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How to get into Pelvic Health Physiotherapy

I sat down with Gillian McCabe to discuss how you can get into Pelvic Health Physiotherapy. You can watch our chat here.

Getting a job in pelvic health can be much like working in a pub – you can’t work in a pub til you’ve got experience working in a pub…

And then there’s the question – what do we actually Do in pelvic health?

If you’ve got an inkling that this may be the career for you – hurrah! Congrats. You’ll be hard pressed to find such a rewarding profession.

Gill and I had a chcat about how we got into pelvic health, and how you could too.

Want to find out more? Have a look at the POGP website for the complete role of a Pelvic Health physio and for details of the upcoming workshops, events, and conferences.

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How to do pelvic floor muscle exercises

Firstly… No, you don’t have to get on the floor. Click here to Watch How.

And secondly, yes. They are that good. We know that up to 97% of women who do pelvic floor exercises three times a day (to the point of fatigue, not just a wiggle) for 3-5 months will have a COMPLETE RESOLUTION of their Incontinence or Prolapse symptoms.

Compelling, eh? It’s free as well..

So what are you waiting for? Time to get exercising that pelvic floor!

Before we begin, here’s a little disclaimer – it’s important to get a thorough examination from a qualified pelvic health physiotherapist or your doctor. Not all pelvic floor problems are solved by doing pelvic floor exercises – if you have pelvic pain or a tight muscle doing exercises can make things feel worse. Get checked first folks!

How to do the exercises:

Pull in your back passage as if to stop from breaking wind, imagining your anus moving upwards and forwards towards your pubic bone. Although...

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Knowledge Bombs from the World Congress on Abdominal and Pelvic Pain: Part 1

I had an absolutely inspiring time at the World Congress on Abdominal and Pelvic Pain in Washington recently. I was given the opportunity thanks to the Dame Josephine Barnes award from the POGP and the EPIC Scholarship from Entropy Physiotherapy in Chicago and Lorimer Moseley. I can’t thank them enough for supporting the education and development of clinicians who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend world-leading conferences such as this one. It truly was EPIC.

I’ve gone back through my notes and pulled together some of the things I think are important and have great clinical translation. It helped me to gather and retain the information and I really wanted to share what I learned. Better informed clinicians providing up to date evidence-based therapy are going to be the best for our patients, and at the end of the day this is why we do what we do. Apologies to any of the researchers for inaccuracies, these are just a few teeny pearls of wisdom I took/understood...

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And breatheā€¦ relax your pelvic floor muscles to ease pelvic pain

Got pelvic pain? Watch this video about how to relax your pelvic floor.

You know those times when you’re super busy working away at the computer for hours on end – you get tight shoulders and a headache? Your shoulder muscles get tight when you’re typing for hours and the knots and muscle tension can cause aching and a muzzy headache.


It’s exactly the same in your pelvis. When the pelvic floor muscles are ‘on’ or tight all the time you can get an aching or pain in the pelvis. Sometimes it can be really severe with stabbing pains up in the middle or into the back passage, tenderness or acute burning soreness on the outside or at the genitals and things like sex or going to the toilet can also be painful.

If this is something you’ve been experiencing then it’s worth getting it checked out. See your doctor and get a referral to your local Pelvic Health physiotherapist.

Relaxing your pelvic floor – or learning how to – is...

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Let your tummy muscles go to ease your pelvic pain

Relaxing your tummy – it’s really important if you have pelvic pain! Watch my video about how to do it.

If you’re in any pain in your pelvis you’re probably bracing or holding in your tummy muscles as well as your pelvic floor. A lot of women also hold in their tummy muscles all day, something to do with society’s unhelpful idea of how women “should” look… but that’s a discussion for another day. Let it go!

Relaxing your tummy muscles is a really important first step to managing your pelvic pain better – they’re often the key to the pelvic floor. If they’re on so are the muscles between your legs (guys, yes you have a pelvic floor too) and if you can release your tummy then you’ve got a better chance of being able to relax your pelvic floor too.

Have a sit or stand with one hand on your chest and one on your tummy – feel where you’re breathing from. Most of the time the top hand moves more...

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One story changed my life and led me into research

“It’s like having the worst urine infection, but all the time. I can’t work, I can’t sleep, my relationship is suffering because its too painful to have sex so I don’t want him near me, and I feel ratty all the time. I’m not being a good mum, I shout at the kids. I’ve had enough.”

I first came across Bladder Pain Syndrome (previously known as Interstitial Cystitis) 10 years ago when one woman’s story really hit home. A young mum who’d had to stop working as her trips to the toilet every 15 minutes were annoying her boss, and her colleagues made jokes about her bladder. It was initially something she handled well, but as she tried to hold off from going to the toilet her symptoms worsened and she retreated inside herself. Medications didn’t help the pain and quickly her world became smaller and smaller.

Her bladder was ruling her life and she was miserable. She was at the end of her tether and I was her last hope.

I...

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How to stop Pregnancy back, groin, hip and pelvic girdle pain

Gillian McCabe and I got together to give you our top tips for resolving pelvic girdle pain in pregnancy. You can watch our vlog here.

Firstly, Congratulations! Isn’t your body amazing? You’re making a whole new human! (or maybe several…)

Pregnancy should be a wonderful time but for around 30% of women it isn’t. Are you struggling to turn over in bed? Are you ok for a little bit when you’re up and moving but in agony by the end of the day? Does everything hurt (groin, hip, back, pubic bone…inside) even when you sit still too long?


There’s a lot of confusing information out there about aches and pains which all come with their own medical names (LBP, PGP, SPD…). Then there’s those ‘helpful’ members of your family and friends, the pregnancy-professional-advisors telling you that a bit of sciatica/back pain is normal, they had it with their second and it was fine after they’d had little Jacob…though...

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