The Alimond Show
Lindsay Durand Owner of Virtual Physio
Pelvic health might not be the usual topic of conversation at your dinner table, but after hearing our latest guest, a pelvic health specialist, unravel the complexities of pregnancy and postpartum challenges, you'll understand why it should be. This episode is a treasure trove of insights into the silent struggles many endure, such as urinary incontinence and chronic pain, and how targeted physical therapy can offer relief. Forget the one-size-fits-all advice; we're going beyond Kegels to reveal how personalized care can dramatically enhance quality of life.
As we navigate the journey from conception through postpartum, we unveil the power of proactive health measures and the revolutionary world of virtual physical therapy. You'll hear firsthand about the seamless shift to effective online platforms that deliver results right from your living room. Plus, get an exclusive look at the entrepreneurial spirit fueling a fitness program designed for new parents eager to safely return to high-intensity workouts and how it's carving a path in the wellness industry with strategic partnerships and a community-focused approach.
Ending on a note of empowerment, we advocate for more comprehensive pelvic health education and maintaining a positive mindset through life's rollercoaster. Our guest's infectious dedication to pelvic health physical therapy and their personal narrative offers not just hope, but a call to action for better care standards. Whether you're a new parent, a health enthusiast, or an entrepreneur, this conversation will inspire you to embrace challenges with optimism and advocate for the pelvic health movement.
Pelvic health might not be the usual topic of conversation at your dinner table, but after hearing our latest guest, a pelvic health specialist, unravel the complexities of pregnancy and postpartum challenges, you'll understand why it should be. This episode is a treasure trove of insights into the silent struggles many endure, such as urinary incontinence and chronic pain, and how targeted physical therapy can offer relief. Forget the one-size-fits-all advice; we're going beyond Kegels to reveal how personalized care can dramatically enhance quality of life.
As we navigate the journey from conception through postpartum, we unveil the power of proactive health measures and the revolutionary world of virtual physical therapy. You'll hear firsthand about the seamless shift to effective online platforms that deliver results right from your living room. Plus, get an exclusive look at the entrepreneurial spirit fueling a fitness program designed for new parents eager to safely return to high-intensity workouts and how it's carving a path in the wellness industry with strategic partnerships and a community-focused approach.
Ending on a note of empowerment, we advocate for more comprehensive pelvic health education and maintaining a positive mindset through life's rollercoaster. Our guest's infectious dedication to pelvic health physical therapy and their personal narrative offers not just hope, but a call to action for better care standards. Whether you're a new parent, a health enthusiast, or an entrepreneur, this conversation will inspire you to embrace challenges with optimism and advocate for the pelvic health movement.
So, yeah, anything in the pelvis region I treat. So anything related to bladder bowels, abdomen, pregnancy, postpartum sexual dysfunction, that is my bread and butter, that is what I treat, and so I will see people. I mean I see even kids sometimes. So I'll see people as young as a couple years old the oldest patient I've ever had, I think it was 96, but primarily I'm working with people now who are in this pregnancy and new postpartum stage, who like to stay active, they wanna run, they want to go to workout classes, they wanna stay active and keep up with their kids without having all of the problems that we hear Our moms and our grandmas and our aunts complaining about, like peeing your pants Or-.
Speaker 2:What kind of words is it like? Random peeing in your pants?
Speaker 1:Yep, exactly, Yep peeing your pants, or like pain with sex, or just like chronic low back pain. I mean, I don't know how many parents complain about having back pain from just taking care of their kids, and so the people I work with are like no, I don't wanna live my life like that. I want to stay active. I wanna keep up with all of the activities. I wanna be the strongest version of myself, stronger than I've ever been, and-. And that all comes back to the pelvis, yeah.
Speaker 2:What got you interested in that?
Speaker 1:That's a great question. I think there were a lot of things along the way that just led me into this world of pelvic health. So, for me, I grew up an athlete. I did dance, I did gymnastics, I did cheerleading, I ran track and I experienced pelvic floor dysfunction myself. So, having never had babies before, I was peeing my pants while tumbling or sprinting and I was like this is weird.
Speaker 2:Can I just tell you how much I love, how honest you are about all of it Like and you don't even like bat an eye. Or like I was peeing my pants while I was tumbling.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because most people right, they would be like um well, there's something that happened. You're like did you pee your pants?
Speaker 1:Yes, Sorry, I just had to like inject and say I love how continue.
