At Your Cervix

Here on AYC we are keen to explore and understand different cultures, belief systems, and how they impact a woman's health, her lifestyle, and her pelvic health. This week on AYC we invited fellow Pelvic Health Physiotherapist, Rochelle Cowan to share her insights and experiences within the Orthodox Jewish Community. Rochelle generously discusses her wonderful, personal stories about her religion, quashes many myths about her community, and discusses the pelvic health services that she offers the women within her community. 

Rochelle is a women’s health physiotherapist, originally from Australia who has been working for over 20 years. She is an orthodox Jewish woman and has 5 kids between the ages of 15-7. A lot of her patients are other orthodox women in her community and she uses her life experiences along with her professional knowledge to provide evidence-based treatment. She has a very holistic approach to her work and her aim is to empower women with knowledge snd tools to deal with their conditions and normalise the conversation surrounding pelvic health

This episode is sponsored by Pelvic  Relief (www.pelvicrelief.co.uk) Pelvicrelief is our favourite go-to to buy quality products for Pelvic Health including soul source dilators, GRS dilators, Ohnut, EVB support wear, period Incontinence pants, ES magic and Yes lubricants and moisturisers! Thank you Pelvic Relief for sponsoring Season 2

Welcome back to Season 2 episode 1 of At Your Cervix- The Podcast. In this episode, Grainne and Emma are joined with Dr Sinéad Dufour, Pelvic Health Physiotherapist, Academic, and expert in Pregnancy-Related Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP). PGP (sometimes referred to as SPD) is a condition that affects at least 1 in 5 pregnant women.  It can for many prove very painful and debilitating. It remains a condition shrouded in myth and treatment options vary amongst professions.  In this episode, Sinéad discusses the current understanding and best evidence-based approaches to treating PGP , busting a multitude of myths along the way. This is a must listen to if you treat women with PGP or if you have ever experienced or are experiencing PGP during pregnancy.    Dr. Sinéad Dufour is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Health Science at McMaster University. She teaches and conducts research in the Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Rehabilitation Science. She completed her MScPT at McMaster University (2003), her PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Science at Western (2011), and returned to McMaster to complete a post-doctoral fellowship (2014). Her current research interests include: conservative approaches to manage pelvic floor dysfunction, pregnancy-related pelvic-girdle pain, and interprofessional collaborative practice models of service provision to enhance pelvic health and pain science. Sinéad stays current as a pelvic health physiotherapists through her practice at The World of my Baby (the WOMB) a family of perinatal care centers in Ontario, Canada. Sinéad has been an active member of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC) sitting of multiple committees and leading several clinical practice guidelines. She also proud to serve as a clinical advisor many women’s health businesses. Her passion for optimizing perinatal care and associated upstream health promotion for women stemmed from her own experience becoming a mother of twins. She is an advocate for women’s pelvic health and a regular invited speaker at conferences around the world.  Relevant Links: IG: @dr.sinead  www.thewomb.ca  https://experts.mcmaster.ca/display/sdufour  https://reframerehab.com/  https://biaformations.com/en/  https://aptapelvichealth.org/education/freewebinars/ 

Papers mentioned by Dr DuFour

Palsson TS, Gibson W, Darlow B, Bunzli S, Lehman G, Rabey M, Moloney N, Vaegter HB, Bagg MK, Travers M. Changing the Narrative in Diagnosis and Management of Pain in the Sacroiliac Joint Area. Phys Ther. 2019 Nov 25;99(11):1511-1519. doi: 10.1093/ptj/pzz108. PMID: 31355883.

https://www.rosttherapy.com/information-for-therapists/

This episode is sponsored by Pelvic  Relief (www.pelvicrelief.co.uk) Pelvicrelief is our favourite go-to to buy quality products for Pelvic Health including soul source dilators, GRS dilators, Ohnut, EVB support wear, period Incontinence pants, ES magic and Yes lubricants and moisturisers! Thank you Pelvic Relief for sponsoring Season 2 

In this special BONUS session At Your Cervix co-host Gráinne sits down with colleagues Emir Lervy and Christen O'Neill to discuss collaborative working and personal experiences with pelvic health. They delve into the role of chiropractors specialising in pelvic health and explain what hypopressives are. If you were unaware of the varying professions working in pelvic health then tune in and learn all about the benefits of multidisciplinary approaches to patient care.

Dr Emir Lervy DC BSc (Hons) Chiropratic has been a Chiropractor for 13 years, helping her community stay relaxed and pain free. She has a special interest in pregnancy, post natal and childhood Chiropractic care, helping pregnant women achieve the best, most relaxed pregnancy with better outcomes for birth.  She advocates for adjusting the post partum patient to help them to heal quicker and cope better with the physical and emotional stresses of this stage. She has also gained a certificate in Hypopressives - enabling her to further help women with pelvic issues through a home exercise programme.  She finds that adjusting babies and kids helps to regulate their nervous system, allowing them to relax and mature into more relaxed adults.

