[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/04\/pelvic-floor-rehabilitation-diana\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/04\/pelvic-floor-rehabilitation-diana\/","headline":"Diana’s Story: How Physical Therapy Improved Pain in Her Pelvic Floor and Lower Back","name":"Diana’s Story: How Physical Therapy Improved Pain in Her Pelvic Floor and Lower Back","description":"

After experiencing pelvic floor pain and dysfunction and lower back pain, Diana worked with physical therapists at UPMC Rehabilitation Institute.<\/p>","datePublished":"2025-04-09","dateModified":"2025-08-07","author":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.upmc.com\/services\/rehab","name":"UPMC Rehabilitation Institute","url":"https:\/\/www.upmc.com\/services\/rehab","sameAs":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/upmc-rehabilitation-institute\/","parentOrganization":"UPMC"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"UPMC HealthBeat","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-1370459944-e1743800020994.jpg","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-1370459944-e1743800020994.jpg","height":866,"width":2000},"url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/04\/pelvic-floor-rehabilitation-diana\/","about":["Living and Wellness","Rehabilitation"],"wordCount":1364,"articleBody":"For more than a year, Diana Heatley-Edler drove from her home in Liberty, Pa., to the UPMC Rehabilitation Institute outpatient clinic at the Eastern Lycoming YMCA in Muncy.The drive was about an hour in each direction, but for Diana, the commute was worth it.“I wanted the best care I could get, and I was really happy with the care there,\u201d says Diana, 40. \u201cI made that drive pretty much every week or every other week.\u201dDiana struggled with pelvic floor pain and dysfunction for several months before getting referred to UPMC Rehabilitation Institute. There, she met a board-certified clinical specialist in women’s health physical therapy, Amy Vandermark, DPT, WCS, CAPP-OB, CCCE.Amy taught Diana mental and physical exercises that would help her with her pelvic symptoms. And when Diana began to experience lower back pain, Amy referred her to a board-certified orthopaedic physical therapist, Melissa Myers, DPT, OCS.After working with Amy and Melissa, Diana’s pain has greatly improved.A Painful JourneyDiana’s journey to UPMC was several months in the making.She suffered from endometriosis, a condition that occurs when the cells that typically line the uterus grow outside the uterus.Because Diana’s condition was causing chronic pain and she didn’t plan to have more children, her ob-gyn recommended a hysterectomy.Diana had the surgery in August 2022, but months of complications ensued.A pelvic abscess developed near her surgical site that her doctors suspected was because of an infection. Over the next few months, they prescribed several different antibiotics as treatment, but Diana kept getting sicker. She felt fatigued, had no appetite, lost weight, and had trouble catching her breath.Eventually, Diana developed Clostridioides difficile (C. diff), a bacterial infection that’s a possible complication of antibiotic treatment. C. diff made her sicker and unable to keep food down. She lost 60 pounds.\u201cAt the time, I was in a major depressive state,\u201d she says.\u201cI was anxious. I thought I was going to die. It was a very, very dark time.\u201dDiana’s C. diff medication caused even more symptoms, including pelvic pain, abdominal pressure, and frequent urination.Struggling mentally and physically, Diana asked for a referral to a urogynecologist.\u201cThe urogynecologist referred me to pelvic floor physical therapy,\u201d Diana says. \u201cShe circled three physical therapists’ names, and all of them were well over an hour from my house.\u201cI took the referral, and honestly, I picked the first name on the top of the form.\u201dThat name was Amy Vandermark.Journey to Pelvic RecoveryDiana met Amy for the first time in April 2023.Before meeting Amy, Diana underwent fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), which cured the C. diff by reintroducing healthy bacteria into her body. She also developed a condition called small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), which occurs when there’s too much bacteria in the small intestine.By the time she met Amy, \u201cI was feeling better, but I was still not great,\u201d Diana says. \u201cThe first day I was in her office, I remember just breaking down crying because I was so overwhelmed because of everything that had gone on.\u201dDiana says Amy asked about her symptoms and thoroughly explained the pelvic floor physical therapy process.More than that, Amy helped put Diana at ease.