Latest / Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson / Pelvic Health, Finally Explained with Dr. Kari Roberts

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Pelvic Health, Finally Explained with Dr. Kari Roberts · Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is where ideas spark, connections grow, and collaborations fuse success.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Tune in for inspiring stories, expert insights, and game-changing conversations.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let's build, connect, and thrive together.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, collaboration is the key to success.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: This episode is proudly sponsored by WD Pearson Associates, where we educate, empower, and consult individuals, families, and entrepreneurs through coaching, business consulting, legal shield, ID Shield, and personal development services.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: WD Pearson Associates is committed to helping people rebuild their lives, protect their future, grow their confidence, and walk boldly in purpose, both personally and professionally.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the ReadySet Collaborate Podcast with Wanda Pearson, where collaboration is the key to success.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Wanda Pearson, and today we're diving into a topic that affects millions of people but isn't discussed nearly enough.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: Pelvic health.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: Joining us today is Dr.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: Carrie Roberts, PTDPT, a pelvic health specialist and owner of Marone Pelvic Health.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: And Dr.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: Roberts is passionate about helping people overcome pain, restore function, and improve their quality of life through specialized pelvic floor physical therapy.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: And thank you today because I tell you at a networking meeting, and a lot of this stuff I never heard of.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: And this is something good that we can talk about.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: So in this episode, we'll discuss the emotional side of pelvic health, break down the myths and stigma surrounding pelvic floor therapy, and explore who can benefit from treatment and help you understand what to expect if you're considering pelvic physical therapy.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Get ready for empowering conversations that just might change the way you think about health.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Let's welcome Dr.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: Carrie Roberts.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm happy to be here.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm going to talk a little bit about your bio.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: So Dr.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: Carrie Roberts, PTDPT, is a pelvic health specialist and owner of Maron Pelvic Health in Cobb County, Atlanta.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Inspired by her own journey, she helps women overcome pelvic health challenges.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: With 20 plus years of experience and a doctorate from SUNY Buffalo, she is a certified pelvic health specialist, corrective exercise specialist.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: She also hosts the MPH podcast, and she'll have her own podcast, so Maron Pelvic Health Podcast, and enjoys crocheting sports, and reality TV.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: So let's dive into some questions here, Dr.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_02: Roberts, Carrie.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: I call her Carrie.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: So you do crocheting too, huh?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: I crochet a lot.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually picked up crocheting when I decided to open my practice and become a certified public health therapist.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: It was pretty much like going back to school, and I was spending so much time reading, getting back into those medical books and terminology and testing and setting.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: I needed a creative outlet.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I really got into crocheting.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: So now I'm crocheting clothes and I'm making swimsuit tops.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm making a top for my husband, like a beach top for my husband currently.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I love to crochet.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: You're an expert crochet.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: I was saying you do bathing tops and crochet tops and all that.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm thinking the crocheting is just okay.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Just you know, girl, I never could get into that, but no, God bless you.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have your own business that you do that?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Do you sell them?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: No, the only business is Marone Public Health.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: And the what stops at Maroon Public Health.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: My husband said, That's I am a serial entrepreneur and my husband, no more.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that's it.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's what my husband says about me.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: I am into but I'm off the speaker of everything.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: So he says he said, Okay, Marty, you don't need to get into anything else.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Well, God told me to get into this, so this is what I'm gonna do.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: If I do any other services or options, it's going to be through Marone Public Health.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm very happy, I'm very proud of you as far as what you're doing.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I say the same thing with my business, with the WDP, with the different services.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but no, that's awesome.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: So let's get into some questions here.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: So, Dr.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: Roberts, let me get professional.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: Dr.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: Roberts, tell us a little bit about yourself and the journey into physical therapy.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I have always been athletic.