Revolutionizing Women’s Health: A New Guide for Pelvic & Perinatal Care

What if you had a single resource that could change the way you treat women’s health—covering everything from pelvic care to pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond? In this episode, Lynn talks with authors Darla Cathcart and Rebecca Stephenson about their groundbreaking new textbook, The Physical Therapist’s Guide to Women’s Pelvic, Perinatal, and Reproductive Health, that blends evidence, compassion, and real-world tools to support clinicians at every level. They reveal the behind-the-scenes challenges, the surprising insights, and why this book is the guide you’ve been searching for. Don’t miss it—this conversation will leave you inspired to expand your practice in powerful ways.

✨ Episode Highlights:

• The story behind this groundbreaking book
• Practical tools: charts, scripts, and visuals for daily use
• Updated evidence on pelvic, perinatal, breast, and reproductive health
• Addressing disparities and empowering underserved populations
• Why this book matters for PTs, OTs, physicians, and midwives

To learn more visit: InstituteforBirthHealing.com

About Today’s Speakers

Rebecca G. Stephenson is a clinical specialist in women’s and pelvic health physical therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital MGB at the Newton-Wellesley Ambulatory Care Center, medical writer and is a board-certified Women’s Health Clinical Specialist (WCS) through the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. From the Academy of Pelvic Health of the American Physical Therapy Association she has a Certification of Achievement in Pelvic Health (CAPP-Pelvic), Certification in Childbirth Education. She is a past president and secretary of the International Organization of Physical Therapists in Pelvic and Women’s Health. Dr. Stephenson has received many awards: the Lucy Blair Award from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), the Elizabeth Nobel Award from the Academy of Pelvic Health, and the Barbara Adams Fellow in the MGH Institute of Physical Therapy for leadership. Dr. Stephenson is on the faculty for the Academy of Pelvic Health of the American Physical Therapy Association. Rebecca founded, along with Tracy Spitznagle and Susan Clinton, the Global Women’s Health Initiative, a non-profit, GWHI.org.

Darla B. Cathcart is Assistant Clinical Professor and Assistant Director of Clinical Education at Graceland University (Independence, MO) and is a board-certified Women’s Health Certified Specialist (WCS) through the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. She has also earned from APTA Academy of Pelvic Health the Certificate of Achievement in Pelvic Physical Therapy (CAPP-Pelvic) and the Certificate of Achievement in Pregnancy and Postpartum Physical Therapy (CAPP-OB). Darla has served as the President (2024–2026), President-elect (2023–2024), Vice President (2015–2016), and Director of Education (2011–2014) for the Academy of Pelvic Health, American Physical Therapy Association.  Dr. Cathcart received several awards from the Academy of Pelvic Health: Instructor of the Year (2017); Course Site Hostess of the Year (2018); and Volunteer of the Year (2015). 

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

Transcript

@0:00 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Hello, everybody. Welcome to this podcast episode. And boy, do I have a treat for you all today.

I have with me Darla Carthart and Rebecca Stevenson. And these two are both physical therapists. I'll let them introduce them.

themselves more in more detail, but they are the authors of this amazing, amazing resource for us as pelvic health therapists.

It's the physical therapist guide to women's pelvic perinatal and reproductive health. And you guys, this book is a resource for us.

It is incredible. And I am just super excited to be able to introduce you to the authors as we dive more into this book.

@0:57 - DarlaCathcart

So welcome Darla and Rebecca. Thank you so much for we'll you Thank you.

@1:03 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

So I would love, Darla, would you go ahead and just introduce yourself and let people know who you are, please?

@1:11 - DarlaCathcart

Yeah, hi. Thanks, Lynn, for having us so much. My name is Darla Cathcart, and I'm a physical therapist for over two decades now.

And I have practiced in private outpatient settings, hospital-based outpatient settings. I've owned a practice, I've been in academia in brick-and-mortar and hybrid programs, and I'm currently serving as the Director of Clinical Excellence in Education for Pelvic Health Solutions, which are some pelvic health and perinatal clinics based out of southeastern Florida right now.

@1:47 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Awesome. And Rebecca, give us a little intro of you, please.

@1:51 - rebeccastephenson

Sure. Hi, Rebecca Stevenson, and I'm a physical therapist and medical writer. And I'm currently working... looking... ... At Newton Wellesley Hospital, part of the Mass General Brigham System in Newton, Mass, where I treat men and women of all genders, and I specialize in pelvic and obstetric care.

