Purple Mountain Physical Therapy

Need tips to help your tailbone? We use a whole body, comprehensive framework to assess and treat tailbone pain. When someone is experiencing tailbone pain it is common that they may need to work on some or all of the following:

*Resolve your constipation & do not strain with passing a bowel movement

*Relax your pelvic floor

*Improve your hip flexibility and mobility

*Strengthen your glutes

*Work on your low back pain: optimize your lumobpelvic mobility, address stiffness in your low back, improve your deep core strength

*Address your tight hamstrings and inner thighs

*Optimize your pelvic floor muscles: address any prolapse, bladder issues, scar pain, weakness, tightness or nerve pain

*Address abdominal wall problems, including weakness, scar tissue, sucking in your abs, overactive upper abs, underactive lower abs.

*Improve diaphragmatic breathing.

If you are struggling with tailbone pain, know that you are not stuck with it. Our PTs specialize in treating tailbone pain, pelvic health conditions and back pain. Working closely with you, in a one-on-one appointment that includes specialized hands-on treatments as well as customized exercises to address the specific needs ofyour body, you will feel relief. We love this work and consider it an honor to help you. Curious if we can help? Call 616-516-4334. Purple Mountain PT is located in Grand Rapids, MI.

Be who you are, unapologetically. Every person has their unique contribution to our world! You are important!

Embrace you, be kind to yourself & others and know you are valued.

Love and respect are universal, and every human deserves to shine.

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Wondering if scar tissue massage may help you? Here's are a few of the common scar symptoms that we treat:

Does your C-section scar still hurt you?

Is your scar sensitive when clothing touches it?

Does your scar feel pulling and tight?

Does your scar cause a "mommy shelf"

Did your perineal scar from vaginal birth cause your pain?

Does the perineal scar feel "not right", "Pinchy", "raw", "sensitive", "ripped", "tearing", "sore" or "thick"?

Does your laparoscopic scar pucker inward?

Does your back surgery scar contribute to your low back tension, stiffness and tightness?

Scar Tissue Massage, Mobilization and Release is offered by our physical therapists to provide you relief of pain, improved mobility, resolution of hypersensitivity.

Curious if we can help you? Call us at 616-516-4334 to learn more. Purple Mountain PT is located in Grand Rapids, MI. We specialize in pelvic health, spine and TMJ disorders. Many of our patients have had pelvic or abdominal surgeries and experience ongoing scar tissue problems. Our specialist PTs use a comprehensive, whole body framework to fully restore you to feeling great. This framework includes assessing and treating all scars, even if they are decades old! We love this work and enjoy helping you!

Sometimes patients tell us "I wish I had know about pelvic PT years ago!"

Did you know that pelvic PT can help:

1️⃣ Bladder Control

We help all issues related to bladder control, including getting up at night to urinate, overactive bladder, urinary frequency, bladder spasms, bladder pain, hesistant urinary stream, incomplete bladder emptying, stress incontinence, urinary retention, Urinary urgency, urge incontinence, post-prostatectomy or post-hysterectomy or post-partum bladder issues. Bottom line: if you have bladder control problems, our specialist PTs can help you.

2️⃣ Reduce pain:
A recent guideline was published detailing the symptoms that women report when they have pelvic problems:

Pain⁠

Tenderness⁠

Achey-ness in the muscles⁠

Burning⁠

Discomfort⁠

Our PTs treat your pelvic floor muscles, nerves & fascia. We also treat all scar tissue from surgeries or vaginal birth. We treat your low back, thoracic spine, neck, hips and knees. And you will find that this whole-body approach helps reduce your pelvic pain.

3️⃣ Prolapse:
Purple Mountain PT is a prolapse specialty clinic. So often our patients come to us having been scared after learning they have prolapse and worried that they will require reconstructive pelvic surgery. Rest assured, our PTs can help your prolapse. We customize your rehabilitation program based on your specific needs and goals. Using our rehabilitative ultrasound imaging, you will learn how to retrain your movement patterns, core muscles and pelvic floor support to lessen the issues contributing to your prolapse.

Purple Mountain Physical Therapy located in Grand Rapids, Michigan is a specialty pelvic health clinic that serves adults and kids who have any pelvic condition. It makes a difference in the quality of care you receive when you work with a specialist, who knows how to properly and effectively customize a physical therapy treatment plan to meet your needs.