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: I grew up in a pretty active household.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: And when I was in high school, I was a track athlete and I got injured and I had to go to PT.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what made me decide to become a public, uh not public, but a physical therapist.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm one of those few students that always knew from high school I wanted to be a physical therapist, and the goal never wavered.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I just went straight through for physical therapy.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: Because I remember when I went to college, I said, okay, I want to be a teacher.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: The first semester, I said, no, I don't want to be a teacher.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'll be a social worker.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: But that's awesome that you already had that passion to do that.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: That is good.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: So, what is the difference between traditional physical therapy and pelvic floor physical therapy?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: That is a good question.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Generally speaking, pelvic physical therapy is a subset.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, in the world of physical therapy, there are all kinds of subsets.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: So you can do pediatric and work with kids, you can do home care, which is mostly working with adults or older people that are shut in.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: You can do acute care, working with people that are sicker in the home.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: You can work with stroke people with neurological disorders, outpatient orthopedics, where you're thinking a car accident, sprained ankle, a backache, shoulder pain.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: But those kind of things tend to be orthopedic injuries.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: And generally speaking, pelvic physical therapy is a subset of outpatient orthopedics.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: So most times when someone you think about you might have sprained an ankle, or you might have a back injury, or you might have a knee pain.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: You think about you go to physical therapy, you might go two or three times a week for a series of weeks or months, and you go in, you spend about an hour, you come home.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: You might go, if you've ever been to therapy, or you might, your listeners or your subscribers, they might have gone to therapy or taken someone to therapy, and it's like a big gym, and there's it's usually very busy, and there's a lot of things in there, a lot of equipment, a lot of people, and the therapist might be working with multiple people at a time, and this person's over here doing exercise, and this person's over here on the table doing some stretches, and this person's over here on the bike, and the therapist is kind of like watching everybody, and they've got an aide over there helping them, and it's a very busy place.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's what most people think of with outpatient or the traditional outpatient ortho clinics.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: That is nothing what pelvic physical therapy is like, aside from the types of treatments that we can get into in a little bit, the experience is totally different.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: We're you we're usually one-on-one.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's recommended to be one-on-one, but at my clinic, it's one-on-one.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a big, busy gym.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's a very small, intimate, pretty, beautiful aesthetic, warm, natural light.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's aromatherapy that I have, nice music, a very relaxing environment as opposed to a busy, energizing environment.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's a very calming, relaxing environment.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's very pinpointed one-on-one care that you get for an hour.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a totally different experience.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then the types of treatments are totally different.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Where in an outpatient clinic, you could be, let's say there could be six or seven plints, and one table could be someone that has an ankle sprain, the next table could be someone with a backache, the next table could be someone with a neck exercise, and they're kind of like, What are you here for?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I hurt my neck in a car wreck, or oh, I twisted my ankle playing basketball with my son or whatever.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And people can swap stories and they can have a level of camaraderie.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: With the types of things that people are dealing with in public physical therapy, we're dealing with more intimate, like private type issues.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: No one wants to say, I'm leaking when I jump on a trampoline with my kid, and you want to share that with the guy that hurt their back picking up some groceries.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's like not the vibe.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a more quiet or more intimate type scenario.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: So the it's just a totally different experience.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what makes it different from the patient perspective.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot more intimate, it's a lot more private, it's a lot more calming, and it's a lot more personalized with public physical therapy.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I girl, as you explaining all that, I've been to physical therapy for all of those things that you mentioned.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: Doing a car accident, my knee pain, my ankle, all of that.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I call it physical torture.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's what physical therapy means to me.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I haven't been in a while, actually, because the last time I went, I hurt my knee worse.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I said, let me just do my own exercises at home.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, you yeah, yours is more personal, which is what I like.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: So how did you discover pelvic health as your specialty?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I discovered it, which was a kind of a windy road.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: I have a um pelvic pelvic floor dysfunction myself.