Initial Assessments

One of the main factors that differentiates FitRight from other exercise options is that it is essential for all participants to have an initial assessment with a physiotherapist who specialises in Women’s Health. 

Unlike other pregnancy and postnatal assessments, these appointments screen for bladder, bowel and musculoskeletal issues, and assess that you are correctly activating your pelvic floor and abdominal muscles. This enables the class to be adjusted to suit your personal core muscle capabilities and ensures that you aren’t doing anything that could cause or worsen common pregnancy, postnatal and women’s health related issues such as incontinence, prolapse and abdominal muscle separation.

If you are pregnant:

You have the option to do your assessment as either:

• Part of a small group workshop in PregEd which also includes 2 hours of education (please note that if this screening assessment finds any specific issues then you will be encouraged to follow up with an individual physiotherapy session)
• A one-on-one individual assessment (30-60 minutes) with a physiotherapist who can assess your pelvic floor muscles

If you are postnatal or attending an Empower or Impact class:

You will need to do your assessment as one-on-one individual initial assessment (30-60 minutes) with a physiotherapist who can assess your pelvic floor muscles.

For individual assessments, you are welcome to see any physiotherapist who can assess your pelvic floor muscles with either a vaginal examination (if you are experiencing symptoms) or a real time ultrasound assessment, however below you will find a list of physiotherapists around Perth and Mandurah that are recommended by FitRight. You will be able to see which are the physiotherapists who have post graduate training in this area and are able to perform vaginal examinations.

You will need to organise this appointment by contacting the clinic that is convenient for you and asking to be booked in for a ‘FitRight Assessment’. Please specify that you would like a physiotherapist who specialises in Women’s Health. Attend with a comfortably full bladder in case an ultrasound assessment is required.

Please note that this appointment is rebatable on private health insurance (code 500 for Initial Physiotherapy) and that the payment and bookings are completely separate to FitRight. Appointment costs will vary between practices and Physiotherapists.

If you see one of the recommended Physiotherapists your assessment results will be sent directly to FitRight (please keep in mind this can take a few days). If your Physiotherapist is not on this list, or if they are in the public health sector, please contact us so that we can ensure that the assessment will be adequate. We will likely need you to contact the Physiotherapist (for privacy reasons) and and ask them to complete an assessment form or send a copy of your clinical notes.

For further information please read our blog post about initial assessments to learn about:

• Why this assessment is different to any appointments you will have with doctors and nurses during and after your pregnancy.
• What the difference is between a non-invasive real time ultrasound assessment, and a vaginal examination of the pelvic floor muscles, and when we would recommend the latter.