I have advanced degrees and a specialization, as Darla does, as a women's health specialist.

@2:24 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Awesome. So, you guys, these two, they've been doing it all. And we are so grateful for all of you, and for both of you, and for what you've done.

And tell us, and tell everybody listening, what was the inspiration for this book? Why did you choose to write this book, and what was the intention for this book?

@2:46 - rebeccastephenson

So, I can start off with that. And I had written two textbooks for physical therapists on this birth experience, women's health, before.

And I got inspired to do it one more time. time. With very current literature review and references, and because of my long-term relationship with Darla and how we work and teach together, I knew she was the perfect person to co-author this with me.

So we are equal authors, and we've met, took us four years to do this from start to finish, and we learned a lot.

We think similarly and not similarly, so that adds for a very good textbook because we covered the range, and we wanted to be very specific to work towards women and not to include men, not to be exclusive, but to be focused.

And one of the things that I wanted to do was to take the experienced clinician. . . As well, that may be just be coming into this area, as well as the new clinician to this, to understand where did we originally come from?

How are we in the United States even talking about women's health and how that influence happened? Both Darla and I are actively involved in volunteer positions for the Academy of Pelvic Health, which was started by Elizabeth Noble many years ago, who was influenced by the Europeans.

So we start the book off with a history chapter, which I hope people find interesting and Darla, let's have you talk about the intent.

@4:41 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Yeah, Darla, what was your reaction when Rebecca asked you to join her on this project, too?

@4:48 - DarlaCathcart

That sounds like a lot of work, but I was also excited about it. A little, I think I kept pushing that off, not because I

I wanted to do it, but because I knew once we got started that it was going to be a little bit behemoth, and it was, but I think from my perspective, the inspiration, the motivation was from years of teaching in the continued education space, training people in pregnancy and postpartum courses and pelvic health courses, having students on clinicals, introducing same pelvic and perinatal health in PT schools, that I really wanted to create something that could be very clinically useful being pulled off the shelf, that someone could take off the shelf as a newer grad, as a newer to pelvic perinatal health clinician, and that they could find this resource to be something that really supported them in their understanding and their ability to perform examination, differential diagnosis, treatment, progression of treatment.

And so we're Really wanted it to give just some really good solid guidelines and not to replace, you know, really good educational courses or mentoring, but to be just a really nice foundation that can provide just some really clinical, useful tools.

@6:16 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Well, and I, you know, being a therapist of 30 plus years, I found, you know, looking at this and reviewing it going, oh, yeah, now I remember learning that way back when.

But also the newer updates and the research that, you know, should be guiding us moving forward. And I loved the whole section.

You guys have a huge section on the breast and the breast tissue. And sorry, back in the day, that really wasn't covered in my training.

So I, you know, I really, really appreciated that in the book. But you guys go into the female pelvic health physical therapy examination and then treatment and the reproductive health.

So breast disorders and that high risk. Pregnancy, disease and disorders, care during labor, care during birth, postpartum care, and then the examination, evaluation, treatment of musculoskeletal disorders during pregnancy and postpartum, and then developing a women's and pelvic health physical therapy practice.

Those are all the big chunks of your book, and then within that, you go into the nuances of each section.

So you guys, it covers pretty much everything within this specific frame of women's health. And so, you know, no, it doesn't cover all these other things, but you've got to stay focused because there was so much to cover just within this.

You got to see the amount of research that you went through.

@7:45 - rebeccastephenson

Yeah, it's years and years of research. And I think, Lynn, you've captured it perfectly because we wanted to build on the female anatomical, physiological, and pathological considerations.

And then looking. At the female lifespan, and that's our foundational part, and then we're going into the pelvic health examination and treatment, and I'm glad you talked about the breast, it was one of my chapters was that we wanted to talk about what can happen to the breast, whether it's a fibrocytic breast, or maybe there's cancer, or in a later chapter, we talk about blocked breast ducts that women experience.

in postpartum, and so a lot of times people don't even know the anatomy, and one of the disheartening things is that people are not being trained to do breast self-exams anymore, and of course in very rural countries that is incredibly important, but we've included both the clinician's examination of the breast, as well as how you teach someone to you so much!

Do their own breast self-examination.

@9:04 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Wow. So critical because we all know we're the ones that get to spend the most time with them. Right.

And so I think that that is important that we bring this to our clientele and actually not something that I really thought about until you just said it there, Rebecca.

So that's huge. I mean, I deal with pregnancy postpartum, so I understand the clogged ducts and stuff. But, wow, taking it that next step further and helping to make sure that our clients actually know how to examine themselves is really important.

