Your Body Changes. We Help You Take Back Control.

Pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause are profound physical experiences, and they can leave lasting changes in your body that affect how you move, feel, and live. Many women accept these changes as an inevitable part of life, assuming nothing can be done. But that simply isn’t true. With the right physiotherapy intervention, most women’s health concerns can be significantly improved or resolved entirely.

At Burrard Physiotherapy, we provide specialized women’s health physiotherapy in a warm, private, and completely judgment-free environment in the heart of downtown Vancouver. Our treatment rooms are large and fully private, because we know that feeling safe and comfortable is the foundation of effective care.

No referral is required.

Areas We Treat

Pelvic Girdle Pain During Pregnancy

Approximately 50% of women experience pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy. This pain may be felt in the lower back, sacral area, hips, groin, or pubic region, and it can range from mildly uncomfortable to genuinely debilitating.

During pregnancy, hormonal changes cause the ligaments and connective tissue of the pelvis to become more flexible in preparation for childbirth. While this is a natural and necessary process, it can create muscle and joint imbalances around the pelvis that lead to pain with everyday movements such as walking, turning in bed, prolonged sitting, or going up and down stairs.

Physiotherapy treatment addresses these imbalances directly, restoring stability and allowing you to move freely and comfortably throughout your pregnancy. Our team also has expertise in Rost Therapy, a specialized and highly effective treatment technique with accompanying home exercises specifically designed to improve pelvic balance for pelvic girdle pain and tailbone (coccyx) pain.

Postpartum Recovery and Core Rehabilitation

After giving birth, many women are eager to return to exercise and rebuild their core strength, but knowing where to start safely can be confusing and overwhelming. At Burrard Physiotherapy, we help new mothers navigate postpartum recovery with confidence.

Diastasis Recti Abdominis (DRA) DRA is a separation or stretching between the two sides of the rectus abdominis muscle that commonly occurs during pregnancy. You may notice a bulging, doming, or visible gap along the midline of your abdomen when you exercise or exert yourself. While this is extremely common, it does not have to be permanent. With the right exercises, guided by a skilled physiotherapist, you can restore coordination and control of your abdominal muscles effectively.

We use Real-Time Ultrasound imaging at Burrard Physiotherapy, allowing both you and your therapist to see your core muscles activating on screen in real time. This takes the guesswork out of rehabilitation entirely and ensures you are doing the right exercises at the right level for your body’s current stage of recovery.

Pelvic Floor Dysfunction and Incontinence

Leaking urine when you cough, sneeze, laugh, or exercise is common after childbirth, but common does not mean unavoidable. Urinary leakage, gas or stool incontinence, and frequent or urgent bathroom visits are all signs that your pelvic floor muscles may not be functioning optimally, and physiotherapy can make a significant difference.

An important note: not every pelvic floor problem is solved by Kegel exercises. While strengthening exercises are appropriate for some women, many others actually need to learn how to release and relax their pelvic floor muscles. If your primary concern is urgency, frequent bathroom visits, or painful intercourse, tightening an already overactive pelvic floor can worsen symptoms rather than improve them. A proper assessment is essential before beginning any pelvic floor program.

Osteoporosis Management and Bone Health

Osteoporosis affects 1 in 4 women after menopause and 1 in 8 men over the age of 50. It involves a gradual reduction in bone density and strength that increases the risk of fractures, often from falls or even minor stresses on the skeleton.

Physiotherapy plays an important and underutilized role in osteoporosis management. Specific weight-bearing and resistance exercises stimulate bone production and slow bone density loss, while targeted balance training significantly reduces your risk of falling. Our team can design a safe and effective home exercise program tailored to your bone health goals and overall fitness level, giving you a proactive way to protect your skeleton for the long term.

Menopause and Beyond

The hormonal shifts of perimenopause and menopause can contribute to a wide range of musculoskeletal changes, including increased joint pain, reduced muscle mass, pelvic floor changes, and greater vulnerability to osteoporosis. Women’s health physiotherapy addresses these changes directly, helping you stay strong, active, and comfortable through every stage of life.

Meet Your Women’s Health Physiotherapist

Lynda Lawrence is Burrard Physiotherapy’s dedicated women’s health and pelvic health physiotherapist, with over 30 years of specialized clinical experience. Lynda holds advanced training in:

• Perinatal care including pelvic girdle pain, tailbone pain, and diastasis recti
• Pelvic floor conditions including incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse
• Pelvic and genital pain
• Osteoporosis management and bone health
• Rost Therapy for pelvic balance and pelvic girdle pain

Lynda’s approach is thorough, compassionate, and always patient-led. After a comprehensive assessment, she will take the time to explain her findings clearly, answer your questions honestly, and work with you to build a plan around your personal goals, whether that means caring comfortably for your baby, returning to sport, improving bladder or bowel control, or feeling more at ease in your body day to day.

Conditions We Treat

• Pelvic girdle pain and symphysis pubis dysfunction during pregnancy
• Tailbone (coccyx) pain
• Diastasis recti abdominis
• Urinary stress and urge incontinence
• Bowel incontinence
• Pelvic organ prolapse
• Painful intercourse (dyspareunia) and vaginismus
• Overactive bladder and urinary urgency
• Postpartum pelvic floor rehabilitation
• Osteoporosis and bone health optimization
• Menopause-related musculoskeletal changes
• Post-surgical pelvic and abdominal rehabilitation

Your Comfort and Privacy Come First

We understand that women’s health concerns are deeply personal. Every appointment at Burrard Physiotherapy takes place in a large, fully private treatment room, and nothing proceeds without your full understanding and consent. Our team is trained to create a space where you feel respected, heard, and completely at ease from the moment you arrive.

Many of our patients tell us their only regret was waiting so long to come in.