Call 616-516-4334 to chat. Many of our patients have not experienced results trying other methods. We're here for you, when you're ready!

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💨Swipe to see if diet and hydration are the key to fixing constipation!

📣MYTH!
Totally not the whole story if you're trying to fix constipation issues!

To understand and thus help someone get out of a 👎🏻constipation cycle👎🏻 we need to understand the whole picture, including the ✨️pelvic floor✨️!

The colon might not be the culprit solely causing the constipation symptoms.
When we evaluate our patients dealing with 💩 we take into account many things, but definitely the following!

Chewing
Body movement
Abdominal integrity
Bathroom habits
✨️PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLES✨️
Diet
Hydration
Medical history
Surgical history

We could go on! There are so many factors we need to check out to create the proper plan to overcome constipation.

If you (or your kiddo!) is dealing with constipation (hard p**ps, soft p**ps, p**p accidents, withholding, painful p**p, etc) please reach out to our team here at Purple Mountain PT. Everyone deserves to have comfortable bathroom habits.

📍We are Purple Mountain Physical Therapy, located here in Grand Rapids, MI. Call 616.516.4334 to chat with our Patient Care Team and we'll figure out together how we can help you!

😲Want 3 Tips for Urinary Incontinence?

Check out the link in our bio for our full list in our blog for "Tips for Urinary Incontinence"

1. Its so important to drink enough water to stay hydrated. Some people avoid drinking water or other beverages due to fear of leaking, but this concentrates your urine and denies your bladder the chance to fill up, which is helpful for bladder function.
2. Avoid fluids that irritate your bladder or worsen urinary incontinence. Each person is different, but common culprits include alcohol, carbonated beverages and caffeine.
3. Be certain to fully empty your bladder. Take all the time you need to empty. This skill will most likely take time and practice! We can help you with this in PT!
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Here's a couple more!

✨️Don’t push your p*e out!
✨️Eat enough fiber, fruit and veggies to keep your bowel movements regular.
✨️Remain physically active.

📍Purple Mountain Physical Therapy, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a specialty pelvic health physical therapy clinic. We help women and men with pelvic floor dysfunction recover so they can live an active life! Our pelvic program helps you overcome pelvic pain, bladder control issues, bowel problems and pain related to intimacy. If you would like to learn more about our physical therapy, call 616-516-4334. We can discuss your symptoms and condition and determine if pelvic floor PT may help you! ⁠
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Dealing with DRA? ⁠We can help with that. Read below for some interesting stats! It all goes to show that women need better care and more advocacy! We're here for it!
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60% of women at 6 weeks postpartum and 32% at 12 months postpartum suffer from it.⁠ 😔
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100% of women at due date and 39% at 6 months postpartum suffer from it.⁠ 👎🏻
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So many of our postpartum patients are dealing with DRA to some degree. ⁠
We make sure to access and treat each person holistically, meeting them where they are at and creating the specific plan they need to achieve their desired results.

The plan is likely to include checking some or all of the following!
🔎Movement of the Ribcage⁠⁠
🔎Movement of the Pelvis⁠⁠
🔎Abdominal Muscle Related Pulls⁠⁠
🔎Shallow Breathing⁠
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We'll need to get to know what's happening around the abdomen which includes looking at the position of the ribcage, pelvis and the activation of each muscle groups in surrounding areas. Treatment could look like the following:
✨️Establishing 360 degree breathing in seated or standing position⁠
✨️Exercises that supports great alignment with working on glutes🍑, core🍎 and pelvic floor🧁.⁠
✨️⁠Promote transverse abdominis(TRA) contraction⁠

Whether it's DRA, incontinence, birth prep, post op, TMJ, low back pain, or something else, we are here to help you. Please don't hesitate to reach out. Staying in pain or tolerating/accepting less than ideal circumstances is not somewhere we need to stay. 💜

We are Purple Mountain PT, located in Grand Rapids, MI. We specialize in caring for the pelvic floor, neck, jaw, and spine. For more information on how we can help and if we're right for you, please call 6165164334.

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🦵🏼🦵🏽🦵🏿Did you know your calves can effect your pelvic floor?