@9:39 - rebeccastephenson

Yeah. And, you know, we knew the limits of the book because if you start talking about breast cancer and treatment of breast, you're going to get into lymphedema.

So it's not a textbook that teaches you how to do lymphedema treatment or decongestive therapy. You would take other courses.

So we're, you know, we're. Very, I think, specific in telling, you know, that there are other courses that you're going to want to take.

We do go into labor and birth positions, but you'd want to be taking a course that helped you through that.

But this gives you a good basis before you go and take those courses.

@10:18 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Absolutely. And that's why I think this book needs to be in every practitioner's bookcase or shelf or on their desk even so that they have that reference and know that it's a reference for them to be able to use with their clients.

And whether you're new or whether you've been doing this work for 30 years, I think everybody should have this book just to have that information as the baseline, as the baseline.

And then we can go from there. Yeah. So important. Darla, anything? What's your take on this book? What would you say your highlight of the book is?

@10:54 - DarlaCathcart

Oh, I, I feel like for me, and I have been teased. I've this in previous work groups that I've been in, but it is the organization that puts a lot of the content into very accessible kind of charts and bullet lists and call outs.

And then a lot of the images that we put in, you know, like sample bowel and bladder diary and the Bristol stool chart and pictures of examination techniques.

You know, I just feel like the layout creates kind of a nice linear process for the therapist. And like you said, spells out all of the, you know, what are all the basics and the things that we forget sometimes, right?

Yes. And even I feel like when I teach a course or, you know, writing a book like this, you know, and you start kind of going through your references and pulling things together.

There is that moment of like, oh yeah, I should be doing that. Or, oh, I forget about that. Or, or, oh, this is new and different.

So, it was such an enlightening experience just to. Refresh my mind around, you know, old things that I should know and do and affirmation of things that I am doing.

And then kind of some new things that I was like, oh, I'm going to add that to my practice.

So one example is, you know, in reading research around prolapse testing, for instance, you know, we've always been taught to teach patients, to instruct patients to, you know, bear down as hard as you can.

But then reading some of the biomechanical research around that, it's actually the amount of time that you ask someone to bear down that's more important than the amount of force that you ask them to use.

So asking them to hold for, you know, 10 second bear down is really how you can elicit, you know, visible prolapse or palpable prolapse.

So that changed my practice, actually, to say, oh, I need to actually have somebody hold for a longer time.

I'm, I'm less concerned about how hard they push. Anyway, so just kind of some of those little Yeah. And then I think, too, just a lot of the step-by-step instruction that we included to just help make things really clear.

Lots of simple scripts, too.

@13:09 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Sorry. No, no, no. I want to thank you. I want to thank you for your linear, your mind and how it works linearly, because I love just going through some of those charts that you created.

You know, you have this issue. Here's what you need to do. Here's how you treat it. Here's like it just lays it out so beautifully.

@13:29 - DarlaCathcart

So thank you for that. Thank you.

@13:32 - rebeccastephenson

So one of the things, know, whenever you write something and you put it down, I found this as a medical writer, is, you know, it's going to change.

So we, but we had to include some things that sort of the timestamp of now. And one of Darla's chapters, she's gone over the ICD-10 and ICD-11 codes, which is very important.

And, you know, those are going to change. We know those are going to change. We've given information in the appendixes.

Maybe other books to read and professional organizations, as well as the glossary, I think is, but I do love our charts.

I really do. I think that helps. And one of the things that we had fun with is I had this idea before every chapter, let's put in a quotation that kind of will set the tone for that.

And that, that was a lot of fun to find those.

@14:30 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Yeah, like on the postpartum one, I put in a quotation from Brooke Shields.

@14:37 - rebeccastephenson

Oh, you know, I thought it was perfect person to. Can I read it? Yeah, sure.

@14:45 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Go ahead. so the quote is the very damaging, frightening part of postpartum is the lack of perspective and the lack of priority and understanding what is really important by Brooke Shields.

@14:58 - rebeccastephenson

And doesn't, doesn't that do that for. Don't we then get the chills and say, this is why I'm in this field, this is why I want to do this.

And she was such a wonderful mouthpiece to bring postpartum to light. mean, you know, just working today with somebody who was six weeks postpartum, and the first thing I did was bring out the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and was teaching somebody along the way.

