Shannon Dutter
Physical Therapy
If you're a woman dealing with pelvic pain, bladder leakage, prolapse, or postpartum discomfort, you don't have to just live with it, and you don't have to figure it out alone. Shannon Dutter, MSPT, is a women's pelvic floor physical therapist in Santa Barbara with over 30 years of experience helping women restore comfort, confidence, and function. Unlike a typical physical therapy clinic, Shannon combines evidence-based pelvic floor PT with integrative healing modalities — including visceral manipulation, microcurrent therapy, and emotional balancing — to treat the whole person, not just the symptoms. Whether you're newly postpartum, managing a chronic pelvic condition, or simply ready to stop suffering in silence, specialized help is available right here in Santa Barbara.
What I Treat
Pelvic Pain
Pelvic pain is one of the most undertreated conditions in women's health, often dismissed, misdiagnosed, or simply endured. If you're experiencing chronic pelvic pain, pain during intercourse, tailbone pain, or discomfort that seems to have no clear cause, pelvic floor physical therapy can help.
Pregnancy & Postpartum
Pregnancy and childbirth place enormous demands on the pelvic floor, and the effects don't always resolve on their own. From diastasis recti and pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy to postpartum pelvic floor weakness, scar tissue from tearing or C-section, and pain with intimacy after birth, these are real, common, and very treatable conditions.
Bowel and bladder dysfunction
Leaking when you laugh, cough, sneeze, or exercise is common, but it is not something you simply have to accept. Urinary incontinence, urgency, frequent urination, and fecal incontinence are all signs that the pelvic floor muscles are either too weak or too tight, and both are addressable with specialized physical therapy.
Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP)
Pelvic organ prolapse occurs when the muscles and connective tissue supporting the bladder, uterus, or rectum weaken, allowing one or more organs to descend into or beyond the vaginal wall. It affects roughly one in three women over the course of their lifetime, yet many women are never told that conservative, non-surgical treatment is available and highly effective.
How I Treat
When traditional physical therapy is not enough...
In addition to traditional physical therapy, I offer complementary healing modalities to address physical, emotional and spiritual influences through:​
- emotional balancing (Bach Flower Remedies)
- kinesiology (muscle testing)
- body listening
- microcurrent technology (Tennant BioModulator and BioTransducer)
- visceral manipulation
Meet Shannon Dutter, MSPT
Pelvic Floor Specialist
Shannon Dutter, MSPT is a highly-trained physical therapist with a specialty in pelvic dysfunction and women’s health. She is constantly expanding her knowledge base through hands-on education courses and medical discussion groups. Shannon was drawn to this specialty after overcoming her own pelvic health issues, and understands the challenges from both the patient’s and clinician’s perspectives.
Shannon received her Masters of Science in Physical Therapy from Columbia University in 1992. Since that time, she has gained extensive experience in orthopedics, home health, and pelvic rehabilitation with several different clinical settings. Shannon is committed to providing the highest quality of care to women with an emphasis on a holistic approach.
Shannon is so great! I loved that she includes mind and heart into the body experience of PT with Bach flower remedies, etc. I look forward to tapping into her vast wisdom and experience again
HH