Well+Core PT Podcast

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We're answering the questions many people are too nervous to ask out loud: rapid fire, no fluff. Dr. B and Dr. Meg sit down and run through the pelvic floor questions they hear most often in the clinic. They kept it quick on purpose, so they could get through more of them. Think of it as the appetizer sampler of pelvic health.

In this episode:

Is it normal to leak urine after having kids?

Should you see a pelvic floor PT after (or before) a baby?

If you don't leak, does that mean your pelvic floor is strong?

Can pelvic floor PT help with constipation?

Can pelvic floor PT help with fertility?

Why do pelvic floor changes happen after menopause?

Can endometriosis cause pelvic floor dysfunction?

Can hip pain be caused by the pelvic floor?

Does a C-section mean you don't need pelvic floor PT?

Have a question they didn't cover? Submit it (anonymously if you want) at https://form.jotform.com/261936895668076 — more rapid fire episodes are coming.

📅 Book a free 15-minute consultation: https://wellcorept.com/pages/book-a-pelvic-floor-pt-appointment

If you’re thinking about seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist but the idea makes you nervous or anxious, you’re not alone. Your body has its own wisdom about what feels safe and what doesn’t. That nervousness is valid. And the fact that you’re considering taking this step anyway? That’s already brave.

In this podcast episode and article, we’re diving into what happens inside a trauma-informed pelvic floor PT appointment and what should happen, based on a conversation with Bethany and Rachel from Well + Core. We’ll talk about the little things that make a huge difference, how your provider should show up for you, and what to look for in any healthcare provider, (pelvic floor specialist or otherwise.)

The Problem: Healthcare Can Feel Unsafe

Here’s what we know: many people carry tension, shame, and caution into their pelvic floor appointments. Maybe you’ve had past medical experiences that didn’t feel good. Maybe you’re navigating trauma. Maybe the thought of someone touching your body in that way, no matter how clinically necessary, just feels exposing and vulnerable.

Your hesitation isn’t a character flaw. It’s your nervous system doing exactly what it’s supposed to do, protecting you.

While pelvic floor dysfunction is usually treatable, you don’t have to white-knuckle through appointments that don’t feel safe. You deserve care that honors your whole self, including the part of you that’s rightfully cautious.

What Trauma-Informed Care Actually Looks Like

Bethany and Rachel from Well + Core describe trauma-informed pelvic floor PT as an approach that starts before you even get undressed. It’s in the environment. It’s in the relationship. And it’s in the choices you get to make, every single step of the way.

The Environment Matters More Than You Think

Walk into a trauma-informed clinic and you’ll notice things that are designed intentionally to make things more comfortable for you.

Comfort details that signal safety at Well + Core include:

* Heating pads on the tables. This isn’t just nice; it’s science! Warmth is calming. Your body recognizes it as a signal that it’s okay to relax.

* Thoughtful lighting. Harsh fluorescent lights activate your stress response. Softer, warmer lighting helps your nervous system downshift.

* Sound design. Maybe it’s soft music. Maybe it’s white noise or nature sounds. You might even get to choose. The point is that silence (especially in a vulnerable moment) can feel loud and exposing. Gentle ambient sound creates privacy and calm.

* Fidget toys. Having something to do with your hands gives your nervous system an outlet. It’s not a distraction; it’s regulation.

These aren’t just luxuries. They’re clinical tools that help your body feel safe enough to actually receive treatment.

The Relationship Is the Treatment

Here’s what Bethany and Rachel emphasize: the provider-patient relationship isn’t secondary to the treatment. It is the treatment.

This shows up as:

Time during evaluation. A trauma-informed provider doesn’t rush you. They take the appointment to understand you, your history, your concerns, your boundaries. They listen to what you’re nervous about and take it seriously. They ask questions. They don’t assume.

Practicing consent every step. This is non-negotiable. Before they touch you, they tell you what they’re about to do. During the appointment, they check in. They ask how you’re feeling. They make it clear that you can say stop, slow down, or wait. Your “no” doesn’t derail the appointment; it guides it.

Building trust slowly. You don’t have to do everything on day one. In fact, a good provider expects that you might not. The first appointment might just be evaluation and conversation, and that’s okay. Progress happens at your pace, not the schedule.

