What is Pelvic Health Occupational Therapy?
Before diving into my passion of pelvic health, I feel I need to address the elephant in the room. What the heck is OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY? No, I’m not a nurse or physical therapist or massage therapist. I’m a proud OT and I’ll tell you why. As an occupational therapist, I ask the client how they want to live their life so it’s more meaningful to them. We look at your priorities and challenges through a holistic lens: not only addressing your physical changes but how are you coping with daily stressors and how is your pelvic health impacting you mentally, emotionally and socially? Women are freaking busy—all the meal planning, kid drop offs, working 40+ hours a week, laundry, household chores, meltdowns and fights with kids or family members. All of this busyness runs a toll on us physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Pair the stress of allll the things we do in a day with a pelvic floor dysfunction (leaking of urine or bowel, pain with intimacy, frequently going to the bathroom, and low back pain to name a few) and it’s no wonder women are suffering in silence—we’re taking care of all the things leaving minimal time for ourselves. Here’s where I come in— to acknowledge and empower women and their story. To meet them in whatever stage in life and give them hope.
Occupational therapists look at your every day occupations and truly break them down not just physically but through a unique lens. This occupational lens incorporates your environment and dynamic nervous system in order to get to your root cause. If you’re unsure of what occupations you’re struggling with-as an Occupational Therapist I specialize in them! Yep, toileting, dressing, bathing, intimacy, work. You name it-I can help you figure out how the heck you can do those things without pain, frustration, and overwhelm.
Maybe you’re brand new to pelvic health and want to learn about what the heck a kegel is and you learn how to pair your breath with your pelvic floor! This is amazing and we all need to start somewhere! We figure out strategies incorporating the things you’re already doing! Yep, you don’t need to carve out 30-60 minutes in your day to work on your “exercises”—you can do them WHILE you’re doing the laundry or while you’re loading the dishwasher. Whatever is meaningful to you.
But what if you’ve been to pelvic floor therapy and you’ve learned all the movements and strategies and exercises but…there’s just something else missing? Have you ever felt like you were so close to your recovery but...there’s only so many donkey kicks you can do to strengthen your booty. Have you ever felt like something within you was holding you back from making that full recovery?
Do you have a frequent thought or memory which pops into your head throughout your day? What does your body do in response to that feeling or thought? Are those thoughts, memories, feelings related to some kind of trauma you’ve gone through? That you’re holding onto? This trauma can be a major life-changing experience, or an experience which you feel might not be that big of a deal. But here’s the thing, our bodies don’t know the difference between a major trauma or a little trauma. Your body wants to keep you safe. So maybe that means tightening a muscle in reaction to a movement or even a thought. Tune into your body next time you get that ache or pain. Where are you, what are you doing, what are you thinking, what are you feeling? What is your body trying to tell you? That is what we need to explore and give space to. How is that impacting you physically, mentally, socially and emotionally?
So back to the main question of What is Pelvic Health Occupational Therapy? I can only give you my experience and my approach. There are soo many different trainings and ways to approach pelvic health that it truly takes a multidisciplinary team effort. If you are searching for a pelvic health therapist to help you with changes in your bowel, bladder, chronic pain, core weakness and want to go beyond the surface to get to the root of what’s bothering you, Occupelvic Health and Wellness is the space for you to be seen & heard in order to live your life to the fullest.
Yours in Health,
Karla Ehlers, OTR/L, MOT, PCES
Owner, Occupelvic Health and Wellness