Tight or weak calves can cause non-optimal movement patterns when walking, thereby causing altered forces to enter your pelvic floor. If your pelvic floor becomes overwhelmed by this, then you may leak urine or experience pain. ⁠
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Nerves coming out of your sacrum go down your leg and innervate (give power to) the calf muscles and also give power to the pelvic floor. If you experience troubles with bladder control, pelvic pain, prolapse, low back pain, hip problems (labral tear?), then you may have associated problems down your leg with other muscles or areas that the sacral nerve roots innervate. ⁠
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All of this is confusing to sort out on your own. We are here to help you figure out how to correct your ongoing pelvic floor dysfunction or back pain.

📍We are Purple Mountain PT, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We offer in-person PT that is specialized and holistic, meaning we treat your entire body so you can truly heal your pelvic and back problems. Call 616-516-4334 for more information⁠
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***cpain

💐One of our most treasured holidays here at Purple Mountain PT!💐

We are so glad to celebrate so many amazing mother's out there! Our patients, our own mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, aunts, nieces, etc. There are so many mothers out there and we are thinking of you all! 🌸

We are sending our love, support, hugs, good vibes, hand squeezes, high fives, tears of joy and sorrow, encouragement, and solidarity! 🌼

This holiday can be so exciting but we understand it can also be heart wrenching. We are here for you through it all. 💜

Happy Mother's Day from your Purple Mountain PT Team!🌷🌻🪻

📍Purple Mountain Physical Therapy is located in Grand Rapids, MI, Give us a call at 616-516-4334 for more information.
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💜Thank you so much for this inspiring review! We are so glad we can help moms feel better during pregnancy and heal in their postpartum journey!

🫱🏻‍🫲🏼We would love to help you if you are struggling with pregnancy/postpartum pains, incontinence, painful s*x, low back pain, and/or p***c bone pain. Please reach out, we would love to make life a little better with you.

📍Purple Mountain PT is located in Grand Rapids, MI. We specialize in pelvic floor, neck, back, jaw, and spine. Give us a call at 616.516.4334!

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💥This is a silent and not-well-discussed problem we have! ⁠
👉️Up to 80% of female athletes experiencing incontinence in sports that require jumping. ⁠`
👉️More than 1/4 of teen girls have back pain. ⁠
👉️3 out of 4 teen girls have painful menstrual cycles. ⁠
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The abdominal muscles, pelvic floor, hips and low back are dysfunctional. ⁠
We also find:⁠
👉🏽 misalignment in the hip, pelvis and spine. ⁠
👉🏼Postural tendencies that place more strain through the hips, knees and low back. ⁠
👉🏻Core muscle weakness, imbalances and overactivity. ⁠
👉🏿Shallow breathing, rib flare and poor posture that worsen pelvic floor dysfunction, back pain and incontinence. ⁠
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If your daughter is experiencing any of these problems our pelvic physical therapists can help her. Our PTs are fully trained in orthopedic physical therapy and treating young women throughout the lifespan. The pelvic PT they receive is different than what a full grown adult receives. We customize our care to what is appropriate for their age, development and needs. ⁠
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We've worked with adolescents who compete in every sport you can imagine: ⚽️soccer,🩰 ballet, 🏃🏻‍♀️track & field, 🏐volleyball, 🥎softball, 🏊🏽‍♀️swimming, 🥍lacrosse, ⛸️figure skating, 📣cheerleading, 🤸🏿‍♀️gymnastics, 🎾tennis and other sports. ⁠
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Even if your daughter is not participating in sports, she should not be experiencing pain in her back, hips, pelvis or abdomen. ⁠
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📍Purple Mountain Physical Therapy located in Grand Rapids, Michigan helps women & teen girls who have painful periods, chronic back pain, hips that hurt, bedwetting or incontinence in sport. Call 616-516-4334 for more info. ⁠
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🦴Did you know that Pelvic Floor PT can help with bone health, osteopenia, osteoporosis? We do reactive and PROactive care concerning these things.

It is definitely best to start working on your bone health before it becomes a problem! But there is still lots we can do to get optimal bone health!

