I just had the pleasure of an EPIC chat with Dr Jessica Reale (Doctor of Physical Therapy) all about our clinical interpretation of the latest methods of treating pelvic pain. How and why do we do what we do? There’s some great examples and pearls of wisdom I’ve taken from this, as well as being a good benchmarking that we are all approaching it in a similar way. I’ve linked to all the apps and references for the papers mentioned below. You can find out more about her on her website by clicking HERE, along with a great blog of resources
It fills my soul with joy to connect with other physios interested in understanding and treating pelvic pain. To borrow her phrase, at this point in time it really does feel like we’re “pioneers” in this work. I’d put it less eloquently but the meaning is the same; we have pain and dysfunction based research not specific to the pelvis that we’re all trying to apply in a meaningful way without diluting or drastically altering the initial intention. Graded exposure, graded motor imagery, sensory integration, cognitive flexibility… all great terms but how to translate evidence into practice….? Literally translating in this case from multifaceted work done into complex regional hand pain (CRPS) or interpreting animal data and abstract neuroimaging data and theories is Hard. But it’s also fun! It should be fun. The best way to learn is to listen to your patient, encourage new and interesting ways for them to move, think, engage with their world, expand their horizons and inspire them to grow. And yes that means getting out of your clinic room and into the gym! Then reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Negative responses are as useful as positive at this point! As another friend would say (and if you need inspiration, you should totally follow @JazAmpawFarr) “Be a #FailureNinja”. We don’t yet have evidenced protocols, this is the time we collaborate with our patients to build them from what we understand. And they’re inevitably going to be person specific until we get better phenotyping data. The only way we’ll all get better at getting people better (#LifeMission) is through discussing our successes and failures. The fact that technology allows us to do this on an international level is just going to enhance and hasten progress in this field. What an indulgence to be able to pick someone’s brains from across the pond!
So in the spirit of sharing – here’s some shared experience and thoughts from us!
Seth Oberst is worth a follow on Twitter @SethOberstDPT and his blog is great – click HERE.
We talked about these apps for mindfulness – click to visit the site:
Headspace is a subscription app where you can get access to hundred of different mindfulness and meditation programmes dealing with focus to sports performance to pain, cancer or pregnancy. It’s also got a fantastic range of sleep sounds with alpha waves to alter your brain activity and improve your sleep!
Calm is another app for mindfulness with gorgeous outdoor sounds and relaxing visuals. My current favourite!
Insight Timer is a free social media app for guided visualisation and mindfulness – find what you want for the duration you want – someone’s made it!
The paper about fright and the pelvic floor – it’s coming!
The paper about the effect of binaural beats on chronic pelvic pain – it’s coming!
(I’ll update this as Jessica gets back to me)
