Regain Bladder Control
Helping women experiencing bladder leakage and urinary incontinence.
Explore Bladder Control →What this page covers
- ✓What pelvic health physiotherapy for women involves
- ✓The five areas of care we work in, and which page to read next
- ✓What happens at your first appointment, and whether you will need an internal examination
- ✓When ACC may cover your care, and when it will not
- ✓Where our clinics are and how to book
- ✓Common questions women ask before they ring
Pelvic Health Is About More Than One Symptom
Your pelvic floor does not work in isolation.
It works together with your breathing, abdominal muscles, connective tissue, movement, nervous system and overall health.
That is why symptoms like bladder leakage, prolapse, pelvic pain and sexual discomfort often involve more than one contributing factor.
Our role is to understand what has changed, identify the factors limiting your function and create the most appropriate pathway for you.
Is this normal, or is something wrong?
Bladder leakage, heaviness in the vagina, pain during intimacy and a tummy that has not returned to how it was are all common after childbirth and around menopause. Common is not the same as something you have to live with. Whether your symptoms warrant assessment is a question worth asking out loud rather than deciding on your own.
What Would You Like To Improve?
Feel Supported Again
Helping women understand and manage pelvic organ prolapse.
Explore Prolapse →Move Without Pelvic Pain
Helping women overcome persistent pelvic pain and discomfort.
Explore Pelvic Pain →Recover With Confidence
Supporting pregnancy, postpartum recovery and return to activity. Maternal birth injuries sustained on or after 1 October 2022 may be covered by ACC, and a credentialed physiotherapist can lodge the claim directly.
Explore Pregnancy & PostpartumComfortable, Confident Intimacy
Helping women experiencing pain during intimacy and other pelvic health concerns affecting sexual wellbeing.
Explore Women's Sexual Health →A Personalised Pathway, Not A One-Size-Fits-All Treatment
Two women may both experience bladder leakage, yet the reasons behind their symptoms can be completely different.
One may primarily benefit from pelvic floor retraining. Another may need to improve breathing and pressure management. Another may require rehabilitation after childbirth. Someone else may have pelvic floor muscles that are overactive rather than weak.
Understanding these differences is what guides the most appropriate care. Depending on your assessment, your personalised pathway may include pelvic health physiotherapy, real-time ultrasound, MAPLe HD EMG, PelviPower, hands-on therapy, exercise rehabilitation, education and other evidence-informed approaches.
Technology supports clinical reasoning. It never replaces it.
What happens at your first appointment?
Your first appointment is an hour. We talk through what you have noticed, when it started and how it affects your day, then assess how your pelvic floor, breathing and movement are working together. Most of the assessment is done fully clothed. You leave with an explanation of what we found and a plan you have agreed to.
- Your historyBladder and bowel habits, births, surgery, pain, exercise, medications and what you want to get back to.
- Movement and breathingHow you stand, breathe, lift and brace, because pressure management sits behind many symptoms.
- Non-invasive assessmentReal-time ultrasound through the lower abdomen while you stay fully clothed, plus biofeedback.
- An explanationWhat we found, in plain language, with the screen turned towards you.
- A planWhat we recommend, why, roughly how long it may take and what you can start straight away.
Will I need an internal examination?
Not always. Real-time ultrasound and biofeedback give us a good understanding of pelvic floor coordination and control without an internal examination, and for many women that is enough to start.
An internal (vaginal) assessment gives information that ultrasound cannot: muscle strength graded directly, the type and degree of a prolapse, and the location of tender or restricted tissue in pelvic pain. If it would change what we recommend, we will explain exactly why, answer your questions and ask for your consent. You can decline, and we will work with what we have. You may bring a support person or ask for a chaperone at any appointment.
Do I need a referral?
No. You can book directly with a pelvic health physiotherapist in New Zealand without seeing your GP first. If you have a referral letter from your GP, midwife, obstetrician or gynaecologist, bring it, because it saves time. You do not need one to be seen.
Does ACC cover pelvic health physiotherapy?
Sometimes. ACC covers injury, not illness. The main pathway for women is the maternal birth injury cover that began on 1 October 2022. If you sustained one of the covered birth injuries on or after that date, ACC may fund part of your physiotherapy. Most other pelvic health concerns are not covered and are paid privately.
ACC may cover
- Maternal birth injuries sustained on or after 1 October 2022, including anterior or posterior vaginal wall prolapse, uterine prolapse, levator ani avulsion, obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASI), perineal and genital tears, pudendal neuropathy, coccyx fracture or dislocation, pubic ramus fracture, symphysis pubis capsule or ligament tear, obstetric fistula, obstetric haematoma of the pelvis, post-partum uterine inversion and ruptured uterus during labour.
- Accidental injury, such as a coccyx fracture from a fall or a pelvic injury from sport or a car accident.
ACC does not cover
- Stress incontinence that has developed gradually with age.
- Overactive bladder and urinary urgency.
- Prolapse related to a birth before 1 October 2022.
- Chronic pelvic pain that did not arise from an accident.
- Menopause-related symptoms, including vaginal dryness and painful sex after menopause.
- Endometriosis, and pain associated with it.
If your care is not covered, you pay privately. We will tell you which category you are in before you commit to anything, not after.
Take The First Step
You do not need to know exactly what is wrong before asking for help. Book a free 15-minute call if you would rather talk first.