[00:00:00] Welcome back y'all to another episode of the vagina rehab doctor podcast. I want to thank you for being here. And I want to ask you to keep on coming back. If you want to learn more about how to have. Good sex, right? You're tired of the pain. If you just want to learn more about your body, you want to learn about the anatomy.
You want to learn about how things are working, what sensations are normal or abnormal. This is the podcast for you. So all things sexual wellness, all things, vaginal fitness and pelvic health. Today, I'm going to be talking to you about something a little bit more personal. Why I left in person pelvic floor physical therapy, right?
So why I left the clinic to now treat 100 percent virtual. I still work with clients. I still work with people who have pelvic floor muscle dysfunction. I still help them overcome and achieve their goals. But from home, so we are no longer in the [00:01:00] clinic and I say we because that includes both myself Dr.
Howell as a pelvic floor physical therapist and my colleague. Dr. Tina who is also a pelvic floor physical therapist We both work with clients. So behind the social media scenes we work with you one on one just from virtual means, so we get on a zoom call and we're able to do all the things. And so I want to talk to you about why I decided to leave my job as a in person pelvic floor physical therapist and sort of how it's going in terms of, you know, as a professional, like how is it going on my end? And so I know that there are a lot of healthcare professionals that tune in. a lot of pelvic floor therapists that I know that may be listening to this podcast or even those of you who are just wondering What it's like in terms of the difference.
And so I actually was one of those people who didn't truly believe in virtual ways to help people overcome pelvic floor muscle dysfunction in the [00:02:00] beginning. I remember when the pandemic started, I was working in person, here in Chicago and, my boss told me that I would have to do telehealth appointments.
And I honestly was not for it. I was just like. What do you mean like this is physical therapy we use our hands like that's one of our best tools I need to see the the patient. I need to touch the patient I need to palpate and use my skills and I wasn't really open to it at that time and as time went on I just wanted to share more information about sex, about our vaginas, about the clitoris.
Oh my gosh, there's so much miseducation and avoidance and discomfort just with our bodies. There's, there's so much sexual shame. Like we should be able to talk about sex. This is literally how we get here. It's how we get here. So I, um, started posting more on social media from an educational standpoint.
When I started, it wasn't about a career. It was just like, I want more people to learn the [00:03:00] truth about their pelvic floor, their vagina, all of that. And so I felt like I was learning so much just from my career that I wanted to share it with more people so that we can get the word out there. There's so many people that are struggling with prolapse.
The feeling that something's falling out of their vagina or a bulging sensation. So many people struggling with painful sex don't know that there's help. People pee in their pants when they cough, laugh, and sneeze. They've now stopped going to the gym, stopped running. You know, they're embarrassed and they don't know that there's help.
So that was the main reason why I started posting online about the pelvic floor, about our vaginas, et cetera, because I wanted to get the word out. However, when I started posting like at home solutions, like exercises to do breathing strategies to do, I would even talk about dilation. I started an email newsletter.
I was sending out stuff. And then I started to get these messages from people saying, That they were overcoming their problems just from my content just from the free content online And so I was like [00:04:00] wait, wow, this this stuff works. Then I started doing masterclasses, right? And when I started doing the masterclass, that's when I could truly go in depth like go the surface because on social media, there's only so much you can put in a caption Like there's only so much you're gonna say in a video, and actually keep people's attention.
Like, you, you honestly got about five seconds, and if you don't capture someone's attention in five seconds, they're scrolling. And so these masterclasses was really where I could go deeper into why someone's having pelvic floor muscle dysfunction, what it means, what are some of the things you can try at home, and even more success stories were coming in from those masterclasses, and that's when I started to just dabble in virtual care.
And when I decided to actually quit my job, of course, it was the, economical reasons as well. So, when I realized that I was able to at least make the same amount of money from my own business, my own content, my own, creative [00:05:00] events or whatever, Then I realized, well, I don't necessarily have to be working in person from an economic and financial standpoint.
