I can't finish an episode without discussing self care, it just doesn't feel right. This episode, I'm talking all about self care with Dr. Anietie Ukpe-Wallace. We talk about so much including:

~ What is self care?
~ Ways of using self care throughout your day
~ How and why it should be part of your physical therapy care
~ Quick, easy, and cheap methods to try
~ Why it is essential for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ members to practice self care
~ Myths and more

Dr. Anietie Ukpe-Wallace, also known as Tia, has had a life-long fascination with the human body and its inner workings. Beginning with a formal introduction to movement in college, she has continued that journey ever since. As a yoga teacher of 8 years around the Bay Area, her practice morphed from one of structure and ego to one of humility and independent thinking. After her own chronic struggles surrounding her pelvic floor, she has grown a love for learning and understanding this part of the body that is rarely talked about and sometimes even misunderstood. Tia has also suffered through three pregnancy losses and having experienced both the emotional and physical aspect of loss has recently helped to shape how she treats those with pregnancy loss. She is currently a Doctor of Physical Therapy in Oakland, CA where she specializes in both orthopedic and pelvic health. In addition, she is a Women’s Health Coach through Integrative Women's Health Institute and Mercier Therapy certified fertility specialist. She is a wife, mother to her 6 year old daughter as well as a cat mom.

You can find Dr.  Ukpe-Wallace online at http://selfcarephysio.com or connect with her on IG @selfcarephysio. 

To reach me (Dr. K) for questions or inquiries, email [email protected].

Peace and Love

Join us in The Circle June 3-June 24 for 21 Days of Self-Love. It is just what it sounds like. It's 21 Days to cultivate a self love program you can use as a guide to initiate a much needed self care program or introduce you to new ideas. At the end of the 21 days, you will know the real you, your authentic self, know what feeds your soul, and learn to love yourself unconditionally.

Check my website for more details. You'll find the application, due May 30th, there as well. See you there.

Much love and peace,

Dr. Kenael Segal

Dr. Angel  Marie Johnson (she/her) sits to chat with me about how she, a urogynocologist, manages conditions for womxn across the lifespan. From 14 to 103, Dr. Johnson manages bowel, bladder and sexual dysfunction behaviorally and surgically.

In this episode, we cover:
~conditions experienced globally during childbirth
~the difference between a gynocologist, urologist, and urogynocologist
~common conditions seen across the lifespan
~medical management of common pelvic floor dysfunction
~pessary? what's that?
~managing stigma and other gems

Hailing from the Bay Area, Dr. Angel Marie Johnson earned her undergraduate degree in cognitive psychology from the University of California, Irvine. She moved to New York for medical school and has been on the east coast ever since.
 
Dr. Johnson attended New York Medical College and completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Albert Einstein College/Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Following her residency, she came to Boston for a three-year fellowship program in Urogynecology at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.
 
 Dr. Johnson is the director of Women’s Health At Greater Boston Urology. She founded pelvic floor physical therapy and  medical nutrition therapy as part of her women’s health center. She currently sees patients in Dedham & Hyannis MA. She is passionate about improving women’s quality of life at any age.

Find more information  at https://www.greaterbostonurology.com and connect with Dr. Johnson and the pelvic health ladies on IG at @pelvichealthladies and on Facebook. 

To reach me (Dr. K) for questions or inquiries, email [email protected].

Peace and Love

Well, here is it guys. It's the most requested episode and discussion; we're talking about diastasis recti (DRA). You wanted to know more and Lashonda Jones and I give it to you in this episode. We discuss all things DRA:

~what is DRA?
~how to recognize if you have one
~will you need surgery?
~are binders helpful?
~what movements are safe?
~how to heal it and more

Lashonda Jones is the owner of Core Elevation Fitness & Wellness. Started in 2009 out as an in person & online fitness, nutrition & wellness company and has since transitioned into pregnancy & postpartum fitness, nutrition and wellness education and training.  It is all online, helping women world wide.

