Pelvic Floor Disorder Treatments
Pelvic Floor Disorder Treatments
Each patient’s treatment is individualized based on her own personal situation, needs and lifestyle goals. We offer a coordinated approach to improve symptom control and improve quality of life. Your providers will work with you to find the treatment that is right for you.
Treatment can include:
- Physical therapy
- Outpatient, office-based treatments
- Surgical treatment
Occasionally, the treatment options offered to a woman with pelvic organ dysfunction depend on the training and experience of the surgeon. The benefit to choosing a comprehensive treatment program like the Urogynecology Program is that every available treatment option is offered, when appropriate. Our board-certified Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery (FPMRS) subspecialists have deep experience with the full range of treatment options for women with pelvic floor disorders and will work together with you to find the right option.
Appointment Information
To schedule an appointment or learn more about the Urogynecology Program, please call 734-763-6295.
Urogynecology Program
The U-M Health Urogynecology Program provides comprehensive surgical and non-surgical services for women suffering from any form of pelvic floor disorders.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapy can help women with pelvic floor disorders improve the strength and function of their pelvic floor muscles. PT techniques that are often used for women with pelvic floor disorders include:
- Pelvic-floor relaxation/strength training
- Bladder/bowel retraining
- Exercises designed to stretch/strengthen different muscles, including the diaphragm
- Manual therapy
- Improvement/restoration of joint movement
- Biofeedback/electrical stimulation/pressure therapy
Our team includes specialists from the U-M Health Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation program with cutting-edge expertise in designing exercise and rehab regimens to treat pelvic disorders. Your program will be tailored to you.
Don’t live in Ann Arbor? No problem. We work with a network of PT providers with special expertise in working with women with pelvic disorders throughout the state of Michigan so that you are able to receive therapy conveniently close to home.
Non-surgical Treatments
We offer several non-surgical therapies that can be performed during a standard office visit. These often serve as a temporary measure before surgery, or can resolve the problem without surgery.
- Pessaries are devices that are inserted into the vagina to support the pelvic organs. After some brief training with your physician, a woman can usually take the pessary out and reinsert it herself. Pessaries are used to treat prolapse, incontinence or both. When fit properly, they are comfortable and don’t cause infections.
- Bladder injections featuring neurotoxins (like Botox) are injected into the muscle that lines the wall of the bladder and can help treat overactive bladder symptoms when they don’t improve with simpler treatments.
- Urethral bulking agents are injected at the intersection of the bladder and urethra to reduce urine leakage with exercise (i.e. stress urinary incontinence). You’ll leave the office leaking less and ready to get right back into life’s activities.
- Nerve stimulation sends small electrical pulses from a nerve near the tibial nerve in the ankle to the sacral nerve to help control urination urgency, frequency, and incontinence.
Surgical Treatments
For patients for whom non-surgical therapies don’t provide desired relief, we offer a full spectrum of short-stay surgical procedures, including laparoscopic and robotic-assisted surgery.
We will work with you to determine what procedure is right for your individual needs, factoring in your lifestyle and health history. Please ask questions of your surgeon and be upfront with your concerns so that we can factor everything into the decision. We also offer special expertise in complex pelvic reconstruction procedures and surgeries to fix complications from prior procedures.
Multiple different types of surgical approaches are available:
Vaginal surgery has a faster recovery time, no incisions, and causes less pain and blood loss than an abdominal surgery. Some types of vaginal surgery can be done without mesh, using dissolvable sutures to attach the top part of the vagina to a ligament deep in the buttocks. Women typically are able to go home the following morning from surgery with little pain.
Robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery, performed through small incisions with the use of a telescope camera, allows for faster healing and shorter hospital stays in place of larger incisions that were previously used. Our experience with robotic surgery has shown that patients experience less pain and scarring, lose less blood, are at less risk of wound infections and return to normal activities more quickly compared to traditional open surgeries.
Abdominal surgery is performed through an abdominal incision, has a longer recovery time and generally causes more discomfort than vaginal surgeries, but may be your only option due to anatomy or other existing conditions. We can still use the smallest incision possible.
- Incontinence surgeries done via the vaginal approach
- Repair of bladder or bowel vaginal prolapse done through the vaginal opening without the use of mesh
- Vaginal hysterectomy and support of the vaginal canal
- Surgeries to repair prolapse but keep the uterus intact
- Repair of fistula connections between the vagina and other organs
- Robotic-assisted sacrocolpopexy to repair vaginal prolapse
Locations
-
Obstetrics & Gynecology Clinic | Chelsea Professional Office Building Floor 1 Ste 101
Chelsea Multispecialty Clinic
Chelsea, MI 48118-1801Get Directions -
Obstetrics & Gynecology Specialty Clinic | Brighton Center for Specialty Care 7500 Challis Rd
Entrance 1, Level 2
Brighton, MI 48116-9416Get Directions -
Obstetrics & Gynecology Specialty Clinic | Northville Health Center 39901 Traditions Dr
Floor 2
Northville, MI 48168-9493Get Directions -
Obstetrics & Gynecology Specialty Clinic | West Ann Arbor Health Center-Parkland Plaza 380 Parkland Plaza Ste 210
Floor 2
Ann Arbor, MI 48103-6201Get Directions -
Women's Clinic | Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital 1540 E Hospital Dr
Floor 9
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-4276Get Directions
Doctors
Mary Fleming Ackenbom, MD
Clinical Associate Professor
Obstetrics & Gynecology, Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery
John O De Lancey, MD
Professor
Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Pamela Susan Fairchild, MD
Clinical Associate Professor
Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Dee Ellen Fenner, MD
Professor
Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Christopher Hong, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Obstetrics & Gynecology, Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery
Daniel McBurney Morgan, MD
Clinical Professor
Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Megan O'Brien Schimpf, MD, MHSA
Clinical Professor
Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Payton Claire Schmidt, MD
Clinical Associate Professor
Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynecology
News & Stories
PCOS has a new name
Who’s at risk for painful periods?
U-M Regents approve Michigan Medicine leadership changes
What to know about perimenopause and menopause
Long friendship inspires urology resident fund