Speaker 1:Yes, I will say it took a lot to get there, definitely Because I grew up in a culture, in a family that was like very conservative and very religious and so, like, talking about that kind of stuff was not the norm. But now, doing what I do, it's like, yeah, it's just part of normal conversation and it should be Exactly. And if we normalize that conversation, then more people can understand when it is necessary to seek help and that, first of all, you don't have to pee your pants so you don't have to experience these issues. You know, whether you've had a baby or not, yeah, I think a lot of times people prior to pregnancy they're like, oh, something's up, like that's weird. You know, I've never had a baby before and I'm peeing my pants while sprinting. That's an issue, and so that's how I started to dive down into that route.
Speaker 1:But I think a lot of people who have had babies have just been told like that's what happens, or you're just going, that's what happens, you're going to experience that Life has changed now. Now, you will be, and so that's kind of as far as they go A lot of times because they don't know that other options exist. But these doctors, specifically, that will. Yeah, sometimes you'll ask your OB about it and they're kind of like, well, that's the price you pay for having a baby, Like I've literally had patients tell me that, that their OB told them that. Or sometimes they'll ask their doctor about it and they'll say, ok, just do kegels and try that for a few months and if it doesn't get better then how about this one little machine things where you sit on it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, no, ok. So I like to look at everything from a functional perspective. And so I mean, I guess, if you were having issues with sitting, maybe, but chances are getting a machine to activate your muscles for you while sitting is probably not going to translate very well into being able to jump on the trampoline with your kids or run after your kids. The muscles aren't working in the same way, got it With those machines. So, again, we like to look at everything from a functional perspective and what is going on. But, yeah, there were a lot of things that just led me down this path.
Speaker 1:So my own experience, and then my sister during her first pregnancy, had a ton of pain and she had no idea what was going on. She kept going to the emergency room and, of course she's pregnant. So they're like well, I can't give you anything, we don't really know what to do. And finally, someone was like I think you should see a physical therapist, I think a physical therapist might be able to help you with this. And she was referred to one who specialized in pelvic health and pregnancy and postpartum, and it was like she stood up in the waiting room and they were like oh, we can see what's wrong with your pelvis right now, and they were able to kind of address that and fix that, teach her different strategies and she went through the rest of that pregnancy Like she had to move houses in that time and was good, didn't have any more pain and had three more pregnancies and was able to manage that and never get back to that level of pain or discomfort again.
Speaker 2:So does this coincide with pain that comes, like most people will say, go to the car refractor? Is that similar? Because an anola, just yes, is it the same thing? Similar? Yeah, good question. So I would say that was me. I was in so much pain, like when I was pregnant. I was also like 80 pound pregnancies for, like you know, five pound baby, but but yeah, so much pain and that's the car refractor, but it didn't necessarily Right, and so I guess it depends, of course, like what is going on.
Speaker 1:I'm typically looking at things and when I see people dealing with pain, usually it's a combination of maybe there's an alignment issue, but there's also a muscle activation issue or there's a compensation happening. The way that you're moving or you're doing something is causing things to not be happy, and so, yes, we can go to the car refractor and I love car refractors and they are so helpful in our treatment but we also need things to kind of follow up and reinforce and, like I said, it's we want to look at everything from a functional perspective and so if we go to someone for, even if it's PT, one hour a week and then you do nothing outside of that, we're probably not going to get pretty good. We're like we're just not going to get good results. Yeah, so, yeah, from like a pregnancy perspective, the pain that I see people experiencing whether that's like back pain or hip pain or just like pain with rolling or maybe it's that pubic synthesis, like in the front of your pelvis feels like you got kicked in the crotch, kind of pain.
Speaker 1:We deal with all of that and we teach you different strategies. And how can you manage that? How can you actually get into a more comfortable position? How can you go through pregnancy without pain? Because that's actually very possible. It's so possible. I just had a baby almost eight months ago, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Congratulations, thank you, and it was like because again first pregnancy, I was like, okay, I've been telling people this whole time, you know what?
Speaker 1:a reaction that you can go through pregnancy without pain and that you can do all of these things. So let's prove it to myself and you really can. Like I felt good during pregnancy, but I also put in quite a bit of work in terms of making sure I was staying active and mobile and kind of working the right muscles and making sure that I had good support for my body and was like really viewing it from again this like PT doctor perspective yeah yeah, versus like okay, I'm just gonna kind of do what my body wants to do. I was very intentional about the work that I was doing and so, again, if you run into pain or discomfort, we can address that. We can make that so much better. So what is PT?