Lashonda Jones is a licensed physical therapist, certified personal trainer, pre/postnatal corrective exercise specialist & certified macro nutrition coach. She's has 15 years of  experience in outpatient orthopedics with a more recent transition into women's health once she became a mom of 2 to her 7 & 3 y.o. She loves helping women bridge the gap between rehab & fitness. This includes educating & empowering women (especially black women) about their pregnant & postpartum bodies. This includes diastasis recti healing, proper core strengthening, safe return to fitness & exercise, self care & wellness, as well as pregnancy & postpartum nutrition. After working hard to heal her own diastasis & seeing the lack of education moms were given about their postpartum healing she developed an online program that allows women to work 1 on 1 with her online to receive the individualized education & exercises they need to heal

Education: Masters Physical Therapy
Bachelor's Exercise Sports Science Sports Medicine concentration
NSCA Certified Personal Trainer
Certified Pre & Post natal exercise specialist

Connect with her on IG @ptrainershonda or on Facebook. Check out her YouTube videos for even more exercise inspiration. 

To reach me (Dr. K) for questions or inquiries, email [email protected].

Peace and Love

Remember your first period? If you're like most menstruators, it was likely a little hectic, overwhelming, and maybe even embarrassing. There's not much celebration around your period, at least there wasn't. This still a good deal of shame in having your period. Don't you dare let anyone know you're bleeding. But does it have to be this way? Why can't we lean in a little more. Dr. Anne Hussain and I discuss just this and more.

Dr. Anne Hussain, ND  helps menstruators optimize their periods, hormones, and fertility. She is a naturopathic doctor and period literacy advocate based out of Ontario, Canada. Her personal experience with polycystic ovarian syndrome and a thyroid disorder drives her passion to empower and educate menstruators to practice self-awareness, self-compassion, and self-advocacy. She is also the creator of an online period program called Periodicity to help menstruators achieve peaceful periods. Anne believes that without health, we cannot show up for ourselves, our dreams and goals, and the people who matter most.

Join her wait list for Periodicity so you can transform your period.

Connect with Dr. Anne on IG @drannehussain or on Facebook.

Connect with me (Dr. Kenael) at [email protected].

Much love and peaceful periods.

If you're dealing with irregular periods, bloating, fluctuating emotional and mental health, or infertility, food was probably the last thing you thought about addressing. But why is that? We've been conditioned to think there's a drug or procedure that can fix our problems. And though that's the case for some, for others, the fix can be as simple as eating a bowl of oatmeal with fruit and chia seeds. Well, maybe not exactly that simple, but you get the point. What you eat truly affects who you are and how you function. After all, it's food and water that drives cellular function. Without them, we can't survive. So it makes sense that appropriate food and fluid intake will promote proper cellular function.  Coral Dabarera Edelson and I speak all about this. 

Coral Dabarera Edelson, MS RD is a registered dietitian nutritionist and nutrition coach. Specializing in women’s health and fertility, and practicing from a holistic and functional perspective, Coral aims to meet the unique needs of Black women in her virtual private practice. Coral received her Masters of Nutrition, Healthspan, and Longevity at the University of Southern California, and her Bachelors in Sociology at the University of Chicago. 

You can connect with her on instagram @browngirl.nutrition, or at coralrd.com.

Connect with me (Dr. Kenael) at [email protected]

Happy eating!

I think we can all agree that education has done us a disservice in teaching us about your bodies, specifically when it comes to knowing about periods, hormones, and fertility. For many of us, our parents have also unintentionally failed to teach us what we should know. But in this episode, Dr Ijeoma Okeigwe, a fertility doctor (Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility Specialist) addresses menstrual cycle vs. periods, what's normal vs abnormal, hormonal balancing, and more. After this  episode, you'll have a general idea of the basics, and I truly mean the basics. Tune in to get started on your journey and let me know what you think.

 Dr. Okeigwe is a compassionate reproductive endocrinology and infertility physician who specializes in complex infertility care, PCOS, uterine fibroids, recurrent pregnancy loss, and fertility preservation. She is a San Francisco Bay Area native and completed her undergraduate degree and Masters in Public Health at UC Berkeley. She attended medical school at UCSF before advancing to her residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Boston University Medical Center. Dr. Okeigwe then completed her fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Northwestern University. Dr. Okeigwe has recently joined Spring Fertility, a world-class fertility network known for its innovative, results-driven, patient centered care. Dr. Okeigwe loves educating women (and men when they’re interested!) about their fertility. She strongly believes that everyone should be able to pursue parenthood if they desire.

Connect with Dr. Okeigwe:
 
Website: Spring Fertility

Instagram: @dr_ijeoma

If you want to connect with me, send a message to [email protected]. Find me on IG @lotuspelvicpt.

