We are back for 2024 (better late than never) with an interesting talk about female genital cutting (previously known as FGM - female genital mutilation) with Dr Greg Jenkins.

Today’s episode is a tough but important episode. We discuss female genital cutting previously known as female genital mutilation in Australia. We have had the absolute privilege of talking to Dr Greg Jenkins, who was an OBGYN at Auburn hospital when they were first confronted with women in labour who had immigrated from countries where this cultural tradition continues. They looked around for pregnancy and birth guidelines for this population of women but couldn’t find any, so went about creating them, with some exceptional outcomes for these women.  

  Dr Jenkins currently heads up Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Westmead Public hospital in Sydney, and works privately at Norwest Private hospital in Sydney. We are very grateful for his time. 

 

https://ranzcog.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Female-Genital-Mutilation-FGM.pdf

 

We had a brilliant chat with Dr Stephanie Pirotta about PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and the role of lifestyle interventions to manage the chronic illness. This episode was meant to be aired before the PB Endo Conference, where Dr Pirotta presented a wonderful talk, however Lori's life was crazy and she just couldn't pull it together and get it out there in time. Apologies! But this episode is such a great listen.   Dr Stephanie Pirotta is an accredited Dietician, Nutritionist and Researcher - She has a PhD in PCOS and doing post-doctoral work at Monash University in the space of diet, PCOS, endometriosis and fertility.   Stephanie is the founder of Womanly Nutrition and Dietetics in Melbourne.   Enjoy!   Check out her research here: Publications

Today’s episode discusses the deeply sensitive topic of stillbirth. We understand that discussing this subject can be distressing or triggering for those who have experienced loss, are currently dealing with pregnancy complications, or are currently pregnant.

In this episode, we chat with a long-time physiotherapy colleague and friend of Lori's, Heidi Mules. She shares her personal story about the birth of her daughter Sophie, risks for stillbirth, better communication during and after pregnancy, and healing. 

You can read more about Heidi's story here

Please use the following resources to help you and others:

Sands - miscarriage, stillbirth and newborn death support

Still Aware - prevention-focused charity

CRE Safer Baby Bundle - for clinicians

Precious Wings - memory boxes

Born Ready

 

What is the vagus nerve? What is the polyvagal theory? Why should we care? Isn't it controversial? The one and only, Michelle Lyons, will answer these questions and sooooo much more on this episode (think: behaviour change for patients, how do we as clinicians avoid burnout, etc).

For those of you who have been listening to this podcast, you will be very familiar with previous episodes on menopause and endometriosis. You will also be familiar with her generosity - and keeping in line with that, she is giving listeners a 20% discount on her online courses until the end of August 2023 - use the code "Phpodcast" !!! 

Michelle's Website and PODCAST

The Pelvic Health Community - JOIN US NOW!

PB Endo Conference 2023

 

In The Clinic today with Jo: palpating and cueing EUS (external urethral sphincter).

Don't forget about the upcoming Brisbane Endo conference in October - tickets selling faaaaaast:

PB Endo conference!!!!

And of course checking out The Pelvic Health Community!!!!:

https://the-pelvic-health-community.mn.co/share/M6n01bTZgpvV9J1s?utm_source=manual

 

The paper Jo is discussing:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30870081/

For extra knowledge in this area, you can learn from us here...

Online:

2D Transperineal Ultrasound in Females: A tool for pelvic floor physios

Face-to-face:

2D Transperineal Ultrasound Skills Workshop

2D Transperineal Ultrasound in Females: A tool for pelvic floor physios

This episode welcomes back to the pod, the wonderful Dr. Jennifer Kruger, who was on the podcast in 2018 discussing the vaginal pressure profile and the early work behind JunoFem and the FemFit – the focus on today’s episode.

She is a wealth of knowledge, has a PhD in Sport and Exercise Science, 15 years of clinical experience in nursing and midwifery, and now the CEO and Co-founder of JunoFem – a medtech company on a mission to free women from the stigma of urinary incontinence.

Listen in as we discuss some of her research that led her to design the FemFit in addition to how it works and what it does. A revolutionary little device that is unlike any other.

Links to some things we discuss:

The Pelvic Health Community

Getting the FemFit here from Fiona!