Speaker 2:For people that have never been to PT. They have no idea. Yes, talked about chiropractic. Yeah, not bone.
Speaker 1:but that yeah. So, chiropractor, it's like I mean. They call it like adjusting the nervous system. Okay, I just say like snap crackle pop.
Speaker 2:They hate when I say that, though, correct, correct.
Speaker 1:So physical therapy is going to be the profession that looks at the way that you move and function, and so we are all about optimizing movement, decreasing pain, improving your function, improving, basically, how long you live your life, and so we view that from a lot of different lenses. So we're gonna view it from a movement perspective, in terms of exercise and stretches and mobility, and do you have restrictions in the way that your body is moving? Do you have, you know, tight hips or a tight back, or tension that you're holding in some of these areas that we then need to address, whether that's through, maybe, some hands on manual therapy, or, again, we teach you different stretches or exercises, but really, what we do with the basis of physical therapy is we teach you how to move better, and how can we teach you how to move your body in a way that decreases pain, that improves performance, that makes you, like I said, live longer and feel better throughout your life?
Speaker 2:So I didn't know people could teach you how to move better.
Speaker 1:Yes, right, yes, yeah. And so that is what I do. And, from a pelvic health perspective, I teach you how to move better so you can stop peeing your pants, you don't again, you don't have pelvic pain, you can have a really great pregnancy. I was telling someone the other day, like you can have really good postpartum sex too, and like that's what I get to teach people to do all of the time.
Speaker 2:It's so fun, it's so high-tech and nice and I love it. Yes, Do you have an Instagram YouTube? I do, I do, I can say I hope you definitely share all these like little tips and like your passion and energy, because I can feel it in this room. Yes, you've got so much passion.
Speaker 1:Yes, Absolutely, and so you have your own business. We do, yeah, we do. We do a high-run a business together. It's called Virtual Physio, and so he actually started it in 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. What?
Speaker 2:did he do before that?
Speaker 1:He was also a physical therapist, okay, and so he was working in a clinic and the whole world shut down and people really couldn't access physical therapy, which kind of is a big deal because, like I said, we're teaching people how to move better, how to decrease pain, how to live longer, and the longer you wait to access PT services, the longer it's going to take to address that issue. And usually especially what we saw at the beginning of the pandemic when things shut down people were in really bad shape by the time they got to us because they had delayed care or delayed getting help for so long because nothing was open in person. And so he decided to create a business that was all virtual at the time and offer PT services in a virtual capacity. And people laughed at us. They thought that was absolutely insane and crazy. And how could you offer physical therapy online? And it really took off. People started realizing how beneficial it was and how much we could actually teach people and empower people with the tools. And we can actually again, I can teach you how to move better, how to use your body better, regardless of whether we are in the same room or you are in a different part of the world. So that's really the cool thing about what we do in our education it's not the power, is not in our hands. The power is in our brains, in the way that we can teach you how to again live your life better, move, better, find ways that work specifically for you.
Speaker 1:And so he started this business primarily all virtual trying to help people get out of pain and deal with back pain, neck pain, things like that that a lot of people were experiencing at the height of the pandemic and, like I said, we saw great success. And so at the time I was training in pelvic health and really, really loving it and I was like I think we can do the same thing from a pelvic health perspective. In fact, I think we can do it even better, like I think we can address these issues of leakage and healing postpartum and preparing through pregnancy for birth and postpartum. I think we can do it virtually as well. And people started getting even faster results going through the virtual aspect, which I thought was like why? What do you think that is?
Speaker 1:I think it was just the because again, like if you're going to PT traditional PT in the sense it's usually you go at least the way that we do it. It's like, okay, you're with your PT for an hour and maybe you see them once a week or every other week, so it's not a lot of time like one on one with that person versus what we were offering online gave you much more access to your PT, like to kind of pick our brains to brainstorm things to say, hey, this is going on. But it also gave us access to really look at how you were living your life. What were you doing from the more, basically, the moment you woke up to when you ended your day? How could we make sure that you got your exercises in? How could we make sure that you were, you know, drinking your water or making time for stress management or, you know, practicing these different things that we had talked about, so that it really integrated and it just became part of your lifestyle, so that these results stuck.