I want to also sort of call out the two people who did our forwards. So one was Dr. Tracy Spitznagel, who's a professor at WashU and has done a lot of international work, but we also had an international forward written by Sonia Rejo Alicino, and she is a professor at the Faculty of Medicine and the University of

I think that this is universal, and it sort of ties in with the beginning of the history chapter. How did we as a country, which is a very young country really in terms of the world, how did we get to this point where women's health is so important, and how can we then give back and inspire other countries, which, you know, have asked for women's health education.

@16:36 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Yeah, that's great. Well, we want this book to be international, right? Because this can be anywhere in the world.

Everybody can use this information. And I also want to just comment and highlight that you guys, you guys are both physical therapists.

But even though, you know, this book is applicable to occupational therapy and occupational therapists that do pelvic health, because this is information that you'll

And to know as well. And it's written just with a PT lens.

@17:04 - rebeccastephenson

So as occupational therapists read this, they're going to go, oh, and this is how I would approach it too.

@17:10 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

And, you know, having worked in this field and offering a little more holistic care to my clients, I'm like, oh, I bring that lens to what I'm reading in here.

And I truly do believe that like, this is a beautiful foundation for all of us to have as we address our clients, our clients as women.

So was there any surprises, any, anything that, you know, kind of stood out for you both as you were writing this book?

Well, I can share.

@17:44 - DarlaCathcart

Yeah, I can share. I would say I wouldn't call it maybe as a little bit of a surprise, but, you know, I had already written the pelvic examination chapter where we talk about, you know, pelvic floor muscle dysfunction and terminology.

yeah. what's that and After that chapter was completed and I had moved on to another chapter, the new ISEA standardization around, you know, pelvic floor dysfunction terminology was introduced.

So I was like, I was like, let me go read it and see if it's actually different. Maybe I can just throw on the new reference, but no, I had to actually go through and kind of rework that chapter a little bit, which was fine.

But it was it was kind of a little bit of a rewrite. Right. And then in writing that chapter, too, again, I don't know if I'd call it a surprise, but just very interesting in writing about terminology around female dysfunction.

You know, there were like six different references who each had their own, quote, standardized terminology. And it just highlighted for me why, you know, getting, you know, just really good reproducible research and understanding around diagnosis and tree.

For our female, you know, our cisgender female patients that have dysfunction, pain, like no wonder it's so hard because nobody's even speaking the same language.

One group will call something, you know, vaginismus and another group will call it, you know, the genitopelvic pain penetration disorder.

And so you have these terms that people are disagreeing about and there's even commentaries about disagreement about. And so that was just very interesting to me to be able to kind of lay, again, all of those out in the chart if you want to read all those definitions.

But it's just very interesting to me how much variation there is still out there when it comes to, you know, standardized terminology in pelvic health.

@19:46 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Well, I think that's one of the challenges in research is that we're all calling things all different things and that's really seen in the low back pain, pelvic girdle pain, posterior pelvic girdle pain, you know, all those things.

@20:00 - DarlaCathcart

Yes. No standards.

@20:02 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

S-J. S-I-J. Dysfunction.

@20:05 - DarlaCathcart

Yeah. Potato, potato. Is it the same?

@20:08 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Is it different? Right.

@20:09 - rebeccastephenson

I think one of the surprises for me was in doing the research on high-risk pregnancies, diseases, and disorders was the amount of disparity that we have across ethnicities in terms of maternal health in the United States.

And so, you know, the references for all of that is the CDC, which keeps our best references. It's a little different from state to state, so we tried to give it globally.

But I think that for the practitioner that wants to get into the birthing space and feel safe, the chapter that deals with the high-risk population, what are diseases that may have existed before she got pregnant, and what happens after.

How is the pregnancy affected by high blood pressure that we got a lot of charts there and went through every single system, but I think we really have to be thinking about our sisters across the United States in terms of what is it that we can do in improving the disparities among underserved minority populations.

And I think we have a really, a really good chance of making a difference here in the United States.

@21:34 - DarlaCathcart

Yeah. How can we help those folks be heard, empower them to be heard? I think it's really important. And yeah, I just, I feel like I even hear stories from patients that I have had that, that reading those, you know, reading about those disparities, it was like, oh man, I've, you know, I've seen this in practice.

And it's, you know, I thought, well, maybe it's just my town, but to realize. but the So that's not as, you know, really kind of overwhelming at times.

@22:05 - rebeccastephenson

Yeah. You know, birth is, as you know, Lynn, from the space that you're in, is so individual. And we need to hear women's stories.

And one of the quotations that I've used in the physical therapy care during birth was from Elizabeth Noble. However much we know about birth in general, we know nothing about a particular birth.