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: I have or something wrong with my bladder, a disease.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's called interstitial cystitis, and it took about five years to be developed.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: I do have a podcast episode about it if someone wants to listen to it.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Episode two, but it took a while.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: I was misdiagnosed with endometriosis, ended up having surgery for the endometriosis that I don't have, had to get a second opinion to find out that I have dysfunction with my bladder.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: And all of that got worked out from an organ health perspective, but I was still having this overactive bladder peeing all of the time, interfering with lice.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: And it's very difficult to work in a busy gym like that when I'm constantly going to the bathroom.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: And just being an advocate for myself, reading as much as I could, going to the bookstore, reading, trying to find as much as I could from sources that I could trust, not necessarily trusting everything you read on the internet, but just really trying to find medical journals.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I came across a book some years ago written from a physical therapist.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: In hindsight, I should have read the book because it would have saved me a few years of hassle.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I was like, there is no way a physical therapist knows anything about bladder.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Put the book down, cross paths with it again during the pandemic, and had the time because everything was life had gotten a lot slower during the pandemic.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Read the book, did the exercises, and resolved those residual symptoms I was dealing with, discovered, okay, this there's something to this.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: What is public health PT?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Found the authors, researched the authors, found out that they do business coaching and clinical education for pel for physical therapists that are interested in public health.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Just found out public health was a subset, got my hands on the first class I could find in the Atlanta area, and took a class and realized side note, I was very disgruntled with where my career was.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: I was very disgruntled with the fulfillment of my days as a physical therapist because of my career was going fine, but I just was not fulfilled with where I was.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: The pandemic had a very negative effect on my day-to-day activities as a physical therapist and was strongly considering leaving the field altogether and had actually opened up one of those entrepreneurial businesses I had alluded to.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I was one foot out of the door of leaving PT.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then I said, you know what?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm if I could do physical therapy on my own terms, and I can do it with the passion that I have because I know what it feels like to go through a lot of these things, and I can treat people because I know what it feels like to overcome this.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: And now I've kind of got like a built-in mentor because I've read this book and I know it can help, and I've taken some of these classes and I know it can help.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Then what if I could open up PT and do it on my own terms?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: So that's when I decided, let me just shoot my shot and see if I could open my own practice and do it on my own and open my own pelvic PT practice.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: No, I that that's great with that because you went through it.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: And by you going through it, you understand what people have to have to do.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: So, and you're teaching them how to do that.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I'm all about education as well.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: So that's great that you went through the education.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: So that, and I was gonna ask you how do you what inspired you to start your own practice, Maroon Pelvic Health?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: What inspired me?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: I at first I was happy with the other business that I was doing.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: It was giving me a lot of joy.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: But when I was, there's a big hospital system in the area, I'm not gonna promote them or anything, but I was affiliated with them.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: I had worked with them off and on for years and was quite happy with them.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking I could just open up and run a clinic through them.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: But when I realized that I was not going to be able to do things the way that I wanted to, and I realized the hoops that I was gonna have to run through and the restrictions I was gonna have to have, and a lot of those were gonna come through insurance.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: And when I started doing my own research and saw how few brown faces there were that were opening their own practices, then I felt like, let me be the brown face and let me open this practice.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: And you didn't ask the question, if you don't mind, if I can share one other little tidbit.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no, no, share, share on.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: So my I wanted to put my name in the name of my practice, but I didn't want to say Carrie or Roberts because that was too easy.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: My maiden name is French, and I and brown means or and maroon is brown in French.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: So that's actually how I chose the name of my practice so that way I could infuse brown, which represents me being one of the few brown girls in the county, actually, the only brown girl-owned public practice in Cal County, which represents me, but so it's the way that I put my name in my practice without putting my name on it.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: I love it because I see you have that little asterisk over the O.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that's French, right?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, that makes sense.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's great.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: So, what gave you confidence to take that leap into business ownership?