Speaker 2:Were you like, show me your bed and how you get up in the morning.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And I had people like, for instance, I had someone she was like I'm having leakage when I stand on the Peloton. So okay, great, let's get on the Peloton and let's figure out what's going on. And we talked through different strategies and now she's got those skills and that knowledge for every Peloton ride for the rest of her life to not leak, yeah, because it's not like you had a Peloton us.
Speaker 2:so in your space where? You're like or if somebody was like yeah, I get on my bed. Like this, I get here on the bed. Let's show you how.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So we started offering, like I said, virtual pelvic health services and people again started getting better, faster, and it was cool to see. And then, like I said, I had a baby almost eight months ago and we decided, okay, what else do we want to do? I was working in a in another clinic like full time and then helping him as kind of like a side job for me while it was his full time job and we said, okay, like let's, let's just go all in on this. It's really working and I think if we devote all of our time and energy, people, people will feed off of that right, like again, you can see how passionate I am about this.
Speaker 1:I can and I love it, and so that's that's what we did. I was like, all right, we're going to have a baby and we're just going to go all in and we're going to, we're just going to do this and we're going to make it work, and so we started offering more in person services for people in Loudoun County and Fairfax County, so that way, they have some of the hands on aspects to really kind of work on whether that's like manual restrictions, or they want to have their partners come in and learn some of the hands on techniques that we do. Our job really, though, is to empower them with the tools, whether they were seeing them in person or we're seeing them virtually. I want to empower you with the tools, the knowledge. I want you to know what's going on with your body, and I want you to understand how you are going to address it when I'm not there.
Speaker 2:So do you guys do like membership, or how does it work? Because it's online. Yes, yes, so a lot of it.
Speaker 1:Some of it's online, right. So, yeah, I guess that's a great way to put it. Yeah, we do have membership options available, like a monthly membership option, and then we also do specific programs. So our signature program is our postpartum performance program. So this is for individuals who are relatively newly postpartum or dealing with issues still from having a baby. They want to address those and they want to get back to that higher level of activity. So the individuals who are completing this program are typically ones who are getting back to like they're running 10 milers or you know they're, they're lifting at CrossFit, they're going to Orange Theory or you know your higher level fitness classes, and so it's really about bridging that gap. From here's postpartum rehab, here's what you were doing previously.
Speaker 2:How do we make sure? Yeah, how do we get you there?
Speaker 1:and then make sure you don't get hurt or run into issues In the interim, because I think people hit six weeks postpartum and they're like great, I feel good, yes, go. It's like ready, set, go. And you run and you hit I don't know, six months postpartum and people feel terrible because they're doing all of these things and their body is not ready and they haven't had the time to actually recover and rehab in a way that is intentional. And so, again, we can bypass a lot of that and prevent a lot of that by just kind of doing some intentional work from the beginning. Yeah, bridge that gap, get people back to those higher level activities.
Speaker 2:So how are you currently finding clients Like how are you in business growth mode? Because you said 2020 is when you guys opened right or started this.
Speaker 1:Yes, and then earlier this year is when we went like all in All, I would say all of it is either word of mouth or social media, and so You're going to make a recommendation yes, please, I feel like you guys could be partnering with the chiropractors. Oh, we are Okay.
Speaker 2:I was going to say because I would have loved this recommendation. Yes, you know right from that, because my chiropractors, like here, go see this massage therapist Great, but it'd be also nice to have like you guys as part of the treatment plan yes, exactly.
Speaker 1:So yeah, we've partnered with a lot of the local chiropractors in the area, a lot of doulas, midwives in the area, to really make sure everyone is aware of these services.
Speaker 2:And with the online you can like.
Speaker 1:doesn't have to just read this area, right, it doesn't Sorry to no, I know, yeah, exactly, and so we do have referrals and people that we've connected with outside of that community as well, and so, yeah, it's very interesting With the virtual piece.
Speaker 2:it's like you can really expand and I've been to maybe four or five chiropractors and none of them have ever recommended PT. Honestly, I think it's PT that I need Like. I think it's PT, I don't think it's just adjustments.
Speaker 1:Yes, physical therapists talk about this a lot. We have a big identity crisis in the sense that no one knows what we do.
Speaker 2:The public is not that's why I literally asked you. I was trying to make it seem like it was really what it was for me.