Here are some things we might be doing in your plan of care!
✨️We teach you which exercises are best to maintain your posture and avoid a thoracic spine hunch.
✨️We emphasize safety in your workout routine and can advise you which exercises that you should avoid and how to modify things you enjoy so that your bones are not at risk for fracture, especially if you have osteopenia or osteoporosis
✨️We advise you on lifestyle choices to promote bone preservation and bone health
✨️We work with women and men who have bone health challenges, including young, adolescent females who have RED-S, relative energy deficiency in sport.
We teach you what to do, you take this knowledge home and implement it with confidence!

Being proactive with what you can control is one important step towards arming yourself with strong bones! Protecting bone health is much more complex than taking a calcium supplement! We can help you gain confidence in knowing what to do to foster bone health.

📍We are Purple Mountain PT in Grand Rapids, MI. Call 616.516.4334 for more information!

MAY DAY! 😄 Here to celebrate Pelvic Health! 🧁🍑🌷🧘🏻‍♀️🫁🏃🏽‍♂️We are, of course, quite thrilled - our content will remain much the same as we are here to make pelvic health known all year round!📣🗓️🗓️🗓️

Check out the link in our bio to read more information about pelvic health, what we can do to help you feel better, get to know our clinic, see where we are located, submit your information, request an appointment, and so much more.

📍We are Purple Mountain Physical Therapy in Grand Rapids, MI. Call 616.516.4334 for more info on what we can do and if you might benefit from our personalized care model.

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🛑Stop using the bathroom "just in case"; right before you drive, right when you get somewhere, don't know where the next bathroom might be... whatever the reason might be.

🖐🏼When you don’t need to urinate, don’t go to the bathroom “just in case”. Urinating when you don’t have a full bladder, when your bladder is not reaching its full capacity, is teaching your body that you need to empty it before it is full. Over time, this will perpetuate your problem because your bladder will get used to emptying when it isn’t even full.

🔗Read more about recommended habits and habits to halt by following the link in our bio. Check out he blog about overactive bladder treatment here in Grand Rapids, MI.

📍Purple Mountain Physical Therapy, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a specialty pelvic health physical therapy clinic. We help women and men with pelvic floor dysfunction recover so they can live an active life! Our pelvic program helps you overcome pelvic pain, bladder control issues, bowel problems and pain related to intimacy. If you would like to learn more about our physical therapy, call 616-516-4334. We can discuss your symptoms and condition and determine if pelvic floor PT may help you! ⁠

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🏄🏻‍♀️How's your balance?

Did you know your balance significantly effects your pelvic floor?

The pelvic floor muscles should be responding when you lose your balance and as you walk and move. Often, our patients have pelvic floor muscle dysfunction, causing these muscles to be impaired with daily activities, such as walking around (especially walking down hills) & chasing after a kid. Add a moment of loss of balance, unexpectedly to any activity, and your pelvic floor muscles should respond, quickly, to support your organs, prevent incontinence & stabilize your pelvis. What our patients tell us is that there might feel loss of urine when they trip, they might have tailbone irritation, they might feel pelvic pressure. We don’t want that! In PT, we figure out what is going wrong with your pelvic floor muscles, back muscles, hip muscles, postural alignment, movement patterns and balance system. Then we customize a rehab program to get it all functioning again.
Often, we include balance exercises as part of our pelvic floor rehabilitation programs to comprehensively improve urinary incontinence, bone health, posture, stability, balance, pelvic floor function and more!

Do you think your balance is off? Let us help you figure out how to improve it!

In this photo, we demonstrate single leg balance challenge on the whole body vibration plate, while also addressing posture and deep core activation.

📍We are Purple Mountain PT, a pelvic health and TM joint specialty clinic in Grand Rapids, MI. If you experience any TM joint pain, face pain, cervicogenic headaches, neck pain, low back pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic pain or urinary incontinence, we pledge to give you our undivided attention in your treatment so that you learn how to properly take care of your pelvic problem! ⁠
⁠Call 616.516.4334 to connect! ⁠
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Do you have a scar that is causing you pain?

C-Section Mamas, April is C-Section Awareness Month! Did you know you can get care for your scar?

Did you know it should not hurt?

