Can Kegel chairs fix your pelvic floor issues?! Is your “unstable pelvis” causing pain during pregnancy? Tune into this episode to find out!

Surabhi chats with Dr. Sinéad Dufour, leading researcher and pelvic physiotherapist in a conversation all about incontinence, pelvic girdle pain and HIFEM technology.

We get into:

1. The benefits of virtual and hybrid models of care when it comes to pelvic physical therapy

2. What the research says about pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PGP)

3. Reducing fear of movement and getting moms moving

4. Understanding physiologic vs structural pain

5. Pelvic floor dysfunction and urinary incontinence

6. High-intensity focused electromagnetic technology (HIFEM) like Emsella and other “Kegel chairs”

Not sure how to find a pelvic physio that’s a good fit for you? Tried physiotherapy and it didn’t work? The thing is: not all physical therapists are created equal. There are many factors to consider in choosing the right practitioner for you, including their training, work experience, life experience, cultural competence, ability to listen to you, ability to empower you, and ability to get you results! Listen to this full episode so you’re empowered with information when finding the right person to support your needs.

You’ll learn why it’s important and how to actually teach your newborns, babies and young kids about their private parts. We also cover setting boundaries, teaching them about consent, and giving them respect and autonomy over their bodies. Having these conversations early on can help keep your kids safe, and also help them understand when to speak up and who to go to for help if they feel uncomfortable.

Are you terrified to tear your vagina during childbirth? Have you heard that your pelvic organs can hang outside your vagina after delivery? Instead of feeling afraid or stuck in fear, learn 10 tangible and actionable ways you can reduce your risk of pelvic trauma during birth. Improve your pelvic health during pregnancy so you can reap the benefits now and later!

A pessary is like a sports bra for your vagina! Surabhi is thrilled to interview Cara McDougall, a pelvic health physiotherapist specializing in pessary assessment and fitting. Cara discusses how pessaries support people with pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, and who makes an ideal candidate, including the success rate. Let’s debunk common myths and ditch the stigma around pessary use (it’s been around forever!).

We answer these questions:

What is a Pessary?

History of Pessaries (it was around in ancient Egypt!)

Helping Patients with Pessary Care

Symptoms of Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP)

Who is the ideal candidate for Pessary Use?

What are unsafe circumstances for Pessary Use?

Common Myths about Pessaries

Gaining relief of symptoms with a pessary

Trial Pessary

Sex & Pessary Use

Periods & Pessary Use

What are pessary fittings like?

Pregnancy & Pessary Use

Pessaries & Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI)

Your ultimate guide to mastering pelvic floor exercises, including Kegels and Reverse Kegels. Learn creative cues to visualize your pelvic floor contract and relax, including analogies like flower blooming and milkshake sipping. Understand how excess pelvic tension can exacerbate pelvic pain, leakage or prolapse, and why Reverse Kegels are often more important than Kegels itself.

Join Surabhi Veitch and pelvic physical therapist Dr. Darshana Naik as we chat about vaginismus, religion, shame and how to overcome painful sex. We discuss:

1. Importance of Meeting Patients in the Middle

2. Painful Intimacy

3. Sexual Shame and how it influences Vaginismus

4. Painful Sex

5. Religion & Sex

6. Psychology of Painful Sex

7. Pleasure Matters

8. New book on Amazon: Girlfriend's Guide to Pain Free Sex

9. Growing Your Small Business

Join Surabhi Veitch as she sits down with Dr Nidhi Sharma. Nidhi is a pelvic physiotherapist in NYC with 15 years of experience, and is a board-certified women’s health and orthopaedic specialist in New York. Tune in as they discuss the journey into motherhood, Nidhi’s identity crisis as an immigrant and find out what Nidhi says is the most important thing to do before becoming a parent.

We discuss:

1. Nidhi's Journey into Pelvic Physiotherapy

2. Transitioning from Pregnancy to Motherhood

3. Moving to the USA from India

4. Finding Community Away From Home

5. Maternity Benefits & Support in the US

6. Postpartum Depression & High Maternal Death Rates in the US

7. Mat Leave in India

8. How Motherhood Changes a Person

9. Patient Advocacy

It’s time to cancel sexual pain! Surabhi Veitch interviews pelvic physical therapist, Dr. Janelle Howell aka the Vagina Rehab Doctor on sexual pain, pelvic health, clitoris and vaginal health. We discuss the importance of a vagina that is mobile, strong and has good endurance to achieve orgasm. We also discuss the importance of mothers caring for themselves and prioritizing their own sexual satisfaction.