Speaker 1:No, we are very aware the public has no idea what physical therapists do and the benefits that we can have, and there's like so I mean, there's so many different aspects and specialties of PT, like across the age, span, across different like conditions, like pelvic health is just one of them, but that is one most people, I would say, are not very familiar with and they have no idea that we can kind of address these issues or like, really we are the people if you're dealing with pain, especially for an extended period of time, we are the people that you should be working with, because we're the ones who are trained to deal with chronic pain, who are going to look at everything and we're going to spend a good amount of time with you too. I think that's the difference between, like you go to your primary care or you see maybe a specialist, especially if you're using your insurance, and maybe you get like 15 minutes with that doctor. So it's like sometimes they don't have a lot of time to explain what's going on, or it's very much like okay, here's what I think it is like here's a prescription, or go do this and like I'll see you in six to eight weeks, but like, how much did they really get to know, again, what's going on in your day to day life? What if you're dealing with back pain again? You've got two kids at home and they're like, okay, great, you need to go do all of these things. And you're like, why don't have child care? Like my husband is always working or traveling so I'm going to have to bring my kids with me, but my kids can't come to these appointments. So like, what good is that recommendation if you can't actually go and follow through? Right? And so it's like people will give recommendations or say things and they don't even know what they're actually fitting with their lifestyle. Yes, exactly. And so that's kind of the benefit to physical therapists is we're working with someone who has the time it's not just PTs, but someone who has the time to really get to know you and get to know your life is we're going to be able to provide so much, so many better recommendations as to what you can do and how you can really change things long term if we know what's going on.
Speaker 1:So, and that's why, again, I love the virtual aspect to get into people's homes and see things, because, like people have described to me or told me they're like, okay, this is how I pick up my baby, or, you know, this is how I put them into the crib. And then I like remember a very specific incident with this where someone was telling me how she put her baby into the crib and she was experiencing a ton of back pain. And so she's describing it to me. And describing it to me, and what I'm picturing in my mind is very different from what she shows me. So, luckily, I had asked her.
Speaker 1:I was like, okay, well, show me, like go, we're on virtual. And I was like, go get your baby and put your baby in the crib. And I was like, first of all, that is very different than what I was picturing in my head and, second of all, like I can totally see why you have pain now. And the recommendation that I was able to give her was very different, again, than the recommendation I would have given her based off of what she was describing. So, again, getting the time and the ability to see people in their day to day routine and getting to know like what is going on is how we make sure that people are not only getting better, but getting better and staying better.
Speaker 2:That's great. I love that. Yeah, I love that. That's so exciting as I'm sitting here in back pain.
Speaker 1:I know, I know that's like 90% of people experience back pain, yeah, at some point in their life.
Speaker 2:I believe it. Yeah, for me it was when I was and I was pregnant with my first daughter gotten a re-rendered accident and there was like not a lot, I guess, a lawsuit. So I ended up getting paid like next to nothing after they did all the lawyer fees and all this stuff right, but the pain went away, Like it's always been in my neck, like down to my back. It's gotten worse and better, like during different periods of time. 16 years ago to like help yes, that's a long time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's crazy. And then it's like we know too from the research the longer that you're experiencing pain, the more that your brain actually starts to change. So we start to see changes around three months If you're experiencing pain, in the signals that are being sent, in the pathways they go through and the way that the brain interprets that starts to change and we get what's called smudging on the brain. I'm like here's this whole like scientific background.
Speaker 2:I love it that you give it to me.
Speaker 1:No, I love it, but we get what's called smudging on the brain. Smudge continuum, yes, and so if you think about it, like, think of a stain that you have and you're trying to wipe it, and all of a sudden it's spread everywhere, right? So that little pain that you had is now this widespread area that your brain has a really hard time understanding what's going on. And so part of what we do and this is kind of in the PT world, but part of what we do is we have to, like, clean the brain, unsmudge yes, we have to unsmudge the brain and we have to teach the brain basically how to rewire, or how to understand better what signals are true and what signals are being sent, because the brain still thinks that the issue hasn't been resolved, and so it's like it's so fascinating when you go into the pain, science of it.
Speaker 1:But yeah, we get what's called smudging on the brain. So the longer you deal with pain, the more smudged it is so.
Speaker 2:it's been 16 years, so it's been really smudged.
Speaker 1:So we can. But yeah, you just clean it up. I always tell people like you've been dealing with it for 16 years or six years or however many years or months, whatever, like it's going to take us less time than that to fix it. That's a plus. Yes, that's a benefit there, definitely.
Speaker 2:So looking into the future, for so it's called virtual physio. Yes, I'm going to say that correctly. How do you see your business looking in the next five, 10 years?
