Physiotherapy

Judith Landhausser
Women’s Health Physiotherapist

Qualifications:
1992 Qualified as a Physiotherapist – University Hospital, Homburg/Saar, Germany
1999 Qualified as an Osteopath – College Sutherland, Ulm, Germany
2009 Completed Post Grad in Women’s Health
Since 2007 Undergoing Msc (Women’s Health), University of Bradford

I work at 148 Harley Street, London and BMI Kings Oak Hospital, Enfield. In addition I also work at 999 Medical & Diagnostic Centre, Temple Fortune, London.

I support Mr Downes by supplying a specific women’s health physiotherapy service. This service covers pelvic floor assessments followed by a tailor-made exercise programme to help with:

• stress and urgency incontinence
• support of pelvic prolapse
• reducing vaginismus
• improving dyspareunia

This may include strengthening exercises, trigger point treatments, manual techniques, stretches and electrotherapy in the form of stimulation or biofeedback.

One in four women suffers at some time in her life from problems with their bladder function. Please do not let embarrassment about being one of them stop you from seeking help! It impacts vastly on your life and can often be improved with the right treatment.

The latest research has shown that by increasing your pelvic floor muscle strength you can provide much better support for a pelvic organ prolapse and that if you work hard on this the prolapse can reduce in severity.

Pain during intercourse (due to vaginismus or dyspareunia) can often be improved with manual techniques to reduce trigger points and muscle tension.

Explanations and advice are a big part of my work, which gives you, as the patient, the understanding of what is happening with your body and what you can do to improve your problem. I hope to empower you and give you the tools and motivation to work towards your goals. (This can include information about anatomy, bladder function, bladder drill, exercise aids, defaecation training, daily life activities, posture and much more).

I can also help with obstetric problems such as pelvic girdle pain and any form of musculoskeletal problems during pregnancy and appearing bladder problems. I also offer a postnatal MOT (pelvic floor and diastasis recti assessments).

Being pregnant is a very exciting time for most women, but unfortunately for some of us it can be a time of a lot of back and pelvic pain. Physiotherapy cannot always make this pain go away but often it can be reduced and it can definitely be managed better with some advice, manual treatment and at times acupuncture.

Once the baby has arrived your time schedule changes completely! But do not forget that your pelvic floor needs to recover from giving birth and might need some help from you to get back into shape. Even if you had a cesarean delivery it is good to work on your pelvic floor as the pregnancy will have burdened it with a heavier load during the last few months and it will benefit from some attention!

A rectus diastasis (separation of the right and left rectus abdominus muscle) often appears during the last few months of the pregnancy and this should disappear again once the baby is delivered. There are exercises that can be done to enhance the closure of the muscle tissue.

Chronic pelvic pain is also a part of my specialty, which involves looking at the musculoskeletal aspect of the patient and the pelvic floor area. Chronic pelvic pain can be triggered by many causes. If it is triggered by a dysfunction in your lower back or pelvis area then physiotherapy can help. A common cause is a dysbalance within your pelvic floor; this could be caused by weakness, tightness or trigger points. Not everyone can relax their pelvic floor sufficiently to maintain a well functioning muscle.

If you would like further information about any of the mentioned conditions, please do not hesitate to contact me via e-mail on judith-physio@mail.com.

 

If you would like to book an appointment for physiotherapy treatment please contact me on 07710 438125 or Mr Downes’ Consulting Rooms on 020 7935 7341.