in state of tightness or hypertonicity. You might be experiencing bloating, abdominal pain, hypersensitivity, hip pain, low back pain, pelvic pain, pain with s*x, constipation and leaking.

☺️Regulated-this is rest and digest, calm but alert, non-reactive but present, logical, easy decision making, experiencing all the emotions in a healthy way.

This is where your core and PF function the best. They activate for movement and with increased load and relax with rest.

This is the state we want to live in most of the time.

😔Withdraw-this is the freeze, disconnected, withdrawn, isolated, lazy, depressed, brain fog, sad, and hopeless. This is a state that is helpful after an activated state to let your body rest and recover but again not a state to live in.

Here the PF and core will be disconnected. You don't know how to engage these muscles and they aren't activating for you functionally.

Our goal=regulated

We want a connected body, stable emotions, calm and balanced. As we go through the life span different things will impact how well we can exist here but don't expect your PF and core to function normally outside of this state.

Let me help you regulate your nervous system and help you connect to your PF and core again!

Postpartum 6-12 weeks! This is the phase that is usually rushed but I feel that this phase is when moms need the most su...
06/16/2026

Postpartum 6-12 weeks!

This is the phase that is usually rushed but I feel that this phase is when moms need the most support. You usually are no longer seeing your birth provider, partner is back at work, people stop bringing you meals and you are expected to be back to "normal".

Hormones are still not stable, nervous system is not regulated, sleep is greatly impacted and generally you are still healing physically from birth.

Goals:
💫Breathing: Focusing on deep diaphragmatic and belly breaths will help you connect to your core and PF to be used as a system
💫Core: Getting your abs contracting correctly again will decrease the rib flare and strengthen your core and help decrease all the tension in your back muscles
💫Hips! Getting your hips strong and working correctly will help your posture and improve stability
💫Posture! This is important not only for pain but for your muscles to work the best they can

You want to slowly introduce exercise with focusing on the breath, PF and core coordination and movement. I would still try to avoid heavy impact like jumping and running and intense frontal abdominal exercises.

These three areas of exercise load the PF and core greatly and if you are still working on strength and managing pressure, these can make your symptoms worse.

If you want cardio, focus on low impact such as biking, walking and swimming. Think about good alignment and posture, breathing and connecting to your body. Try to keep your intensity at around 50-75% of what would feel really intense or hard for you. Start in blocks of 15-30 minutes and see how your body feels that night and the next day and continually be monitoring for symptoms.

Signs you are doing too much:
❌Increase in bleeding or it returning
❌Increase in abdominal or pelvic pressure/discomfort or pain
❌Vaginal heaviness/pressure
❌Increase or new leaking
❌Increase in mid or low back pain
❌Hip pain or sciatica

During the day, start thinking about your body mechanics, posture, breathing and engaging PF and core. What you do during the day is more important than 30 mins of exercise.

Take it slow and reach out for an individualized postpartum exercise program!

When your OB or Midwife "clear" you, what does that mean? Do they tell you all the things you can start doing and how ex...
05/18/2026

When your OB or Midwife "clear" you, what does that mean? Do they tell you all the things you can start doing and how exactly to do them? Do they give you a plan for helping you to continue to recover? So you are just magically healed at 6 weeks but you weren't at 5 weeks? Do they check in after 6 weeks to make sure everything is going well?

Well most of you probably don't have the answer to these questions as they are not talked about in your 6 week postpartum appointment. They check to make sure your tear is mostly healed and you are on some type of birth control, you aren't clinically depressed and usually send you on your way. Being cleared in their opinion, is medically cleared. Not functionally.

Medically, this is the time frame that your uterus and cervix should be healed from birth and any tearing or incisions should also be healed medically. However, a lot of times this area isn't even medically healed yet.

So lets say you are medically healed at 6 weeks (about 40% of women actually are), are you fully functioning in all your core and PF muscles? Connective tissue? Ligament support? Joint alignment? Nervous system regulated? Far from it.

So why are we telling these women to start exercising without any plan or guide, start having s*x and exist as normal? We didn't even screen them for function? We only screened them medically right?

We are just setting you up for failure.

Your OB and Midwife don't have time to tell you what to do and how to do it and they aren't trained in doing so.

But thats where we come in! After your 6 week postpartum medical exam, then you schedule your PF and Core Initial Evaluation!

Here we can start helping you connect to your breath, focus on thoracic and hip mobility, how to engage and relax your PF, recruit your deep core properly, improve PF and core symptoms, focus on coordination for movement, BMs and eventually more exercise. We train your muscles how to re-connect and work properly to help you get back to your normal functioning self.

Don't skip this part! This may be one of the most important but challenging stages you will go through. Questions? Sign up for a FREE 15 minute video consult to learn more!

Happy Mothers Day! To all you moms out there just wishing you all a special day. Motherhood doesn’t stop on Mother’s Day...
05/10/2026

Happy Mothers Day! To all you moms out there just wishing you all a special day. Motherhood doesn’t stop on Mother’s Day as there are still butts to wipe, food to prepare and souls to comfort. I hope you feel appreciated for all you do and may you feel seen, heard and loved by your families today. I truly cherish each and every one of you whether you are a mom or not and know that you are truly loved.

Have a great day and don’t forget to pamper yourself and come in next week for a discounted Mothers Day visit!

Address

3205 NE 78th Street, Suite 101
Vancouver, WA
98665

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 4pm
Tuesday 8am - 4pm
Wednesday 8am - 4pm
Thursday 8am - 4pm

Telephone

+19713191517

Website

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