PB Endometriosis Conference in Brisbane

ICS Conference in the T-dot 2023 - join us!!!!

 

We are adding some new information to The Pelvic Health Podcast. Our expert interviews will continue but in between them, we will now have some shorter episodes on useful clinical ideas for assessment and treatment. 

Today it's the ever-growing interest in transperineal ultrasound and I (Lori) share some tips. 

PB Endo conference!!!!

For extra knowledge in this area, you can learn from us here...

Online:

2D Transperineal Ultrasound in Females: A tool for pelvic floor physios

Face-to-face:

2D Transperineal Ultrasound Skills Workshop

2D Transperineal Ultrasound in Females: A tool for pelvic floor physios

THE Taryn Hallam (physiotherapist, educator and WHTA founder) joins the podcast in this episode to bust some big myths about pelvic floor dysfunction.

Myths she addresses include:

• The Oxford scale as a measure of PFM strength
• Levator ani muscle function as a major factor in stress urinary incontinence
• Detrusor overactivity and overactive bladder as the same thing
• Caffeine as a major bladder irritant
•  Relaxin as the cause of ligament laxity in pregnancy
• Are crunches bad for the pelvic floor?

And more!

For those of you who don't know Taryn Hallam, she is one of the most brilliant women we know. Not only does she run the most comprehensive education on the pelvic floor in Australia through WHTA, she now travels world-wide and online to share this. The annual research updates are insanely popular and not to be missed. (No, this is not an ad or paid).

Hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.

Pelvic floor physiotherapist, and recently awarded Order of Australia Medal, Sue Croft is joining us today to talk about longevity in physiotherapy profession. Given her extensive experience and contribution in this field for over 30 years, who better to talk to about avoiding burnout from our clinical and educational loads.

Sue then turns the mic on me (Lori) to discuss my chosen professional pathway of a PhD, which leads to some great conversations.

Hope you enjoy our chat and below are some resources we discuss:

Sue's books: Pelvic Floor Recovery: Physiotherapy for Gynaecological Repair Surgery, Pelvic Floor Essentials 

Sue's blog: a must read!

WHTA courses

The Physiotherapy Clinic Education - which will be changing names soon

The brilliant Nat McConachie

APA course for pelvic health

Join us for the fantastic insight into Dr. Rachel Worman's work trying to disentangle the great web of confusion around pelvic floor muscle tone. 

Rachel has taken a deep dive into all the research looking into high tone/overactive/hypertonic pelvic floor muscles and its relationship with symptoms, and produced for us all a systematic review. She has been working with the team at the University of Queensland, including Ryan Stafford and Paul Hodges, and recently produced this epic piece of brilliance:

"Evidence for pelvic floor muscle increased tone/overactivity in pelvic health conditions?: a systematic review”   Rachel is a fellow MSK and pelvic health clinician and researcher. She too has been trying to understand the difference in “types of tone” in the pelvic floor muscles and how this relates to symptoms.    Rachel has a Bachelor or Science, Biopsychology, Masters in Physical Therapy, Doctorate in Physical Therapist and current PhD Candidate at the University of Queensland.    We hope this episode helps you get some clarity around pelvic floor muscle activity and tone and how we can better describe, measure, and treat those with issues surrounding greater or increased tone.   Thanks for listening.    Lori, Tam and Jo

This is our special holiday episode on vulnerability. One of our fav podcasts, The Imperfects @theimperfectspodcast, do a great segment called “Vulnerabili-tea” and we jumped on this and decided to call ours “Vulva-bility”.

Jo, Tam, and I take you on a vulnerability episode where we answer the following questions:

If you could tell your younger self some advice, what would it be?
What do you want to give, create, be, feel, or share?
What things in your past have shaped the way you see things now or go about your life?

We also share our own issues with our pelvic floor and how it has shaped some of our clinical work.

I loved this episode. It was fun and insightful and lovely to share.

Please note, they’re a couple swear words so warning before you listen with your kids.

Links:

Lori's online intro transperineal ultrasound course is here

Brisbane transperineal ultrasound workshops here (with Lori)

Sydney transperineal ultrasound workshops here (with The Physiotherapy Clinic)

Put the date in your calendar: Oct 27, 2023 for the PB Endo conference in Brisbane