\u201cBeing vulnerable with someone about your pelvic floor is hard to do, but Amy has this personality where she makes you feel comfortable,\u201d Diana says.Diana’s therapy regimen involved exercises to release the tension in her pelvic floor muscles and strengthen her pelvic floor. Amy also gave Diana resources about what she could do at home if she felt pelvic pain.The work also included visualization techniques about the pelvic floor opening up and feeling the pelvic floor drop. Diana says she joked with Amy that she should \u201czen out her office,\u201d and Amy took the suggestion.\u201cEvery time I came in, she said, \u2018Diana, I have the essential oils ready!\u2019\u201d Diana says, laughing.Amy explained to Diana that the pelvic floor therapy process would take time and that she would have moments of doubt. Diana says it took a couple of months for her to start to feel results, but over time, her symptoms began to improve.\u201cSlowly, every week, we continued to do the work, and my pain went away,\u201d Diana says. \u201cI found the flare-ups were no more; we were managing it.\u201cI’d have a good week or a bad week. It’s not a magic pill. You have to work at it for quite a long time, and we did.\u201dDiana says she became close with Amy while working with her for a year. When she experienced pelvic pain, she would hear Amy’s voice and know what to do.\u201cI call her the pelvic floor princess,\u201d Diana says. \u201cShe’s amazing.\u201dManaging Lower Back PainA few months into her work with Amy, Diana began experiencing lower back pain. Diana has mild scoliosis. At her worst moments, she struggled to get out of bed.She mentioned the pain to Amy, who referred her to Melissa.\u201c(Amy said), \u2018Honestly, I would like to treat your pelvis and your back together because those muscle groups work together,\u2019\u201d Diana says.For several months, Diana worked with both physical therapists. She would do pelvic floor physical therapy with Amy and then work with Melissa on her lower back.\u201cMelissa was wonderful from Day 1,\u201d Diana says. \u201cShe was always listening to me. She wanted to know my whole story. She wanted to hear how it started. She wanted to know when the pain started and where the pain was.\u201dDiana says Melissa gave her home exercises to do. What she really appreciated, however, was Melissa’s hands-on approach during therapy sessions.\u201cMelissa was wonderful in that she knew my time was precious because I was traveling so far to see them, and she didn’t want me to just sit on a table and do stretches by myself for that whole time,\u201d Diana says. \u201cShe said, \u2018I want to have my hands on you and work on you as much as I can.\u2019\u201dJust as she did with Amy, Diana says she developed a close, joking relationship with Melissa. She says working with Melissa helped relieve her soft-tissue pain.Melissa also connected Diana with a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) device, which uses an electrical current to relieve pain.Diana says she worked with Melissa for about a year and felt her pain improve.Feeling ImprovedAmy released Diana from pelvic floor physical therapy in fall 2024. A few months later, Melissa released her from therapy for her back.\u201cI wanted to cry,\u201d Diana says. \u201cI was like, \u2018I have literally been to see you girls for the last year and a half, and I’m going to miss you!\u2019\u201cThey become family. You look forward to seeing them every week.\u201dSince finishing therapy, Diana says she’s \u201cfeeling great.\u201d She no longer experiences pelvic floor flare-ups. Though she still feels lower back pain at times, she believes that pain is because of her scoliosis. When she does experience pain, she does the stretches that Amy and Melissa taught her.Diana says she would tell people in her situation to advocate for their own care. She also says it’s OK to feel unsure about physical therapy but encourages people to keep an open mind.Most importantly, Diana says she’d tell people not to give up.\u201cThere were many times when I could have thrown the towel in because the pain was too much \u2014 and I could have easily stopped,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I didn’t. I pushed myself, and I’m confident that I’m able to take care of the pain if it were to come back.\u201cAmy and Melissa were so warm and had such bright spirits. They told me before they discharged me, \u2018If you need me, just call me.\u2019 It was almost an open-door policy when I left. They said, \u2018Don’t just leave and never talk to us again. Let us know how you’re doing.\u2019\u201dEditor's Note: This article was originally published on April 9, 2025, and was last reviewed on April 10, 2025.Sources"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2025","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"04","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/\/04\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Diana’s Story: How Physical Therapy Improved Pain in Her Pelvic Floor and Lower Back","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/04\/pelvic-floor-rehabilitation-diana\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]