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: What gave me the confidence is because I've opened up businesses in the past, and I've had success in the past, and I have had success as a physical therapist in the past.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I just had to rely on my experience that I've had with patients, and I'm a faithful person, I'm a prayerful person, and I felt like I was doing it for the right reasons.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to help people, and I always have wanted to help people, and I have some of my own chronic illnesses and concerns, and opening up my own business would allow me the flexibility to not have to work as much and could give me some free time to manage my own chronic condition.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I felt like those were all really good answers to open up my own practice.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I've always said if you do things for the right reasons, I feel if you put the good out there, the good will come back.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe not one on your timetable, maybe not as soon as you want it to, but I feel like it'll come back to you eventually.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's all in it's all in God's timing.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: So by you having your own, and I tell you, when I left corporate, I and COVID happened.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: I started doing webinars and doing Zoom calls or Zoom webinars, and I was telling people, okay, now that your job is no longer there, it's time to start your own passion, start your own business because you're gonna be your own boss.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: I tell you, I the that this was the best, and I'm glad I've had credentials to be able to retire early because I've been more happier doing my own because I don't have to answer to anybody but myself.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: So it makes a big difference.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk about understanding pelvic health.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: So many people heard of pelvic floor therapy, but don't really know what it is.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: Can you explain it in simple terms?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: What is pelvic health?
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: In simple terms, pelvic health is our when you think about the pelvic floor, it is a group of muscles that's at the bottom of your pelvis, and it's got it does a ton of stuff, but we'll keep it simple.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's some of its functions are to give us our bowel functions, our bladder functions, and our sexual functions.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: So it gives us our bowel control.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: So if it's off, you can have constipation or diarrhea, our bladder control.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: So if it's off, you can have bladder leakage, bladder urgency, or bladder frequency, and sexual control.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: So you can have sexual urge issues, you could have sexual pain, sexual dysfunction, climax function, uh dysfunction.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: So those are some of the things.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then in addition, so those things happen for men and women, aside from the function, the sexual function, also the bowel and bladder, those children can be affected with those as well.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then pretty much exclusively, I shouldn't say pretty much exclusively for women, because women grow and carry babies, and babies are grown in the pelvis, anything related to pregnancy.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: So when you think about growing a baby and anything that comes with it, so pelvic girdle pain, anything related to discomfort with growing a baby, pushing a baby out, and recovering from the birth of a baby, that all of those things are under the umbrella of pelvic health.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: And those are all things that a pelvic physical therapist can help with.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the thing about it is educating people, educating people to know exactly because I never really heard of pelvic.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: We go through these symptoms, but we don't know what it really means.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: What are some common symptoms people should not ignore?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I love this question.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, common things that people should not ignore.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, it is not common to leak urine after you've given birth to a baby.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people think that it's common after six weeks, anything with all game because your body's recovering.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: But after a couple of months, it's not normal.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's not common to leak as you age.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's not, excuse me.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: Let me rewind that back.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's not normal to leak after you've given birth to a baby.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's not normal to leak as you age.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: These are common things, but they're not normal.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then something else is a lot of things that happen to women also happen to men.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: So just because men may not be talking about them or complaining about them doesn't mean that they're not still experiencing them.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's very interesting because I tell you, as we get older, yeah, you like you say, you sneeze and you squirt a little bit.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, are there exercises for that that you can do?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, kegel.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: There used to be the kegle exercises.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: That's valid.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's still around.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's around a lot around and kicking.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how valid it is.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: The kegel is an exercise to help the muscle get strong, but it doesn't affect a lot of other factors for the pelvic floor.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: The pelvic floor is unique because it's really related to our stress.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I say that because if you think about a lot of people, if you're stressed, let's say you're going through a stressful time in life, maybe it's the holidays and you're traveling, or you've got family coming in town, or you're lost and your anxiety is up, or something like that.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: It might impact your bowel and bladder.