What does it mean when pain or pelvic floor symptoms like leaks return? Does it mean you stop whatever the aggravating activity is and hope for the best? Do we just stop exercising, stop lifting weights, and just rest until it gets better? Not usually!

Symptoms don’t always mean stop. I share 4 things your symptoms could mean including:

—stop what you’re doing
—do something different
—take a break
—pay attention to me

Take a listen to this episode, and see what resonates. If you need help troubleshooting your symptoms, book a consult below and let’s get you feeling better in your body!

Do I need to do Kegels? Should I stop doing Kegels? Join me for this chat and learn 5 things you need to actually be doing for your pelvic floor instead!

5 tips to boost your pelvic strength:

1. Drink 2-3 litres of water daily

2. Sleep 7-9 hours daily (including naps, rest and meditation, when unable to sleep/nap)

3. Practice mindfulness and cultivate presence in your body

4. Let go. Let go of your belly, butt and pelvic floor. Let go of societal pressures and expectations.

5. Strengthen your pelvic floor! Make sure to sign up for my Pelvic Strength Workshop Thurs, Apr 13 to learn all the strength moves for your pelvic floor, booty, inner thighs and core. The goal is to help you have better orgasms, more confidence trying various sex positions, have fewer leaks, and better pelvic fitness! https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca/pelvic-strength-for-pleasure-workshop

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to do a pelvic floor self-examination and check if you’re doing Kegels correctly. Contrary to popular belief, you do NOT need someone to insert their fingers inside you in order to confirm whether or not your pelvic floor works. Trust yourself and your body. Just like you don’t need someone to hold your elbow while you do a bicep curl, you don’t need someone to confirm that your pelvic floor is contracting properly. You can check for yourself using your senses! I teach you how to use your eyes to look, your nose to smell, your hands to feel, and your ears to listen while you breathe and perform pelvic floor contractions and relaxations.

Kegels, or pelvic floor contractions, are a strength exercise often recommended for people with pelvic floor concerns like leaks, prolapse or pain. The problem is, Kegels often make these symptoms WORSE, and can be really problematic. Kegels can worsen pain with seggs, exacerbate leaks and even create more symptoms of heaviness.

Tune into this Mom Strength episode so learn why NOT to do Kegels!

Surabhi Veitch interviews Breanna Naccarato on how to navigate life after a tragic loss, strategies to conceive after loss, and trigger-free training programs after stillbirth. We dive deep into pregnancy loss without sugarcoating anything, providing practical wisdom for all women. Whether you have experienced loss of this form or not, this discussion will provide you with words of encouragement to help navigate through this situation or care for others experiencing loss.

We discuss:

Breanna’s personal experience of stillbirth

What’s life is like after stillbirth

How to support someone who has experienced stillbirth or loss

Trying to conceive after loss

Strategies to minimize physical and emotional pain

Trigger free programs and exercise after stillbirth

Struggling to connect with core postpartum?

Difficult to strengthen your core?

Core just doesn't feel the same after having a baby?

With all the abdominal stretching and diastasis recti that happens during pregnancy, it is common to have difficulty connecting with your core in those early weeks postpartum. But why do so many have trouble 3 months, 9 months, 2 years and even 5-10 years after having kids?

If this is you, listen to this episode to find out which of the 7 reasons applies to you.

Do you find yourself leaking? Or having to only wearing black pants? Avoid jumping, running, or even going out with your girlfriends because you’re afraid to pee yourself when you laugh? The answer isn’t Kegels or surgery (for most people).

Tune into this episode where I answer:

✨is leaking normal

✨ the shame associated with leaks

✨main causes of leaks including caffeine, dehydration, constipation, increased tension (eg due to postures, stress, cold, trauma)

✨why too much tension in your pelvic floor can lead to leaks

✨stress urinary incontinence (SUI) - leaks during sneezing and coughing and laughing

✨the Knack to help manage SUI

✨the role of pelvic floor relaxation and full body strengthening in managing leaks

✨some positions to relax and lengthen the pelvic floor

✨the power of breath and unclenching and releasing tension in your pelvic floor

Do you have tailbone pain? Soreness with sitting? Find out why tension in your pelvic floor affects your pain, and how posture, stress and breathing can be contributors. Learn ways you can improve your tailbone pain now!