What do I actually want to do now? So it was no longer a need, like, oh, I have to be working from the clinic to pay my bills. It was more like, where do I find the most fulfillment? And, honestly, I felt that I owed it to the community that I was nurturing online, that I owed it to the people who don't have a Pellix Floor Physical Therapist in person.
I felt like I owed it to the people who literally depended on my account to keep learning, and I decided I wanted to go all in, 100%. In entrepreneurship, go ahead and quit my job and do this thing full time. And so when I quit my job, I already knew that virtual care worked for. Helping people fix vaginismus incontinence, even like postpartum sexual pain, like if you tore, you might have the scar tissue and the pain with initial entrance, I had helped people with [00:06:00] that.
I knew how to help people with prolapse all of that virtually, but I, but I didn't have those big like success stories that make me feel 100 percent confident that I could do it. I still left though. It was, it was a leap of faith. I left and I started welcoming clients to work with me one on one.
And it was last year in February when I had the first real big transformative success story with, a client. This was a woman who came to me very leery of it working. She had vaginismus, married for five years, unable to have Intercourse with her husband for those whole five years. She came to me expressing a lot of shame Expressing that she felt like she trapped her husband in this nightmare Expressing that she was scared to continue investing more finances and trying to fix this Because she had already gone to in person pelvic floor physical therapy And so when I worked with her she was giving virtual care a try [00:07:00] and you guys after seven sessions Virtual her vaginismus was gone She was having pain free intercourse with her husband and I I literally cried in the session I mentioned this last night in the vaginist.
Mr. Vaginalicious seven day challenge that I'm leading right now at dr. Tina and When she told me that they successfully had intercourse pain free after trying for five years after going to multiple pelvic floor physical therapists I then started to believe in myself, not just as a pelvic floor physical therapist because I had helped people before, but it was in person.
It was in the clinic. I previously thought that I had to be like, they're touching you and digging in your pelvic floor and all of that. When I saw her get better, I knew in that moment. That I had what it took to now help countless people after her. It was that experience, it was her story that helped me to even believe more in myself.
That not just the fact that virtual [00:08:00] care worked, but that it could work swiftly. That it could work faster than the in person route. And some people ask me, you know, like, why do you think? You're able to help people get better quicker than you were in person and it's not everyone So I don't want you to think every single person that comes in seven sessions.
They're done However, I can 100 percent without a doubt tell you that on average everyone is getting better sooner I mean in person It is not rare. It's not strange to be working with someone for 20 something sessions. You're on the 30th set, they're still coming. You're just asking the insurance company to have them keep coming.
They may have gotten somewhat better, but essentially they've plateaued. And that's like the norm for a lot of physical therapists. We will keep working with you because it's kind of like all we know. We'll just have you keep coming back and keep coming back. not really just being real about it, like, listen, you have hit a plateau, let's just have you go consider other options.
And so now the average amount of [00:09:00] sessions, especially for vaginismus, sexual pain, vulvodynia is around seven to nine sessions. And when it comes to the question of why, like, why are they getting better? I don't know if there's just one thing, but I will say this. And I think that there is a difference in the atmosphere of being at home.
When you go to a clinic, when you go to a hospital. There is just that white coat energy. I mean, I think on both sides. It's just a different aura. Even as a pelvic floor physical therapist, I think I put on that, okay, I have to be really professional. I have to talk this certain way. And I, of course, still try and make my patients feel comfortable in the in person setting, but it's still different.
It's a clinic. It's, you know, the energy is just different in a clinic as opposed to, hey, we're both at home. I'm in my house. You're in yours and so we still have to be professional, but there's just a different level of comfort So I think that's one thing the next thing is that usually in person What happens [00:10:00] is we do use our hands quite a bit most pelvic floor therapists the internal route We're able to actually go into the pelvic floor and feel different dysfunctions that you may be having tightness pain restrictions poor muscular Control all of that.