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: You might notice some changes while you're on vacation or things like that.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's a direct correlation where how stress is impacting your bowel and bladder habits.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Where the stress can impact how your bow your pelvic floor functions.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas that doesn't happen with your biceps.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like you're stressing like, oh my goodness, I can't pick up my purse as much because I'm so stressed out.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: So the pelvic floor is just so much more in tune to our stress than other parts of our body.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so the kegel doesn't take into account the stress factor, which is major.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Something else the kegel does not take into account is the range of motion of a pelvic floor.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: And something else the Kegel does not take into account is how well the pelvic floor works with the other muscles.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because going back to the bicep, you can bend your arm and the bicep can work by itself, but the pelvic floor really hardly ever works in isolation.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: So you're trying to train a muscle that works with buddies to work by itself.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not, it doesn't work like that in real life.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: So those are just three of the probably million reasons why I think that kegels is just not a good idea.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Something else is most people tend to have really tight pelvic floor muscles.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're doing a kegel, you're just making a tight muscle tighter.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times it doesn't help with the symptoms.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: So do you teach people how to do the exercises to help?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, when you start talking about pelvic floor, and I'm like, well, what is pelvic floor?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: I've never heard of that.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: But you're talking about it.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I do teach people a lot of times, I have to teach people to even identify with the pelvic floor and feel it.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: So just how you're sitting in the chair and kind of talk people through certain breathing patterns, certain push sitting patterns, so you can get an idea like, okay, when you sit this way, you breathe this way.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, now that is your pelvic floor turning on.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, now that is your pelvic floor turning off.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it takes a while for people to turn their public floor on and off.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: If your pelvic floor is really tight and you kind of live with your pelvic floor tight, sometimes the struggle is just to let it go.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that might take some time to get the pelvic floor to let go.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas other people, their public floor just might be so tapped out that we might work a while just to kind of get the pelvic floor to engage and tighten back up.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Something that's interesting with the pelvic floor is if it's really engaged and really tight, or if it's really not engaged, the symptoms.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Can be exactly the same, which is why it's really important to get evaluated by a specialist.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: So then that way we can give you the appropriate personalized plan because you just don't want to pull something off the internet because then it's a 50-50 chance that the exercises that you're doing could be doing more harm than good.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why they should come to you to really get a diagnosis of exactly what you need to do.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: That's very interesting.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm glad you explained that to me and to the audience as far as exactly what that is.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: So, how does pelvic help impact someone's emotional well-being and confidence?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_02: I think you were talking about that a little bit.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: How does that impact it?
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it impacts it so many ways.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: If you think about the different life stages, I've got young women just starting their lives out in their early 20s, and maybe they're holding off on dating.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: They might be holding off on putting themselves out there, going out with friends.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: They might be holding off on dating because they're worried about their sexual function, or they're worried about crossing the line with a partner because of the pain that they experience, or they don't want to travel because they're embarrassed about their bladder function, or they have chronic constipation and they're worried about a stench when they have a bowel movement.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: They don't know when it's going to come, or moms, and they don't want to get down on the floor because they know every time they get up, they're going to leak pee, or they don't want to get on the trampoline and play with their children.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: I've had patients that don't go to parks because they've had to hide behind a tree because they leaked when they were running at the park and now they're hiding behind a tree, waiting for people to pass.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: So they can go, they can sneak to the car to go home.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: I've had patients that don't exercise, don't leave the house to exercise because they're embarrassed about leaking in public.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then you've got people in perimenopause and through menopause, where now you're dealing with dryness or changes with sexual function, and now that's impacting their marriage, or you're not feeling you're not feeling fresh, you're not feeling clean, or you, it's just a lot.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: You it might be impacting how well you can go out and run your errands because you need to know how long you can be away from home because every 30 or 45 minutes you need to get to a bathroom, or you've got pain that's so bad.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to be able to sit down in a certain amount of time.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: So these things that people a lot of times they can really impact their day-to-day life.