What To Expect At Your First Appointment

Thank you for booking your appointment with Hatch Physiotherapy, we look forward to meeting you!

We ask you to arrive 5 minutes early for your appointment. If you haven’t done so already, we will get you to fill out our new patient form to ensure we have your up to date details. 

At your first appointment, one of our physiotherapists will take a comprehensive medical history and may ask specific questions relating to your bladder, bowel, sexual, and obstetric health history. They will also aim to get information about any current aches or pains, and what may have led to your pain. Following this, the physiotherapist will complete an assessment to figure out what may be causing your pain or current issue. They will then discuss their findings with you, treatment options, and answer any questions you may have.

WHAT DOES THE ASSESSMENT INVOLVE?

The physiotherapist may ask you to perform basic movements in standing, sitting or lying to help with their diagnosis. They may also check the flexibility of your joints, and palpate (touch) the tissue to determine the source of your pain/issue. 

During pregnancy and the postpartum period, an important component of our assessment is a pelvic floor examination. We want to evaluate how well you are able to switch your pelvic floor muscles on and off as well as their overall strength, endurance, and coordination. There are a number of ways in which we can assess your pelvic floor muscles, however the gold standard for assessment is via an internal vaginal examination. We will always ensure that you are well aware of each assessment technique including the strengths/weaknesses of each option so that you can make an informed decision.

The assessment will assist in improving your awareness of the pelvic floor muscles and give you the confidence that you’re performing the movement correctly. It will also help our physiotherapists to create an individualised treatment plan to support you during pregnancy and promote a proactive recovery postpartum.

Do not stress, we get asked this question all the time. 

We recommend wearing something that you can move around in (i.e. leggings, track pants or any stretchy clothing). Depending on where your pain is, the physiotherapist may ask you to remove some clothing so that they can see the area of pain.

WHAT DO I WEAR?

Following your initial physiotherapy appointment, you will gain access to the on-demand portal where you can access physio-led workouts, ebooks, and blog posts specific to pregnancy and postpartum. 

If you have any questions or concerns relating to your appointment, please don’t hesitate to get in touch hello@hatchphysiotherapy.com.au

WHAT NEXT?