And so that's great, right? That's great. That's not a bad thing. That's a good thing However, with the in person, what happens is we have you turn your camera off and then we'll tell you what to do when you meet the problem, when you meet the pain with the dilation, when you insert your finger and you're feeling tightness on this left side, you know, when you are actually having the problem instead of us passing you dilators and say, Hey, go dilate at home, we're teaching you how to do it in the session so that when you meet a problem, we can help you interpret why that problem is happening.
Oh, it's burning. Oh, it's getting stuck. Oh, it's not going further. Oh, you feel like you can't push any further or, or, Oh, you feel like, [00:11:00] you know, the, the pain on the right side of the vaginal opening is getting worse. We can help you think through all of that. And so I think it's just actually somewhat more intimate in the sense that you are now connecting with your body and you're telling us what you're feeling.
And then we're able to help you through it right there in the moment. It's a different type of intimacy and the intimacy in person is still very intimate because you're letting someone touch your body Going through the pelvic floor right the vagina sometimes even the anus. Oh, that's intimate too, but you're not really feeling The dysfunction yourself.
You're letting someone else try and fix the problem, right? And so you're actually able to feel the problems to feel the changes and we're helping to guide you and direct you To the place of your goals and then of course, we got to give you some homework to do at home But it's usually based on something we've already done in the session with you.
[00:12:00] And so I think that's one thing That makes us different in terms of how we do care, um, at the Vagina Rehab Doctor team. And then lastly, I would say that because we can't depend on our hands, I want to say that we depend more on critical thinking. Because in the, in the clinic, you're going to find your way of treating those things that you just always go to, those things that are your go to methods.
But virtually, you don't have that hands on. Resource. So we really have to be thinking about what is causing this problem, even outside of the pelvis. And how can we empower the client to really take charge? We are in the passenger seat when you work with us virtually. You are in the driver's seat, actually, which is so cool.
Here's the thing, we have to give you the direction, so you don't know really how to get to the end goal. But we're telling you where to turn, stop here, [00:13:00] only go 40 miles per hour. Okay. You can speed up a little bit more. And so we're still supporting you. Don't get it twisted, without us, obviously, you're not accomplishing your goals, right.
Which is why, our clients are coming to us. And so, yes, pelvic floor physical therapy is amazing. It, it, it is, it changes so many lives, but virtual care is just as amazing. And in my personal experience, I'm seeing that the results for most people is even better. and then I want to speak to people who have traumatic experiences.
So if you've experienced trauma medically, if you've experienced trauma in a relationship, you know, if you've experienced domestic abuse or just different things that don't make you feel safe opening up your body physically to another person. For you, virtual care is, is unmatched because you're able to keep that to yourself, right?
We don't have to touch you in those intimate places. And [00:14:00] so that's why I decided to leave. I left because you guys are getting better. And I left obviously because of the financial possibility to leave, like, you know, you got to be able to pay your bills at the end of the day. But then what has enabled me to increase my confidence in what I do and what I now do with Dr.
Moppa, she's going to come on one day, by the way, on the podcast, is when I was seeing that yes, virtual care works, right? It's not nothing strange. It's called telehealth. But it can also work just as good and many times even better. And so I just wanted to share that with you all. Some of you may be curious.
And so that's really what it is. And we can go into more depth. I can probably talk about this again. but don't lose hope. Even if you've gone to pelvic floor physical therapy before. Even if you've done top therapy. Even if you've tried Botox. Even if you've tried the Impressa. Even if you've done, the pessary.
Don't give up sometimes you just need a different type of support. And so I want to [00:15:00] encourage you to keep moving forward stay positive and Never give up on your body Okay, if you want to work with us one on one with virtual coaching for pelvic floor muscle dysfunction like vaginismus If you have any sexual pain, incontinence or prolapse, go ahead and just click the link in the show notes and schedule a free complimentary call with me.
And I would love to talk to you about our coaching program. Y'all thanks for tuning in and I will see y'all again next Monday. Bye.