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: They might be the friends that just always want to stay home, or they just always want to be close by the house.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it might not just be because they're introverted.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: It might be because they're dealing with a pelvic floor issue, but they may not necessarily feel comfortable to share the pelvic pain, the sexual dysfunction, the bladder or bowel habits, but it's something that might be percolating in the back of their head on a daily basis.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that can wear on somebody, especially if they've been conditioned to think that they have to suck it up and deal with it.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: So there are a lot of people that are suffering in silence.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's how it can really affect people.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's a physical issue that can really affect them socially, and then that can spill over into emotional things too.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: Emotional and mentally as well.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: So wow, that this this is this is deep.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: So you because it's a lot of things we don't think about.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: We just assume, oh, this is normal.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, talking about this is it's not normal.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: So, what should someone expect during their first pelvic floor therapy with you?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: Before the first visit, they should expect a very lengthy intake assessment because the pelvic floor covers multiple things.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: We're talking bowel habits, bladder habits, sexual function, low back issues, and pelvic issues.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got to ask, I gotta need, I need a lot of information about all of those so that when you come in, I know where to focus the time and attention when you come in.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: When you come in, we will do a head-to-til assessment, range of motion, strength testing.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: I will look at um balance, coordination, breathing, balance strategies and things like that.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then when the visit is done, we will you will go home with an I call it an action plan.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: These are the things that I found that are a little bit off.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: These are the goals that you've told me you want to work on, and this is the plan of what I think we need to do to get you from where you are to where you want to be.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then I usually will all you always send you home with homework and with an action plan of what you're gonna be doing at home so that you can report back to me and we can confirm we're on the right track or not.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: There is your pelvic floor muscles do live on the inside of your pelvis.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: So there is a way for me to assess those muscles from the outside of your body.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: And there also is a way for me to assess those muscles from the inside of your body.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I assess those muscles on the first day, sometimes I don't assess them on the first day, sometimes I don't assess them at all.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: It just kind of depends on how much information I need, what your goals are, and what you feel comfortable with.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: It everybody is it, everybody kind of varies.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: It just kind of depends.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: Very interesting.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: So, what about some of the fears that people face before coming to see you?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of times it's this is an interesting question because in Atlanta, with it being a bigger city, and I'm not the only show in town.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: There are other public health places.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Most times when people call, they've heard of something or they've seen something online.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: So most people I think are just a little bit embarrassed or fearful that they have to share their story.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's what I mostly encounter is the fact that they have to share their story.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I do get people that are just experiencing public therapy for the first time and then they're scared that I have to go inside them with something, and they're scared of what that something will be.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: So if they have that fear, then it's okay.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: I don't usually, if someone has that fear, then I will not definitely won't be doing any internal assessments on the first visit, probably not even the first couple visits, because I really need to make sure that we build up that rapport.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then if I do have to do any internal assessment, it's just a gloved finger with lubrication.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: No, I don't have any equipment.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: I use my fingers just like I would assess any other muscle on your body.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: I use my hands, nothing else.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm very big on patient-led treatment.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: So whatever the patient is comfortable with.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: I actually had an experience with a patient yesterday and she was feeling uncomfortable about coming into therapy because something had come up personally.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, I want to let you know for the record, I, as your clinician, I'm totally fine.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Stuff like stuff comes up all the time.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: It does not bother me at all.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: But what I'm concerned with is the fact that you're not comfortable.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: So if you something comes up personally and you're not comfortable, then now I'm not comfortable treating you because your comfort is what decides red light versus green light.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's pretty much how I operate.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: If the patient is not comfortable, then I'm no longer comfortable.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's interesting.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: So can you share a memorable success story that reminds you of why you do this work?