Normalizing being a human. A trauma-informed provider gets that coming to this appointment already took courage. They won’t make you feel bad for being nervous. They won’t guilt you about exercises you didn’t do. They understand that pelvic floor tension and avoidance are often connected. Sometimes your body needs time before it’s ready to engage differently.

What to Look For in Any Pelvic Floor Clinic (and Any Medical Provider)

If you’re shopping for pelvic floor care, here’s what matters:

Red Flags 🚩

* Rushing. If the provider or clinic feels hurried, trust that instinct. A full evaluation takes time.

* No questions about your history. If they don’t ask about trauma, previous medical experiences, or what makes you nervous, they’re not practicing trauma-informed care.

* Pressure to do something you’re not comfortable with. “Just push through” is not a thing in trauma-informed care. Ever.

* No explanation or consent. If you’re not told what’s about to happen before it happens, that’s a boundary violation, not treatment.

* Shame language. Anything that implies you “should” be doing more, that you’re “failing,” or that your body is “broken.” Nope.

Green Flags ✅

* The provider explains things. They tell you what they’re observing, why they think something is happening, and what treatment could look like.

* They ask permission. “Can I touch you here?” or “Is it okay if I...” isn’t weird. It’s respectful and clinically sound.

* The environment feels intentional. It’s clean, it’s calm, it’s designed for comfort, not just efficiency.

* They normalize the complexity. They get that pelvic floor tension is often connected to stress, trauma, or just life. They don’t oversimplify it.

* They have boundaries. A good provider knows what they’re trained to do and refers out when needed (like if trauma is the primary issue). They’re not trying to be your therapist or fix everything in one appointment.

* They celebrate small wins. Coming to the appointment? That’s a win. Trying something new? That’s a win. You don’t have to be “perfect” for care to matter.

The Thing Nobody Says Out Loud (But Bethany and Rachel Do)

Coming to one appointment is already brave. That’s it. That’s the bar. You showed up. Your body let you show up, even though it was scared. That counts.

And here’s the permission you might need: there is no such thing as being “in trouble” at your pelvic floor appointment.

* Didn’t do all your exercises? Not in trouble.

* Decided mid-appointment that you’re not ready for a certain treatment? Not in trouble.

* Realized this provider isn’t the right fit? Not in trouble.

* Took a week off your normal wellness routine because your nervous system needed it? Not in trouble.

Your body isn’t being stubborn or “resistant.” It’s communicating. A trauma-informed provider listens to that communication and adjusts. That’s the whole point.

What Happens Now?

If you’ve been thinking about pelvic floor PT but feeling stuck in the nervousness, listen to Bethany and Rachel’s full conversation. Hear how they talk about these things. Notice how they normalize the complexity. That tone, that approach, that permission to be human? That’s what you’re looking for.

And if you’re in the Kansas City area and want to experience what trauma-informed pelvic floor care actually feels like, well, you know where to find us at Well + Core.

Your nervous system has kept you safe this far. It makes sense that it’s cautious. But treatment exists that honors both the clinical reality and the human reality of your situation. You deserve that care.

Ready to take the next step? If you’re in the Kansas City area, schedule a free consultation with us. We’ll take the time to understand what you need and create a plan that works for your body and your nervous system.

Not in Kansas City? Use the green flags and red flags above to find a trauma-informed pelvic floor provider near you. They exist. Keep looking.

Welcome to Well + Core's first-ever podcast episode! We're excited to bring you a new, relatable, conversational episode every week. To kick us off, Dr. B and Dr. Angela are here explaining how they got started in Pelvic Floor physical therapy and why they're so passionate about the work they do.

Drip & Dry

We always start our podcast this way. Drip for the highs. Dry for the lows.

This week? Ang had sunshine on Friday and Saturday when it was a perfect 70 degrees. She also just sent in her SIBO breath test after a long time coming. That’s drip.

Her dry? Rain. And her daughter’s had an ear infection for six weeks straight. Two rounds of antibiotics. Rosetta shots. Still uncomfortable at night. Sick kid is rough for everybody.

Bethany’s drip? She’s in her follicular phase and feeling really productive right now. That’s the energy.