We must let it unfold with its own uniqueness. And I think that's what we do as practitioners is what is the uniqueness about this birth?

How can we help her both during pregnancy and that long postpartum period?

@22:47 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Yeah, we, we as PT and OTs in this pelvic health space really bring a unique perspective to supporting women in pregnancy and helping them to set themselves up.

And we'll for keep that smoother birth. That's my tagline. And, you know, I think that we have that biomechanical advantage that nobody else in the birth space brings to their support of women.

And so that's what we need to really be using our gifts, our skills to support these women. And like you said, throughout the lifespan, I mean, you guys even talk about athletes and Red S and, you know, all that.

Like you guys cover so much in this book.

@23:32 - rebeccastephenson

It's incredible, you guys. And we want people to not be fearful. And so if you have education, then you won't have fear.

Darla's got a great story about some of her students have read the book. Darla, share that, what they said about some of the different experiences of your students reading the book.

@23:50 - DarlaCathcart

Yeah, it's not. And it's actually not my students. It's some of the newer therapists who are. Okay. Yeah. And I've, I've got one with three years of experience.

experience that came in. And I just sent the book to her a month before she got started. And I met with her and she said, I read it cover to cover.

And I was like, bless you. Wow. I was like, I don't know that I could sit down and read it cover to cover.

I'm not gonna let know. But she but she said, you know, it was just such a nice, easy read.

And it was the way that it was laid out. Just she said it was just a really nice foundation.

And my other two newer therapists, I met with with one of them today. And she kind of said the same thing she because you know, she's waiting for her, her schedule to fill up with patients.

And, you know, her comment was, you know, one of the things I've been doing is just reading the book, because it's just really helping me to kind of, you know, organize my brain, you know, she's been to the pelvic, the first pelvic course, and she did a pelvic clinical, and she's got a little bit of experience.

And she's like, you know, she's helping me just kind of, you know, kind of go through all that again, and really lay it out and kind of, kind of organize my mind around how I'm going to, you know, approach these patients.

So it was really nice to get that feedback from those folks and to hear that they're already enjoying the book.

@25:10 - rebeccastephenson

A couple of the physicians I work with, they've gotten the book and they're like, wow, this is incredible. This is really great.

So, and so the book can be for anyone in the birth space, could be for midwives, urogynes, gynecologists, obstetricians, PTs, OTs.

So it's got a lot of applicability.

@25:36 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Yes, it does. And even from someone 30 plus years into the field, I find that it's super helpful to have because it helped me to remember some of the things that I had already learned.

And that, you know, you are back in the resources of your mind to bring them back to the forefront and go, oh, yeah, I remember that.

And, oh, that's important to keep in mind. And so I truly do believe that. This book should be in everybody's offices.

And I didn't read it cover to cover yet, but I definitely found it helpful. And I do, I see it somewhat as like an encyclopedia for us.

You've got a client with this issue. Let's look it up and let's see what you guys have to say about that.

What does the research have to say about this situation? What's Darla's chart have to tell me on what to do?

So, yeah, it breaks things down.

@26:31 - rebeccastephenson

So you can understand it. And, you know, Darla is quite the educator. And so I think she helped us sort of formulate this for the different types of learner.

You know, maybe somebody's a visual learner. Maybe they're, you know, going to want it by a chart or maybe they're going to want it written out in a longhand.

So, um, and I was very happy working with Rutledge that they, uh, actually let us have some colored.

@27:00 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Marianne's website.

@27:01 - rebeccastephenson

So with the female menstrual cycle and all the different applications of analgesia for labor and delivery and, you know, in terms of being a medical writer, you know, we have to pay people in order to use and credit their work.

And so it's just, I think, a very good compilation that's come together and we're very happy to have worked with Rutledge.

@27:29 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

You know what? I was just looking at it today and I'm not sure which one of you put it and I'm not going to be able to find it right now, but it was a beautiful little chart on the things that we should be going over with our pregnant clients.

And it was during pregnancy. It was for labor. It was postpartum. It's kind of like a plan. I think it was the birth plan.

@27:50 - DarlaCathcart

That was, I was going to say that was the birth plan. Yeah, that was the birth plan.

@27:54 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Yeah. It was just like, had every little thing that we should have. And so like, just taking that. Yeah.

As practitioners, and then creating a handout to give to our clients, to have them go over and think about those things.

That is just so valuable in and of itself.

