In today’s episode, Julia Di Paolo, a Canadian Physiotherapist talks with us about the difference between Evidence Based and Evidence Informed practice. Evidence Based is defined as having randomized control trials showing that a certain concept exists. Evidence Informed is defined as taking the evidence we have and making clinical deductions based on the body infront of us, knowledge of the anatomy, and research to guide our treatments. 

In clinical practice, rarely is there a textbook case. With most patients, we as practitioners take the concepts, education, and experience we have and tweak them to adapt to what our client are presenting with. 

Research takes years to complete and even longer before the findings can go into practice. For this reason, practitioners, especially those in pelvic health, are frequently treating from an evidence informed position until the research catches up to verify what is being found in clinic. Julia says, “Staying ahead of the research makes you a leader in therapy and sticking to the research makes you a follower”. As an example, it took Diane Lee and Paul Hodges over 6 years to have research published on diastasis, but that did not stop therapists from leading the way and treating the condition because they saw it consistently in their clinics. 

The Institute for Birth Healing utilizes evidence that proves that the bones move and the ligaments stretch out during pregnancy. There is no evidence; however, that shows the bones go back to the exact original position postpartum. There are patterns in the body, such as the Open Birthing Pattern, that have been discovered over and over, again, in thousands of postpartum bodies, that inform the idea that the bones and ligaments often do not return to their prenatal position after birth. With this information, we know what to look for and how to treat this common birth pattern. In this case, the research alone does not guide the treatment of our clients, it informs us to make biologically feasible decisions that will make the greatest impact on our client’s health and quality of life.

Lead the charge in postpartum recovery and check out the Common Postpartum Patterns course to know how to look for the Open Birthing Pattern in your clients. 

If you have any comments or questions about today’s episode I would love to hear from you. Message me on Instagram or Facebook, or Email Me. 

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To learn more, visit: InstituteforBirthHealing.com

Julia Di Paolo Reg. PT is a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist, co-author of Pregnancy Fitness (2018), author of The Labour and Birth Handbook (2016), international speaker and guest lecturer.  For the last 13 years, her focus has been on the pelvic floor and its relationship to the rest of the body, specifically in pregnancy and postpartum, right through menopause at any age and all diversities. 

Visit Institute for Birth Healing to learn more about how to care for the pregnant and postpartum body: CLICK HERE