Her dry? Her daughter’s in kindergarten and picked up the kindergarten cold that’s been going around. Plus this crazy weather up and down is causing joint aches for the older population.

Yeah. That’s real life around here.

The question that changed everything

Here’s what happens mid-exam. Usually when things are a little vulnerable.

“How did you choose this?”

Sometimes it comes with a sympathetic look. “I feel bad for you,” people say.

And we’re like... no. We chose to do this. We’re really passionate about it.

The honest answer? We didn’t choose pelvic health. Pelvic health chose us first through our own bodies, our own pain, and our own “wait, that’s not normal?” moments that nobody ever told us about.

This week, we’re sharing our stories for the first time. The real reasons we ended up here. The moments that made us realize this work wasn’t just important. It was necessary.

If you’ve ever been dismissed by a provider, handed a generic protocol, or told your symptoms are just something you have to live with, this one’s for you.

Ang’s Story: Eleven years of not knowing

Ang didn’t start as a pelvic floor PT. She started as a patient. One of us.

Constipation since 2015. That’s 11 years of bloating and discomfort that she just accepted as her baseline.

It all started with ankle surgeries, narcotics, iron supplements for anemia, and IV antibiotics through a PICC line. Her gut never fully recovered.

When she finally decided to see a pelvic floor PT, she looked it up online and found Bethany. They’d known each other in undergrad. Ang convinced herself to skip the insurance-based clinic, and it was the best decision she could have made.

“I found out there were so many other things that I just didn’t know. And was doing wrong,” Ang said.

Like pushing her pee out. Squatting over the toilet instead of sitting. Straining to have a bowel movement. Things she’d been doing her whole life, assuming they were normal.

And then there was the moment that stopped her cold.

“I didn’t know that intercourse was not supposed to be painful. I learned that at my first pelvic floor appointment.”

One appointment. That’s all it took.

She’d spent years thinking pain with sex was just what happened. But Bethany told her it didn’t have to be that way. She learned that pelvic health wasn’t just about constipation. It connected to everything. Her gut. Her habits. The way her body had learned to move (and not move) over years.

But here’s where Ang’s story gets really interesting. A few years in, she and her husband started trying to grow their family. Her period wasn’t regular. She’d been on birth control since age 14 after an ovarian cyst was discovered. No questions asked. No conversation about why. Her body didn’t know what to do without it.

A year of trying brought endless tests. IUI. HSGs. Timed cycles. When the reproductive endocrinologist suggested jumping straight to IVF, something felt off.

“I felt like I was a number in a protocol,” she said. “Not treated as an individual. I just felt like my body could do this. We were missing something.”

That’s when Bethany introduced her to Mercier Therapy, specialized manual work focused on pelvic organ mobility and fertility. Ang got certified. She started working on herself. She educated herself on her own cycle.

She got pregnant two months later.

“Right when I felt hopeful again, I got pregnant. People say a lot about mindset when you’re trying to conceive. I really think that’s true.”

Her gut had been right all along. It just needed someone to listen.

Bethany’s Story: The moment everything shifted

Okay, so Ang’s story is wild. But Bethany’s is the one that led to Well+Core existing in the first place. And it starts with something she thought was totally normal.

Growing up, she ran cross country. When someone on the team lost bladder control at the end of a race, everyone thought it was kind of funny. Impressive, even. Nobody told her that wasn’t normal.

Her mom always said they just had small bladders. She crossed her legs when she heard running water. She thought that was just being a woman.

Then she got married. She discovered that sex was painful. An OB told her to relax, have a glass of wine. She wrote it off.

But when she got pregnant, something shifted. She was working at a brain injury hospital and started exploring pelvic health CE courses. Not out of academic interest, but because her own body needed answers. She started applying what she learned: diaphragmatic breathing with her neuro patients. It was helping them in ways she didn’t expect. Their balance improved. Their continence improved. They had better quality of life.

She wanted to make the switch to pelvic health. She just didn’t know how.

Then Lydia was born in November 2019. A scheduled C-section because Lydia was breech. Then Lydia got sick. NICU. A genetic disorder diagnosis. And March 2020 arrived on Bethany’s first day back at work, when the hospital announced they’d be accepting COVID patients.

