Treatment

Absolutely. Our therapists specialize in pelvic floor and orthopedic care for anyone born with a vulva — from pre-teens to post-menopausal women — who wants to improve their pelvic health.
This is a fantastic question. There are so many benefits to seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist during pregnancy rather than waiting until postpartum.
- If you are having pain, bladder, bowel or sexual symptoms you can begin PT at any point during pregnancy. We do have a waitlist, so call us as soon as possible so you’re not waiting in discomfort!
- If you are feeling well and interested in learning what you can do to support your changing body throughout pregnancy, we typically recommend you come in during the second trimester when you start to feel like your body is changing so we can discuss exercise modifications and training for pregnancy, birth and postpartum recovery.
There is no reason to live in pain during pregnancy and there is so much that can be done to help pre-hab your body for the changes it will undergo during pregnancy and childbirth. PT during pregnancy has also been shown to reduce the likelihood and severity of certain common postpartum symptoms like urinary incontinence and diastasic recti.
We typically see people as early as 2-4 weeks postpartum for the first postpartum visit. At this time, we do not perform an internal examination, but this is an excellent opportunity to check in with your body, begin addressing any symptoms you’re experiencing, and begin foundational rehab. We then recommend following up after your 6-week follow-up with your provider.
With that said, it is never too late. Whether you are 3 weeks, 3 months, 3 or 30 years postpartum, you can still regain strength and control of your body.
Anything you are comfortable moving around in! We recommend something stretchy and comfortable, like what you would wear to the gym.
Let us start by saying an internal examination is never a requirement and our top priority is to ensure that you feel safe and comfortable throughout the entirety of your appointment. To learn more about internal examinations and why your PT may recommend one, read on.
Pelvic floor physical therapists perform internal examinations vaginally and/or rectally in order to get a better understanding of what your muscles are doing. Without feeling the muscles, it can be difficult (but not impossible) to get a better understanding of whether your pelvic floor muscles are tight, weak, and what happens when you try to use them. All of these factors may be contributing to the symptoms you’re experiencing. For that reason, oftentimes pelvic floor physical therapists recommend an internal pelvic examination. We do not use a speculum. Our exams are performed with a gloved, lubricated finger.
We will always explain why we want to do an internal examination, what you can expect if we perform the examination and give you the opportunity to consent or decline an exam. Depending on where you are in your pregnancy or postpartum journey, your main complaint bringing you into PT, and what your physical therapist learns by speaking with you, a pelvic exam may or may not be indicated.
Please feel free to reach out to learn more about what kind of exam our physical therapists may or may not recommend for you specifically.
Absolutely! You can come to PT while on your period and there is no reason we cannot perform a pelvic exam while you are menstruating. The only time we need to avoid a pelvic exam is if you are in your first trimester or pregnancy, have a current infection and have not been on antibiotics for at least 24 hours, or if you are uncomfortable.
We see patients from early adolescences (ages 10-13) all the way up through post-menopause.
It is never too late to start PT for symptoms like leakage and pelvic pain. These common pelvic health symptoms, even when chronic, can improve with guided and progressive movement, manual therapy, and appropriate lifestyle modifications.
We want you to know that if you have been dealing with symptoms for years and have just come to accept that this is your normal, it doesn’t have to be that way.
With the right plan established, pelvic floor physical therapy can be life-changing.

Booking

Please call our office at 512-766-2649 to get scheduled or you can book online here. We generally book out about 6 weeks in advance so calling sooner rather than later is always recommended. Because we have this wait, we will offer to schedule out a month of follow-ups at the same time so that your plan of care is ready to go when we see you.
- For our pregnant folks who are interested in optimizing for birth, we typically recommend you come in during the second trimester when you start to feel like your body is changing so we can discuss exercise modifications and training for pregnancy, birth and postpartum recovery.
- If you are pregnant and experiencing symptoms, calls us as soon as you can.
- For those planning on postpartum care, we like to see folks between 2-4 weeks postpartum, and again after your 6-week checkup, at which point we can discuss your plan of care for a smooth recovery!
You should plan to be in the office for about an hour. Sessions are 55 minutes long plus a few minutes for checking in, checking out, and scheduling future appointments.
The short answer is that our clinic average is 6-10 visits over the course of 3-4 months. We of course see some folks for fewer visits and others for longer.
Everyone has different needs so it’s hard to provide an appropriate expectation without more information about you and your needs. With that said, how often we see someone is dependent on how much hands-on therapy they need versus how much exercise they can do independently. We typically start with weekly appointments for a few visits before reducing frequency to every other or every few weeks.
Please contact us to get a better idea of what your plan may look like.
We reserve each 55-minute appointment slot for patients to be one-on-one with their therapists the entire time. Because of this, we require at least 24 hours notice to cancel or reschedule any visits. We maintain a waitlist of folks waiting to be seen for evaluations or to continue their plans of care, and giving us at least a day’s notice allows the best chance for others to be seen. Any changes to appointments made within 24 hours of scheduled time will be subject to forfeiture of the session cost.

Insurance & Referrals

Lady Bird PT is an out-of-network clinic, meaning we do not directly bill insurance. With that said, you can pay for services with an HSA or FSA card and we can provide you with a superbill that you can submit to insurance for out of network reimbursement. A superbill is a receipt that includes all the medical information your insurance company would need in order to provide any reimbursement.
We have had some patients who get complete out-of-network coverage from their insurance companies and others who do not, as well as everything in-between. The best way to know what your insurance company would cover is to contact them and ask about your out-of-network coverage for physical therapy services. We are happy to email you the CPT codes or medical billing codes we use so you can provide them with more information. Superbills may not be available for virtual visits depending on the circumstance.
Please email us at contact@ladybirdpt.com for these codes or to learn more.
Yes. In the state of Texas, our licensed physical therapists are able to evaluate and treat a patient for 30 days without a referral, however after that point a referral is required. This is dictated by the Texas Board of Physical Therapy Examiners and is a licensure requirement rather than an insurance requirement.
The need for a referral can vary from state to state and also based on a PTs credentials.
While referrals do not legally expire, we will typically ask for an updated referral if it has been more than a year since we have seen you or if the issue you are being seen for has changed.
If you were referred to PT more than a year ago and have not been in for an initial evaluation, we may ask for a new one after performing an assessment.