Pediatric Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Program

We are experts in working with children, and we believe in a team approach to your child’s care. We define the team as the patient, family, medical and PT providers. Our physical therapists have successfully improved the symptoms of patients who have pelvic floor dysfunction, and are passionate about ensuring a positive experience throughout the course of care.

Our program closely collaborates with many medical teams, including but not limited to:

• Urology
• Pediatric Surgery
• Gastroenterology
• Adolescent Gynecology
• Bladder Function Improvement Training (BFIT) Program
• Pediatric Colorectal Center

We additionally collaborate closely with the other clinics and providers within the Chicago area to ensure that our patients are receiving the optimal care for their specific needs. 

During your medical appointment, your provider may suspect that pelvic floor dysfunction is contributing to your child’s symptoms. A diagnostic test, ordered by your provider, could confirm that PT is an appropriate addition to your child’s plan of care in order to address the muscles contributing to your child’s symptoms.

The Pelvic Floor team also works with other multidisciplinary clinics to ensure that pelvic floor dysfunction is screened for across the lifespan and with a variety of commonly associated diagnoses.

We begin by talking to you and your child about his/her/their symptoms and concerns. We talk about toileting habits, provide you with education regarding your specific diagnosis, and begin to evaluate strength, breathing and posture. We provide you with individualized recommendations and exercises, and then we end by discussing future scheduling. You will be given exercises that take around 10 minutes per day to complete.

Follow-up treatment sessions are scheduled every other week. Our patients typically require 4–8 sessions to meet their goals. Goals focus on general strengthening, pelvic floor control and symptomatic improvement. Treatment may include biofeedback, which uses externally placed sensors to assess and train pelvic floor muscles.

Physical therapy is one part of your child’s treatment plan. It is important to follow all recommendations from your provider and medical team. If you have medication or other plan-of-care questions, please contact your medical provider to discuss. You can prepare your child for PT by letting him/her/them know that most of the first session is talking and evaluating general strength. At some point in the plan of care, there will be visual assessment of the pelvic floor musculature by looking at your child’s bottom; however there is never any internal assessment or anything that causes pain.

We recommend that you reach out to your insurance provider to understand your coverage. Your child is coming to physical therapy and the visits are coded as:

CPT Codes

• 97161, 97162, 97163: Evaluation
• 97110: Therapeutic exercise
• 90912: Biofeedback

ICD-10 Codes

• R53.1: Weakness
• M62.89: Pelvic floor dysfunction

An order is required for physical therapy. Ask your provider to place one in your child’s chart, or ask for an order to bring to your child’s first appointment.

To schedule: 

• Schedule online via MyChart
• Call 1.800.KIDS.DOC® 
• Call the PT Department at 312.227.6240