Pelvic PT Rising

I had worked with hundreds of pregnant patients over the course of my career, but learned so much from being pregnant myself.  It's absolutely going to affect my clinical practice. Here are the top 6 lessons I've learned from my own experience and how they shape how I'll treat my pregnant patients going forward. If you've been pregnant yourself, what lessons did you take away f...

How do we get unstuck - with a patient or project or business?  Often it's because we're trying to fix something that wasn't great in the first place.   Often the answer seems counterintuitive - what if we just threw away the old 'prior' or previous model and started over?  It often will free your creativity and inspire you to create something better than you eve would hav...

What do we do when our plans for a session get derailed?  When - for whatever reason - what we wanted to do is "too much"? This can happen for a variety of reasons.  Some examples include: A patient who is contrarian - there's always a reason you can't do something When a patient is in too much pain - they are flinching, can't be touched, or petrified they are going to fla...

One of the big fears - we talk about 10 'Mindset Anchors' - that can hold us back is fear of criticism. This can be from bosses, from colleagues, from patients, or online comments.   Anytime we're branching outside of our comfort zone we can be afraid of getting criticized.  If we're not careful this can hold us back in our business or career. So how do we get past it?  Here&ap...

We've all (likely) had a patient who is extremely sensitive or ticklish.  The laughter is often contagious, and we find ourselves cracking up as well.  But there's a lot to consider about the ticklish response - this 'sode is all about dealing with these patients. When we really think about it, if we subtract the laughter the tickle response looks an awful lot like a pain response. ...

Curious about PelviCon 2023?  We answer ten of your questions all about the event, the speakers, the programming and what makes PelviCon special! Jessica and Andrew Reale join us as we reminisce about PelviCon 2022 and - more importantly - discuss PelviCon '23! PelviCon 2023 Make sure to get on the wait list for PelviCon 2023!  More details to come, but last year tickets sold out in 4 minutes...

There’s a balancing act between ‘quick wins’ for our patients and getting to the root cause of their issues. Quick wins can build trust, show the patient you’re really listening, get buy-in and build momentum.  But they can also mean we’re working on things without as much long-term benefit, not addressing the ‘why’, can lead to symptom chasing, and can keep you scattered and from progressing thro...

How do we take radical responsibility for our patients?  Our careers?  Our efforts to expand our specialty? If you're listening to this podcast, you're already saying "It Starts with Me."  I want to be better.  I want to learn and grow as a clinician. With PelviCon, we want to transform that into "It Starts With Us."  Together we can do so much more than we can alone....

We didn’t think this was a controversial statement, but it seems some explanation is in order.  Yes, we can help anyone who is pregnant.  Even if they don’t have ‘symptoms.’  Or a complaint.  Or something wrong. There are changes in the body happening daily.  We are the biomechanical experts.  And we actually have the time to work with our patients.  Alleviate fears.  Screen for issues.  Support t...

What if we though about spending money not as an expense, but as an investment?  It’s one of the most important mindsets from business (and you can borrow it even if you aren’t a business owner). We’ve been conditioned to think of certain things as ‘expensive.’  And this is different for all of us.  It depends on how we were raised, our money mindset, our current financial situation, and much more...

Chronic pain is just different.  It takes a different skill set and approach.  These are often some of our most challenging patients.  But they can also be those in most need of our help, and the most rewarding patients on our schedule.   Here are five reminders when treating chronic pelvic pain: It's going to take time You have to address the nervous system It's much less about symptom...

We all know we need "boundaries"....but what does that even mean?  It's often throw out as a panacea for any situation.  "You just need boundaries."   New definition of boundaries: "Decisions you've had time to consider in advance" If you're an employee and unhappy at work, it likely has to do with boundaries.  Either your employer has boundaries (rules...

What do we do when a patient just isn't getting better?  When they feel frustrated?  Or when we don't understand why they aren't making more progress? These plateaus can be a major challenge in our clinical practice.  They make us feel insecure, defensive, or like we're just guessing.   In this 'sode we go through how to examine a plateau and how to respond (not react!) fo...

Growth in our business or career isn't ever linear.  It's often punctuated bursts.  Sometimes we're standing still, and others we're rushing forward. It's unreasonable to expect our business to continue to grow as rapidly as we want (whatever that means).  We can't put in maximum effort all the time. Seasonality is a rule of nature and it applies to business as well. ...

What should your Assessment include?  How can you get better buy-in, communicate more clearly, and understand your plan of care for each patient? In this 'sode we discuss the four elements each Assessment should include.  And how to make your assessment 4 sentences that clearly and concisely summarize the patient. If you master these four elements, it will make it easier to communicate with t...

For anyone who has a business, is curious, or is a business 'wannabe' there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about business.  Often we make mistakes based on these misconceptions.  Do something because we 'have' to.  Spend money we didn't need to.  Or start building a business that isn't in line with our own values, Ethos or lifestyle.  In this 'sode we go t...

Is there a divide between physical therapy and wellness?  Prevention?  Maintenance? If so, where is it?  And if not, why is it something that has invaded our profession? You might be surprised to know this isn't something that comes from our law or practice act.  Legally there is no difference between physical therapy and wellness. And you might also be surprised our governing body (the APTA)...

Whether you're working as an employee or have your own business, financial confidence is truly rare. We contrast this with 'financial security', which means you're able to pay the bills. But are you anxious about money?  Worried about student loan debt?  About whether you're saving enough for retirement? These concerns are completely natural, but they also cause us to make...

What do we do with a patient who is challenging, edgy, or with a 'chip on their shoulder'? In this 'sode we dive into how we can put our own ego aside and help those who are difficult or contrarian during a treatment session. How do we get these patients to form an alliance with us for their benefit? And we go into the 'break in case of emergency' options we have during a...

How can we take more control of our own happiness at work? We dive into how we can avoid negativity, have more honest conversations and enjoy work more. When negativity goes upward - to your boss or someone who can make a change - instead of out to your colleagues or patients, it creates a better culture and environment for everyone. PelviCon Recording Now Available for Order! If you weren't...

We were absolutely blown away by the energy, excitement and inspiration at PelviCon 2022! In this 'sode we give a behind-the-scenes look at running the conference, stories about our speakers, the biggest 'oh, shit!' moments and more! We're joined by our partners in PelviCon crime, Jessica & Andrew Reale, for this 'sode, and answer a lot of your questions about the conf...

Keeping our professional boundaries can be a real challenge in our profession.  We spend a lot of time with our patients.  They are often really cool people.  And we're discussing intimate topics about their lives they may only talk about with really close friends. And we should certainly still have fun.  Laugh.  Make a connection with our patients. But when they cross over into the 'fri...

As we cross over 'sode 250, we look back on the 10 most 'controversial' things we've said on the podcast. In retrospect, some don't look controversial anymore (which is awesome!).  And you don't have to agree with each of these, but we do hope they make you think and drive conversations in our field forward.  Do you have a favorite of these?  Let us k now! Biofeedback...

Looking back over the last 250(!!) 'sodes of the Pelvic PT Rising podcast, we reflect on how small steps turn into big impact over time. We talk about some of our (many) failures and decisions we didn't know would be important at the time.  But the underlying message is just to take action to move forward - no matter how small it might be. When we put one foot in front of the other in ou...

How much mental energy and stress go to the 2% of people who are the worst fit for our clinical practice or business? In this 'sode we talk about how to identify those people who aren't a great fit.  We need to recognize when we're working with an outlier.  If we aren't careful we end up changing our practice, compromising our vision or bending over backwards for those who aren...