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: A memorable success story.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: I there are quite a few.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: She just did great, considering the trauma that her body went through getting that baby out, and he was not small.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: I was expecting that she was gonna be all sorts of have all sorts of issues.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was like she came in and we talked about how to properly hold her baby.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: She was having some shoulder issues when she was nursing, and we worked through that.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: She was having some issues getting out of bed and we worked through that.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: And she came in a month later after she'd gotten her pelvic clearance.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: We worked through some of that stuff, and she was back being able to be intimate with her husband.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: She was able to nurse, she was back doing her pre exercises from when she was pregnant, and she was good to go in a relatively short amount of time, considering what she went through with her pregnancy.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: So that was pretty cool.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate you sharing that because that makes a big difference to make people realize that we have your profession that can help them with that as far as even the pregnancy or anything else.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_02: So you seem like you do.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: What's your favorite type of patient?
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite type of patient is not diagnosis specific.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite type of patient is any patient that is motivated but can also trust the process.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: So my patient that's I'm ready to do this, I might be a little scared.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm ready to do this and I'm ready to partner with you.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's my favorite type of patient.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: And my if a patient is coming in and they're like, I have read all the things online and I know you're the therapist, but I want to dictate all this, then we're not probably gonna be a good match.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: Or if my patient, if the patient is like, I want you to fix me and I'm not gonna do anything on my own, we're probably you're probably not gonna make a lot of progress.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: But if you want to be partners and you're motivated, yeah, I can work through the scaries, I can work through pretty much anything else.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's that makes sense.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that makes sense with that.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: So we're we're rounding this down because I know we got to get going here.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: So if someone listening is struggling in silence, what message would you like them to hear today?
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: The message I would like to hear them they would hear today is, and I'm gonna I'm just gonna try to pull this up, is um this might be long-winded, and I'll apologize in a van.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of things, just because they're common does not make that it mean that it's normal, and you do not have to suffer in silence.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: And there are a lot of resources out there, including pelvic physical therapy, to help you so that you don't have to struggle in silence.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: And there was a quote that I just came across yesterday that I'm probably gonna frame and put in my office from you said earlier, I am a sports fan, and my team just won the championship last week, and the player just won the MVP.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: And his quote was you're allowed to think about the worst case or sorry, you're allowed to think about the worst possible scenario, but you've got to go out there and do something about it.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: So you might feel like you're down bad with whatever you're going through, but go ahead and do something about it.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and call a pelvic physical therapist, even if it just means getting an assessment and getting a home program.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: There's options out there.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: You even if you're a mom and you're putting everybody else before you, you do not have to suffer in silence.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: You can find me on Instagram, Moron Public Health, Instagram.com slash moronpublic health, Facebook, um, Facebook.com slash moronpublic health.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm on TikTok.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: I believe it's still Moron Public Health.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a YouTube out there, um INFO at maroon public health.com for email.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: You can call and that what you're gonna send me as well.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: So we can listen to you and what you you want to share with that.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: So today's conversation reminds us that we don't have to suffer in silence, whether it's pain, discomfort, postpartum recovery, or other concerns.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_02: There are solutions and professionals like Dr.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: Roberts, who are dedicated to helping people heal and thrive.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_02: So, to our listeners, be sure to contact, connect with Dr.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_02: Carrie Roberts and learn more about the services available through Marone Health, Helvic Health.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: And a special thank you to our sponsor, WD Pearson Associates.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_02: So this is Wanda Pearson reminding you that collaboration is the key to success.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: Until next time, keep growing, keep learning, and keep investing your help and your purpose and your free future.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much, Dr.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: Roberts.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: I really appreciate you coming on.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_02: We finally got you on the show, and this is something that people really need to hear about.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you again.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: A special thank you to our sponsor, WD Pearson Associates, for supporting this episode.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Through coaching, consulting, legal shield, ID Shield, and business empowerment services, WD Pearson Associates helps individuals and entrepreneurs rebuild, protect, and grow with confidence and purpose.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more, connect with Wanda Pearson and WD Pearson Associates online and continue your journey toward transformation and success.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: That wraps up another episode of Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you found inspiration and valuable insights to help you build meaningful connections and successful collaborations.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to subscribe, share, and stay tuned for more great discussions.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep collaborating and making an impact.