Do a sista a solid and subscribe so you don't miss new episodes, leave a review so I know you're listening, and share the podcast with 2 people you know would benefit from learning. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Much love,

Dr. Kenael

Dermatologists encourage you to examine your moles. Gynecologists encourage you to examine your breasts. But who encourages you to examine your vulva and vagina? That's where pelvic floor physical therapists can help. We can examine the vulva and pelvic floor with our eyes closed. Seriously! So who best to teach you how to do so? Check out this episode as I sit down with Dr. Mansi Patel of Whole Health Physical Therapy to discuss this and more.

Mansi Patel, PT, DPT is passionate about helping people live their life to the fullest without pain, limitation and always relying on medications. Throughout her PT career she has found passion to help people who are limited in what they want to do, who are told from their physician to stop doing things, who are popping pills, or rely on the use of injections. As a mom of two young kids and a specialist in pelvic floor physical therapy, she understands the challenges life brings and has been passionate about empowering moms to help them get back to their life without limitations. Mansi saw too many women told by their doctors that “its normal to leak or have some pain with running, lifting, coughing," "it’s just part of life," “you had a baby, its normal to feel weak in your stomach” …she knew she needed to get out there and empower and educate women to take control over their bodies. 

As a mom who has experienced her own pre and post- partum struggles, she has made it her mission to help as many women as possible.  She graduated with her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Stony Brook University.  She is dedicated to her profession and keeps her skills polished by always taking many continuing education courses throughout the years. She founded Whole Health Physical Therapy in 2012 to help serve the community with the quality and personalized clinical care she feels people deserve.

If you want to connect with Mansi, or get your hands on a copy of her self assessment guide, find her at:

website: https://wholehealthptnj.com/

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wholehealthphysicaltherapy

instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wholehealthphysicaltherapy/

youtube: Whole Health Physical Therapy

If you want to connect with me, send a message to [email protected]. Find me on IG here, @lotuspelvicpt.

Do a sista a solid and subscribe so you don't miss new episodes, leave a review so I know you're listening, and share the podcast with 2 people you know would benefit from learning. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Much love,

Dr. Kenael

After a much needed break, I am back with another episode to answer some questions. I'm talking about what is pelvic floor PT, how one becomes one, and how it's different than other forms of pelvic floor recovery. I even share my personal experience with pelvic floor PT. 

Let me know what you think of this and other episodes. Help a sista out and leave a review so I can keep bringing you amazing goodies. And while you're at it, share this podcast with at least 2 people who can benefit (anyone with a pelvis :-).

Follow me in IG @lotuspelvicpt for more tips and information or shoot me an email at [email protected].

Peace to you,

Dr. Kenael

I bet you did't know physical therapy can be an effective treatment for infertility. Infertility affects many women, roughly 6.1 million women in the US according to the most recent CDC data. And sometimes, the signs are right there in front you but are unfortunately covered up or ignored for years. In this episode, I speak with Dr. Yeni on just this and how she approaches infertility as a physical therapist. 

Dr. Oluwayeni Abraham is a DPT based in the Dallas, TX area. Fondly known as Dr.Yeni, she is a Nigerian- American, born in England but raised in Texas, who received her degrees from Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY. Dr.Yeni began her career in Acute Care, interning at a major trauma level 1 hospital in Houston, TX where she was exposed to the most critical and demanding cases in medicine. After gaining experience in outpatient physical therapy, she returned and remained in Acute Care within a major hospital system in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Outside of her formal professional career she often continued her education studying pelvic dysfunction and a myriad of Women’s Health conditions. She spent years providing care pro-bono and often saw outstanding results with many individuals dealing with chronic conditions. In 2019, she took a leap of faith and formally launched her own Women’s Health Pelvic Physical Therapy Practice called “Triggered”. Located in Arlington, TX,  where she specializes in postpartum recovery, pelvic pain conditions and female infertility. Dr.Yeni remains passionate about growing her practice and aiming to provide expert level care for women by a woman.

Dr. Yeni sees "Out of Town" patients and she's happy and willing to answer any questions you may have. Connect with her to learn more:

website: https://triggeredpt.com/

Facebook: @triggeredpt

Instagram: @triggeredpt

email: [email protected]

To reach me (Dr. K) for questions or inquiries, email me [email protected].

Enjoy the episode!