Find Emir at http://www.achiropractictouch.com/ or Instagram: @achiropractictouch

Christen O’Neill is a pelvic health physiotherapist working within the NHS and privately at FitBumpsandBeyond360. Christen is a mum to two lively boys Lochlann 3.5 and Cillian 1.5.   Christen is passionate about Pelvic Health and is well familiar with the impact that pregnancy and childbirth places on the pelvic floor and body in general.   With her colleague Suzanne, Christen has created and continues to develop FitBumpsandBeyond360.  Through FBB360 they offer ante and post natal education and exercise classes and general Pelvic Health clinics.   Through FitBumpsandBeyond360 they want to create a safe and supportive environment in which women can thrive and rehab with the appropriate guidance and support.

Find Christen at https://www.360healthni.co.uk/about-3 or Instagram: @360HealthNI

Gráinne and Emma look forward to returning with Season 2 in a few weeks time. If you enjoy our episodes please subscribe to and review our channel so that others can become aware of it.

We look forward to being "at your cervix" again really soon, E and G xx

In episode 12 Grainne and Emma speak to pelvic health physiotherapist Katie Richardson. Katie, originally from Ireland,  lives in New Zealand and is a mother of 2, with a third baby on the way. She has also been a surrogate for her sister, which is the focus of today's chat.

Katie's surrogacy journey is extraordinary, made so more complicated due to the Covid pandemic. We delve into the issues around pelvic health and postnatal rehabilitation as a surrogate but her story goes beyond the realms of pelvic health, it is a tale of sisterly love, motherhood, and beating the odds. Thank you Katie for sharing your story.

You can find Katie on Instagram @wholehealthNZ

This week Emma and Grainne speak to Dr Karen Gurney, clinical psychologist and psychosexologist. Karen is director of the Havelock clinic, featured in publications like @marieclaireuk @cosmopolitanuk & @refinery29uk and appeared on TV, radio and many other podcasts. She is also author to one of our favourite books of 2020 ‘Mind The Gap. The truth about desire and how to future proof your sex life’ and last year did a TED talk titled ‘The surprising truth about desire and how to future-proof your sex life.’

It’s one of our fave episodes so please do tune in!

Sex Is a funny word: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sex-Funny-Word-Bodies-Feelings/dp/1609806069

Sex positive families -  https://instagram.com/sexpositive_families?igshid=1ubqvcw5h80qo

Karens' Online workshops - https://havelockonlineworkshops.teachable.com/

Karen's Free Resources -  https://thehavelockclinic.com/resources/

Free professional resources here https://thehavelockclinic.com/professional-resources/

Mind the Gap  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1472267133/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_1472267133

Karen's TED talk  - https://youtu.be/krA8-_iXptE

You can find Karen on:

Instagram: @thesexdoctor

Website: www.thehavelockclinic.com

Pelvicrelief is our favourite go-to to buy quality products for Pelvic Health including soul source dilators, GRS dilators, Ohnut, EVB support wear, period Incontinence pants, ES magic and Yes lubricants and moisturisers!

This week Emma and Grainne are joined by Midwife, Mentor, and Mother, Illiyin Morrison. Illy's profile has risen dramatically over the past year with her empowering, honest, and thought-provoking Instagram account @mixingmotherhood. She has spoken on many high-profile podcasts including Giovanna Fletcher's 'Happy Mum Happy Baby'.

Illy is extremely passionate about birth education and facilitating healing from experiences that may not have been as positive as hoped for through birth debriefing. She offers courses on hypnobirthing and birth debrief courses which you can find via her website www.mixingupmotherhood.com and discusses the importance of these topics in this week's episode.

The three discuss systemic racism, bias, and inequality within the maternal healthcare system and how this has led to the mortality of black, brown and mixed heritage women and birthing people and how change needs to and can be met.

Further information on this can be found in the MMBRACE maternal report 2020

https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/assets/downloads/mbrrace-uk/reports/maternal-report-2020/MBRRACE-UK_Maternal_Report_Dec_2020_v10_ONLINE_VERSION_1404.pdf

This week Emma and Grainne are joined by Midwife, Mentor, and Mother, Illiyin Morrison. Illy's profile has risen dramatically over the past year with her empowering, honest, and thought-provoking Instagram account @mixingmotherhood. She has spoken on many high-profile podcasts including Giovanna Fletcher's 'Happy Mum Happy Baby'. 

Illy is extremely passionate about birth education and facilitating healing from experiences that may not have been as positive as hoped for through birth debriefing. She offers courses on hypnobirthing and birth debrief courses which you can find via her website www.mixingupmotherhood.com and discusses the importance of these topics in this week's episode. 

The three discuss systemic racism, bias, and inequality within the maternal healthcare system and how this has led to the mortality of black, brown and mixed heritage women and birthing people and how change needs to and can be met. 

Further information on this can be found in the MMBRACE maternal report 2020

https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/assets/downloads/mbrrace-uk/reports/maternal-report-2020/MBRRACE-UK_Maternal_Report_Dec_2020_v10_ONLINE_VERSION_1404.pdf