Pelvic Health & OT

The research we explore in this podcast calls pelvic floor dysfunction a significant and neglected public health issue.

The authors share a discouraging statistic: despite pelvic floor dysfunction impacting around 25% of women in the US, there is a profound lack of understanding of the disorder and how to treat it.

The good news is that OTs are perfectly poised to help meet the needs of pelvic health patients! We’ll use our primary research article to jumpstart our understanding of pelvic floor rehab, including how pelvic floor dysfunction impacts occupation.

Then, it is my pleasure to welcome Lindsey Vestal of the Functional Pelvis to join us. Lindsey is truly a pioneer in promoting OT’s role in pelvic health, and she will discuss her own practice providing pelvic floor rehab in people’s homes. At the end, we’ll also talk about the future of OT’s role in pelvic health, including which trends you should be watching.

Recommended Resources

Assessments

• Australian Pelvic Floor Questionnaire

• Context Sensitivity Index

• Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)

Books

• ACT On Your Business: Braving the storms of entrepreneurship and creating success through meaning, mindset, and mindfulness

• Beyond Kegels: Fourth Edition

• The Bathroom Key: Put an End to Incontinence

• It’s No Accident: Breakthrough Solutions To Your Child’s Wetting, Constipation, UTIs, And Other Potty Problems

Podcasts

• To Birth and Beyond

Facebook Groups

• OTs for Pelvic Health

1. You will be able to identify the occupations most commonly impacted by pelvic floor dysfunction, notably which ones you can address in your treatment.

2. You will be able to describe what an OT evaluation of pelvic floor dysfunction entails.

• Intro

• Breakdown and analysis of journal article

  • What is the pelvic floor?

  • What is pelvic floor dysfunction?

  • What was the goal of this paper?

  • What were the authors’ methods?

  • What were the results?

  • Discussion

  • Conclusion

  • Takeaways for OT practitioners

• Discussion on practical implications for OTs (with guest Lindsey Vestal)

  1. Can you tell us the story of how you found pelvic health OT?

  2. What were your initial impressions of the journal article?

  3. Do you view pelvic floor dysfunction as a significant public health issue?

  4. How do people typically find you when looking for pelvic floor rehab?

  5. Can you tell us briefly about what your evals look like with these patients?

  6. What treatments do you utilize?

  7. What do you think needs to happen to make the public more aware of pelvic floor dysfunction and treatment options?

  8. How would you like to see occupational therapy change over the next 5-10 years to support more OTs going into this practice?

  9. If someone wants to learn more about incorporating pelvic health services into their practice, what is the first step you would recommend?

Primary

• Pelvic floor dysfunction after childbirth: Occupational impact and awareness of available treatment

Additional

• The impact of pelvic floor muscle training on the quality of life of women with urinary incontinence: a systematic literature review

• The Effect of Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercise on Female Sexual Function During Pregnancy and Postpartum: A Systematic Review

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.

OT Potential pays guest speakers an honorarium for their participation, either directly or to an institution of the speaker's choosing at their request. We invite guests whose expertise often comes from practices, programs, or building products in their field. Where a speaker has a financial interest in the subject of a course, we disclose it below so you can weigh it for yourself.

OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in this topic. Our speaker's bio links to the professional training section of her own website; we receive no compensation for that link.

Speaker interests: Lindsey Vestal is the founder of The Functional Pelvis, an in-home pelvic health practice, and sells AOTA-approved courses teaching therapists how to specialize in pelvic health and start a private-pay business.