Perinatal Pelvic Floor Therapy

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The number of OT’s providing perinatal care is on the rise. 

Which is exciting…and necessary. 

There remain so many gaps in the care of new and expecting moms, among which is treating incontinence.  

As we’ll see in our featured journal article,  a staggering percentage of women experience incontinence postnatally, despite the known effectiveness of pelvic floor muscle training as a treatment. The article specifically explores the cost effectiveness of different models of pelvic floor therapy. 

The main takeaway?

It is more efficient to offer services to prevent incontinence during pregnancy than to provide treatment services to manage incontinence postnatally—and that group-based treatment can be a cost-effective way to do it.

After we break down the article, we’re excited to explore all of this further with pelvic floor occupational therapist, Kyrsten Spurrier, owner of the Perinatal Pelvis. This episode will be hosted by Carlin Reaume of Supported Mama.

Primary Journal Article Explored

When you log in, be sure to check out the OT Potential Club’s written breakdown of the following research article. Then, share your questions and thoughts with fellow practitioners.

• Group-based pelvic floor muscle training for all women during pregnancy is more cost-effective than postnatal training for women with urinary incontinence: Cost-effectiveness analysis of a systematic review

Supporting Pelvic Floor Therapy Research

• Pelvic floor muscle training for preventing and treating urinary and faecal incontinence in antenatal and postnatal women
• Prenatal high-low impact exercise program supported by pelvic floor muscle education and training decreases the life impact of postnatal urinary incontinence: A quasiexperimental trial

Supplemental Pelvic Floor Therapy Materials 

• Find a Pelvic Floor Therapist Near Me
• Pregnancy- and obstetric-related risk factors for urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, or pelvic organ prolapse later in life
• OTs for Pelvic Health – Facebook Group
• OT Pioneers – Course

Learning Objectives

• You will be able to identify three clinically effective models of care to address urinary incontinence.
• You will be able to recognize the most cost-effective model of service provision for pelvic floor muscle training.

Agenda

Intro (5 minutes)

Breakdown and analysis of journal article (5 minutes)

• 00:00:00 Intro to Perinatal Pelvic Floor Therapy
• 00:01:30 OT Potential Podcast Intro
• 00:03:20 Urinary and Fecal Incontinence Postpartum
• 00:03:50 Treatment Options
• 00:04:48 Intent of this research
• 00:05:03 Research Methods
• 00:06:19 Research Results
• 00:07:47 Discussion

Discussion on practical implications for OTs (50 minutes)

• 00:09:16 Intro to Kyrsten
• 00:13:44 The Perinatal Pelvis
• 00:19:47 Impressions of this Article
• 00:22:33 Holistic Treatment Approach
• 00:28:05 Group-based Offerings
• 00:34:23 Memorable Client Story
• 00:40:14 Biggest Lesson Learned
• 00:45:20 What Does Success Mean
• 00:48:12 Supports for OTs to Start in Pelvic Floor Therapy
• 00:56:05 Ideal Vision for OT Perinatal Care

Target Audience/Educational Level

Our target audience is occupational therapy practitioners who are looking to learn about OT & Perinatal Pelvic Health.  The educational level is introductory.

Financial and Non-financial Disclosures

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.
We here at OT Potential have no financial stake in this topic.  Our guest, Kyrsten Spurrier, also has no financial disclosures.

Speakers

Kyrsten Spurrier

I believe every mom should feel empowered, supported and strong in their bodies.  Pelvic health therapy was introduced to me after birth trauma of my first son.  I felt isolated, embarrassed and weak in my body and even after going to pelvic floor therapy I felt that there was a great need to be better and to think more holistically.  

In 2021, I opened The Perinatal Pelvis where I strive to look at the physical, emotional and mental aspects of pelvic floor dysfunction as well as provide treatment that can integrate into a clients life.  My goal is to change the care and culture of maternal health in my community so that mother’s truly understand that they deserve better care. 

Carlin Reaume

Dr. Carlin Reaume is a pelvic floor therapist in Sacramento, California.

Carlin has more than 15 years of experience as a therapist and educator. Utilizing her clinical expertise in Lifestyle Redesign®, she has focused her career on expanding occupational therapy’s role in non-traditional and emerging practice areas including workplace wellness, college student health, and maternal health.

She holds specialty certifications in Perinatal Mental Health (PMH-C) through Postpartum Support International and Pregnancy & Postpartum Corrective Exercise (PCES) through Core Exercise Solutions. Dr. Reaume is also a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200), a certified postpartum doula through Cornerstone Birthwork Training, and a graduate of Loyola Marymount University’s Yoga Therapy RX Certificate Program.

Carlin launched Supported Mama: Pelvic Floor Therapy in 2020 as a way to provide holistic support for women on the journey before, during, and after pregnancy.

Dr. Reaume graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) with both her Master of Arts and Doctoral degrees in Occupational Therapy. She also completed her Master of Arts in Education from Pepperdine University. She has presented her work both nationally and internationally, as well as held leadership positions on the Board of Directors for the Occupational Therapy Association of California. Dr. Reaume currently serves as Assistant Clinical Professor for the Doctor of Occupational Therapy Program at the University of the Pacific in Sacramento, California.

This course was designed to meet your continuing education requirements

We designed the courses in the Club to meet the requirements for “online” and “independent/self-study” courses. For more details read our blog post: Can I earn OT CEUS from a podcast? To verify the requirements from your specific state (within the US), check out our post, OT Continuing Education Explained. If you are outside of the United States and have questions, please contact us.

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