Pelvic health

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Many women experience urinary or pelvic health concerns, but these common problems don’t have to be a way of life. Pelvic floor dysfunction, incontinence or pelvic pain shouldn’t keep you from doing the activities you love. Find compassionate, customized care at Aurora BayCare Medical Center.

Pelvic floor and urinary tract care: Why choose Aurora BayCare Medical Center?

Pelvic floor dysfunction occurs if the pelvic floor (muscles that support the bladder, uterus and colon) is too tight or too relaxed. It can lead to bladder or bowel problems like incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse (organs that have shifted out of place). Our pelvic health specialists offer:

  • Specialty expertise: The pelvic health team in Green Bay includes board-certified OB-GYNs with additional training in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery. We also have a fellowship-trained urogynecologist dedicated to pelvic health care. This experience gives us the skills we need to treat even the most complex pelvic conditions.
  • Complete care: Our women’s health specialists work closely with providers in gynecology, urology, digestive health, colorectal surgery and other specialty areas. This collaboration means you receive comprehensive care from multiple experts.
  • Range of treatment options: We offer a variety of surgical and nonsurgical treatments for pelvic floor dysfunction and urinary tract issues. Your care team can also connect you with services throughout Aurora BayCare, including pelvic floor physical therapy and pain management therapies.

Our treatments and services for urogynecology

Our team takes the time to thoroughly review your symptoms and learn how pelvic floor dysfunction is affecting your life. We may also do imaging exams, such as a pelvic ultrasound, before creating your customized treatment plan.

Nonsurgical treatments for pelvic floor dysfunction

We usually begin treatment with nonsurgical options such as:

  • Behavior modification: We may recommend bladder training techniques to prevent urinary urgency and leaks. Pelvic floor exercises help strengthen the pelvic muscles and reduce pelvic pain and other symptoms. Behavior modification can treat urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.
  • Biofeedback: Special sensors help us assess the strength of your pelvic floor muscles. As you tense and relax the muscles, we measure their electrical activity. Biofeedback helps you locate your pelvic floor muscles and learn how to activate them. This treatment can help you control urge urinary incontinence and fecal incontinence. .
  • Dietary changes: Drink plenty of water, but avoid excess caffeine, soda and alcohol. These beverages can make urinary incontinence worse. Constipation can also make bladder issues worse, so you may want to consider eating more fiber.
  • Electrical stimulation: Gentle electrical pulses inside the vagina stimulate nerves in the pelvic floor muscle. This therapy helps strengthen the muscles so you can better control urgency and leakage.
  • Medication: You can take pain relief medication by mouth or, in some cases, as an injection to relax muscles.
  • Urethral bulking injections: We inject collagen or another synthetic material around the urethra. The injection thickens the tissues and allows the urethra to close tightly, preventing urine leaks.
  • Vaginal pessary: We insert a ring-shaped prosthetic device called a pessary into the vagina. The removable pessary helps support prolapsed, or dropped, pelvic organs. It can also help relieve symptoms of incontinence.

Urogynecological surgery

If nonsurgical treatments don’t relieve your symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction, we may recommend urogynecological surgery. At Aurora BayCare, we excel in the most advanced minimally invasive gynecological surgeries, including robotic-assisted procedures.

We offer:

  • Sacral nerve stimulation: We implant a small electrical stimulation device under the skin in the lower back. It helps regulate the sacral nerves, which control bladder and pelvic muscles. This type of nerve stimulation can reduce symptoms of urinary and fecal incontinence.
  • Sling procedures: Slings, which are often made from tissues inside your body, support the pelvic organs like a hammock. Sling procedures can help people with stress urinary incontinence.
  • Reconstructive surgery: We can often treat pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence with minimally invasive procedures that that use smaller incisions. These procedures can help you recover faster with less risk of complications. We specialize in minimally invasive approaches including:
    • Vaginal: We make small incisions in the vagina to access the area for treatment.
    • Laparoscopic: Through a few small incisions on the abdomen (belly), we operating using a scope (thin tube with a camera) and special instruments.
    • Robotic-assisted: We use robotic equipment in a laparoscopy to operate surgical instruments, which make more precise movements than a human hand.

Conditions we treat

Our specialists treat pelvic and urinary tract disorders such as:

  • Chronic bladder and urinary tract infections (UTIs)
  • Fistulas (abnormal holes in the vaginal or rectal area)
  • Overactive bladder
  • Pelvic organ prolapse
  • Pelvic pain
  • Urinary and bowel incontinence
  • Uterine fibroids (noncancerous growths in the uterus)