@28:11 - rebeccastephenson

So I was just working with a couple today. They're four weeks away from delivery. And I said, well, so are you going to take the childbirth classes?

Oh, we're going to watch, you know, we're going to watch some YouTube videos. So I showed them some YouTube videos of what happens in the pelvis, just to start with.

And what are the dynamics of that? And I said, you know, there are all these different things. Do you want to have a scent in the room?

Do you want to have music? Do you want to have a focal point? Here's some labor and birthing positions.

You know, here's a plan that you could develop on yourself. Well, you could just see the wheels moving. And I just, I think this is a passion for all of us.

And it really is going to help the birthing. A couple, whatever the couple looks like.

@29:06 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

So, yeah, I love that. So you guys, please, listening to this podcast, please spread the word. Let other therapists know about this resource for us.

The Physical Therapist's Guide to Women's Pelvic, Perinatal, and Reproductive Health. It's phenomenal. So I highly recommend this book, that you get it.

It's a great foundation that we all should have. And then we can go from there. And like you said, it's no one book, no one course is going to have it all for you.

And so we've got to continue to keep learning and exploring. And this, I think, is a resource that we all should have.

So any last little tidbit, any last little information you want us to know? Darla?

@29:53 - rebeccastephenson

Darla.

@29:54 - DarlaCathcart

Oh, I'm like, do you go first? So I'm like, Darla, let's see. Um, Rebecca.

@30:00 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

I'll take it.

@30:00 - DarlaCathcart

Rebecca. I can say two things. One is, you were talking about how everyone should have the book and I gave a copy to my parents that I, you know, signed and, you know, in the, in our little acknowledgements, I'd acknowledge them.

And when I brought it to them, my dad said, I think I'm just going to let your mom have that.

So I think my dad disagrees. He was a little frightened. He was like, are there pictures in there? I was like, yeah, he was like, lots of pictures.

He was like, I think I'm gonna let your mom handle that. So she appreciated it. But the other thing that I'll say to you is, you know, I, I'm a, I'm a firm believer that there's no one right way to, to do a lot of what we do.

And so, you know, this was written from our lens. And I think we really tried hard to keep things very kind of open and objective and to be really a guide and not.

And this is how you have to do things, but here's a way that we recommend, and I hope that it comes across that way.

Because someone may read some pieces and say, well, I do it differently. Is that wrong? And not necessarily, as long as you've got good rationale and you've got, you know, reasons for how you do it and it works, then great.

@31:22 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Keep doing that, right?

@31:23 - DarlaCathcart

So I just want to acknowledge, too, that, you know, I feel like it can be so easy in a conversation to be able to say that to someone of like, oh, this is how I do it and this is why.

And to kind of acknowledge those differences. And different though, you're reading print, it can feel a little sometimes rigid and cold.

And I hope that our warmth comes through as much as possible because we did write this book with a lot of a lot of warmth and a lot of care for, you know, the patients that we all serve and just all the hard work and the heart.

I think that all clinicians put into this.

@32:01 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

So I'm like actually tearing up just thinking about it, just thinking about all the amazing work that we all do in this field, and it's so important and valuable, so yeah.

@32:11 - rebeccastephenson

So here's actually what we did in our dedication. To all the physical therapists and healthcare practitioners who improved the lives of women through their careful attention to clinically relevant findings, their scholarship and selection of the very best treatment, may this book be the scaffold from which you can build.

Your successful practice. We are so grateful for all of you, and we admire you. So that is our heart and our love that we poured into here, and Lynn, I just can't thank you enough for supporting us and for being a megaphone for the book.

@32:48 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Yay, thank you.

@32:50 - DarlaCathcart

And a megaphone for pelvic and perinatal health in general.

@32:55 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

thank you.

@32:56 - DarlaCathcart

Thank you, guys. Yes, thank you so much.

@32:58 - Lynn Schulte, PT (lynnschultept@gmail.com)

Well, I appreciate your time and coming on. And sharing with us the amount of time and effort and energy that went into the book.

You can feel it, Darla. You can feel it, Rebecca, the love that's in here. And so I just hope that everybody will be able to get it and use it and benefit from the work that you guys put into it.

So thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you guys did and what you created here because it's phenomenal.

So thank you. Awesome. Thank you guys for listening into this podcast episode. And we hope that you will get this book and it'll be helpful for you in supporting your clients.

@33:36 - rebeccastephenson

So here is to smooth the births, faster recoveries. Take care, everybody. Bye-bye. Bye.

@33:41 - DarlaCathcart

Bye.