As a pelvic health specialist, most women I’ve seen wait years before seeking help. Unfortunately, that means they’ve been having pain with sex, incontinence, prolapse, and other pelvic health problems for years.
Why does it take women years to get help for problems that affect them every single day?
Well, these women typically fall into one of two categories:
- they thought they were the only ones having pelvic problems, OR
- they thought it was just normal to have pelvic problems.
The ones who thought it was normal are almost always moms.
Women rarely talk about pelvic problems. After they have a baby or two, they might mention some of their problems to their mothers or friends. Unfortunately, what they often hear is, “oh honey, that’s just normal after you have a baby.”
Just because sexual pain and incontinence is common after childbirth, doesn’t mean it’s normal.
I’ve spent over a decade trying to debunk that myth. The most effective way to do that is working 1-on-1 with women who are having these problems postpartum or during pregnancy. This is 85% of what I do through online coaching. Those women then understand that women’s pelvic health issues are not normal. And, they’ll often tell their friends.
“Did you know you can fix that?! Sex doesn’t have to hurt. You don’t have to leak when you cough!”
During the many years spent “dealing” with the problems the best they can, they develop all kinds of bad habits. They now fear sex because of associating sex with pain for so long. They go to the bathroom every 45 minutes so they won’t leak, and they wear pads because they still leak anyway. They don’t use their core correctly because their abdominal muscles didn’t heal well after pregnancy. They strain to have bowel movements because of constipation, not knowing that straining can cause damage. And they’re often incorrectly performing “kegel exercises” to work out their pelvic floor and are actually worsening their prolapse.
Few moms have ALL these symptoms, but even fewer have none.
For years I’ve spent most of my time in the “fix it” mode along with the rest of the healthcare system. And I’ll continue to be in that mode often because many women will continue to need a “fix.” But in 2020, I’m stepping up to the plate and taking a big swing. I’m taking the 15% of my business that works on prevention and pushing it to the front.
From a provider’s stand point, the hardest thing about prevention is getting people to pay attention and value what they have now so they won’t lose it. Because it’s not just our healthcare system that’s in the “fix it” mode, it’s our culture.
I’ve always been working in prevention, I just haven’t been loud about it. But the “prevention” voice inside my head is now screaming. Only a really terrible coach would stand on the sidelines and wait for players to get injured, instead of shouting encouragement and corrections throughout the game so that they don’t get injured in the first place.
Pregnancy isn’t a game.
Pregnancy isn’t exactly a game, but it’s a 9 month period of time when your pelvis and core is being asked to do REALLY hard things. And injury is likely. I don’t want to sit on the sidelines and wait to fix women. I want to coach them through it so they don’t need me later.
I know that most of the people reading this will be my clients who have worked with me to fix a problem, or potential clients looking to fix a problem. And, we will! Let’s solve it! But, when we’ve fixed that problem, will you tell every woman that you love that prevention is key?!
Pregnant women can get started on the path to prevention and solving aches and pains with my free pregnancy course. And we have so much more to offer.
Take the free pregnancy course here: Sign up!
If you’re looking for ways to boost your intimate life and improve your pelvic health, you can buy my book, schedule an appointment to see me in real life, or schedule email or video sessions and work with me online!