She walked out. Didn’t look back.

“That is not my personality,” she laughed. “But I was like, I’m not coming back here.”

On unemployment, home with a medically complex newborn, Bethany did what she does. She started moving. Running felt like the one thing helping her mental health.

And then she fully emptied her bladder on her treadmill.

“I had to stop because I would pee on my treadmill or on the ground.”

By then, she knew that wasn’t okay. She searched for a postpartum return to running program and found nothing. So she modified an ACL protocol for herself and started doing pelvic floor work on her own body. It worked.

She dealt with pain during sex after the C-section. She did her own dilator training. That worked too.

“That sucked, but it worked. And so I was like, okay. I really want to do this.”

But here’s where it gets real. She went back to work at Olathe Health, an insurance-based practice. The reality didn’t match the dream at all. She was the only pelvic floor PT actually doing pelvic floor work, seeing super complex patients every 30 minutes for eight hours a day. Alone in a room. No mentorship. No collaboration. No time to actually help people.

“I hated every second of it,” she said. “And I didn’t know what I was doing.”

So she made a move that most people would think is crazy. She found a mentor, a PT in Pennsylvania who owned her own business. Found her through a Facebook group. Bethany reached out and asked if she could pay her for guidance.

Then she started seeing patients out of her friend’s office, a mental health therapist’s space. And she convinced the best PTs she knew to join her.

Well+Core was born out of a single person’s refusal to accept “this is how it has to be.”

“I just convinced the best PTs I knew to join me. And the best administrators to help as well,” Bethany said.

The thing that connects both stories

Here’s what we realized talking through both of these.

Neither of us grew up knowing what was normal. Nobody taught us in school. Our doctors didn’t fill in the gaps. We learned the way too many people do: through years of discomfort, embarrassment, and finally stumbling onto the right information.

And you know what? That’s exactly why we do this work.

When you come to Well+Core, you’re not a number in a protocol. You get time. You get someone who will actually listen to your whole story. Your gut health. Your mental health. Your history. Your habits. Your concerns that seem small but aren’t small to you.

Because it’s all connected. It always is.

“You have to look at the whole person and treat them as a whole and an individual,” Bethany said. “Every system is involved. It’s all connected.”

That’s what we love about this place. The time you get. The space to really understand what’s happening. The chance to feel listened to, advocated for, and cared for.

Just the tip

Can Ang have multiple tips? (Spoiler: yes, she can.)

Biggest tip: get a Squatty Potty for constipation.

Raising your knees above your hips doesn’t have to be a fancy stool. A step stool works. A stack of books works. Whatever works. It opens up your rectum and makes bowel movements significantly easier.

“That changed my life,” Ang said. “I mean, that changed my life.”

Ang’s other tip: trust your gut.

When it comes to your health, fertility, incontinence, constipation, or pain with sex, trust your gut. If you feel comfortable with a provider and like their plan, roll with it. If you don’t, seek elsewhere.

There is somebody out there who will want to get to the bottom of it and help you.

“So many times I didn’t trust my gut and my gut was always right,” Ang said. “So just listen to your gut because there’s always somebody that will want to help you and get to the bottom of it.”

Bethany’s tip: your rectum is not a storage unit.

When you need to go, go. You’ve got about two minutes before that urge passes and things get complicated. Don’t hold it. Don’t wait for a better time. Your body’s telling you something, and it’s important to listen.

What’s your drip and dry this week?

Drop a comment below. What’s making you feel good right now? What’s bringing you down? We love hearing what’s going on in your world. Sometimes the best part of doing this work is knowing you’re not alone in any of it.

Ready to stop guessing and start getting answers?

If any piece of these stories felt familiar, you don’t have to white-knuckle it alone. The constipation. The leaking. The pain. The fertility questions nobody’s been able to answer.

Well+Core exists for exactly this. Our pelvic floor PTs bring our own lived experiences to every single session. We give you the time to actually be heard.

New episodes of the Well+Core Podcast drop weekly. Subscribe so you don’t miss the next one. We have a lot more to cover.

And remember. Unclench your butt cheeks. Unclench your jaw. Take a deep breath through your diaphragm.

We’ll see you next week.