✨️If you want a healthy, mobile, unrestricted scar so that you can run, push, pull, lift and move without feeling the scar, give us a call. Everyday we treat EVERY scar (whether it is cesarean, laparoscopy, hernia, hip surgery, robotic or other scar) to get the scar moving optimally.⁠

Cesarean scars are right near your bladder and go into your uterus, so if you have any prolapse, pelvic pain or bladder problems, let's get your scar optimized to ease those problems⁠.⁠

📍Purple Mountain Physical Therapy is a specialty pelvic health clinic located in Grand Rapids, MI. We specialize in treating pelvic floor, neck, jaw, and spine, providing holistic whole body care to each patient. Give us a call at 616-516-4334 to learn more.⁠

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💜April is C-Section Awareness Month!

We help so many C-Section mamas! We help them with a ton of different things, including scar care.

Do you have a Cesarean Scar? Here are some things to consider:⁠
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*It should not hurt you⁠
*You should be able to move freely without it feeling pulling or pinching⁠
*It should be able to move freely all directions⁠
*It should not pucker anywhere along its length⁠
*You should be able to wear pants and all clothing touching it without pain. ⁠
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📑Research has shown that expert scar massage, with particular methods that we use, can help the collagen in your scar to remodel in a beneficial way! The process of your scar healing can take two years and your scar tissue will respond to the forces that you apply to it in those two years. ⁠
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If you want a healthy, mobile, unrestricted scar so that you can run, push, pull, lift and move without feeling the scar, give us a call. Everyday we treat EVERY scar (whether it is cesarean, laparoscopy, hernia, hip surgery, robotic or other scar) to get the scar moving optimally. ⁠
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🫱🏻‍🫲🏼Cesarean scars are right near your bladder and go into your uterus, so if you have any prolapse, pelvic pain or bladder problems, let's get your scar optimized to ease those problems⁠.
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📍Purple Mountain Physical Therapy is a specialty pelvic health clinic that serves women and men in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Offering more than 20 years of highly advanced experience to our patients, you will find that our treatments are uniquely able to help you. Give us a call at 616-516-4334 to scheduled your free ten minute phone consultation to discuss your pelvic concerns. And, yes, babies are welcome to come. We love babies!!

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✨️Swipe through to see how Pelvic Floor PT can help your IBS!

We wrote a blog post about even more ways Pelvic Floor PT can help IBS. Check out the link in our bio for more info!

There is so much to be done to help IBS. You don't need to suffer through.

✨️Improve Control and Coordination - The a**l sphincter must be able to tighten to keep gas and stool inside and be able to dilate and open to allow you to defecate. We find the a**l sphincter is not functioning well for our patients who have IBS. When they try to defecate they often have to push the stool through a narrow or tightened a**l sphincter.

✨️Visceral Manipulation - It is a gentle and therapeutic way to improve your organs’ ability to move around in your abdomen. The “viscera” is a fancy term for all of your organs. Your organs should be able to move and glide without difficulty; when you have IBS, endometriosis adhesions, scar tissue, hernias, diastasis recti abdominis or any other problems with the abdominal wall (such as rib cage flare), your bowels and organs cannot operate in the ideal environment that enhances their function.

✨️Diaphragmatic Breathing - We notice shallow breathing patterns. Shallow breathing patterns do not “massage” the abdomen and promote the ability of the intestines to digest food. Also, shallow breathing patterns do not coordinate properly with the pelvic floor muscles and, therefore, contribute to pelvic floor muscle stiffness and pelvic floor dysfunction. When the diaphragm is working properly, with each breath you take there will be beneficial intra-abdominal pressure created. This flow of breath and pressure helps encourage digestion.

✨️Coordinate your Breathwork - Once you have learned how to diaphragmatically breathe, your pelvic PT will help you learn the proper mechanics of passing a bowel movement. We will teach you the optimal posture during a BM. We help you learn how to breathe, drop your pelvic floor and open your a**l sphincter to allow stool to easily pass.

✨️Digestion Encouraging Exercises - We customize your program for your body, you will have a focused and effective regime to help your IBS. By learning where you have stiffness, tightness, restrictions, weakness or muscle imbalances, we can help teach you which exercises are best for IBS, so that your body can ease pain and improve digestion.

📍Purple Mountain PT is located in Grand Rapids, MI. We specialize in pelvic health, bowel, bladder, neck, jaw, and spine. Call 616.516.4334 to learn more about how we can help you.