Speaker 1:We have so many thoughts and goals and ideas. So obviously we want to just continue to expand. We want to help as many people as possible, and I think part of it is just making people aware of what we do and how we can help, and so things like this, where we get to talk about what we do and how we can help people, are just so beneficial for the general public to understand. So, yeah, we just I mean we want to expand, really hype up the virtual aspect and let people know that they can get these results regardless of where they are in the world. It doesn't have to be specific to your local community, because I get people reaching out all the time and they're like I wish I could work with you, but I live here and I'm like you can totally still work with me, like absolutely, and so that's our goal for the next five to 10 years is just continue to expand.
Speaker 1:How can we offer more in terms of the virtual aspect and how can we increase access to PT and public health services and education, because so many people, like you said, they just don't even know about it, and so there's so much, so, so, so much that we can still do, and so that is our goal, I would say, for the next five to 10 years is just expand, help as many people, serve as many people, and then education I think is huge Education and then also just teach other PT's.
Speaker 1:Like how can you do this? Because, really, like if it's just me and my husband or even if we have a couple people helping us, like we can only impact franchise, yeah, but we can only impact so many people then, so it's like you have to train other people on how they can offer these services or how they can start to increase access, because it needs to be like a global effort and needs to be a community effort in terms of increasing access. I don't think there is an abundance of pelvic PT's by any means. I agree Like we need so, so, so many more, and we need so much more in terms of diversity too, and so just increasing that education, that awareness, and also training other individuals on what they can do.
Speaker 2:Sorry, what I was asking is that? So who are you outside of your passion for your business? And then it sounds like I'll see your new mom.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah. So that, I would say, is probably my newest identity, is new mom and adjusting to having, I guess, almost an eight month old now, which is like crazy, crazy to think about how fast it all goes by. So that is definitely. One of my passions is being a mom, which I've always said I wanted to be a mom, but now that I am one, I think it's just a whole other level of passion and also understanding for the people that I work with and the empathy I have towards individuals and the struggles of being a mom too, like the hard.
Speaker 2:Yes it is yes.
Speaker 1:Even if people make it look easy because I get that feedback a lot too I feel like you make it look so easy I'm like you have no idea, no idea what's going on in my brain. But that, I would say, is probably my newest personality. Outside of that, like, I love to just be active, I love to lift weights, I love to do yoga, love to hang out with our mom friends and I'm a big advocate for just a community involvement and kind of giving back to the community in whatever way that that looks like. So I think I had mentioned to you earlier one of the locations that we have is at what's called the Body Birth and Baby Center, which is just down the street from where we are now, and they do a ton of community events and just looking to again engage different moms in the area or families in the area, just because I think COVID especially has made things very isolating.
Speaker 1:It's very hard to meet individuals, it's very hard to connect with people, and so what we're trying to do is kind of bring it back to the community and give people the opportunity to interact and engage with other individuals who are experiencing similar struggles or similar things. You go to an event and you talk to someone and you're like someone else's baby doing this and everyone is like, oh yeah. And you're like, oh, thank goodness, I thought it was just me, and so it's a great opportunity again to be involved in the community and Give back in a way where you just get to connect with other individuals. So that's what I love to do outside of running a business, but it all kind of blends together.
Speaker 2:I feel like it's hard to separate the things I do and I will say, being a pelvic PT, people ask me questions about their pelvic floor, like all times, at all times, and you're such an easy, approachable person to I try to be, so that's like I try to be in the way that you talk about it. Yeah you're so open, it's like, oh, I can actually talk to her without feeling like weird.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I think a lot of that comes to from just my own experience and like growing up I was very shy about these topics and like Would never, ever, in a million years, like you would have never caught me talking about leakage or pooping or sex like on a public forum, and now that's like all I do, yeah. So it's just really funny to kind of see me come full circle, but to also know that it took like a lot, of, a lot of work to get there and a lot of what I call like Grated exposure. I remember just trying to listen to Podcasts about different things in terms of, like, pelvic health and women's menstrual health, just to get comfortable hearing the terms that way you could say them.
Speaker 2:Yes exactly.
Speaker 1:So then you can say them right, right, exactly. And so it's like let's normalize saying the word vagina as we normalize saying knee or shoulder, like we can normalize that, yeah. But I think again, so much of us to grew up Conditioned to not talk about those things which what we've seen is if you don't talk about them, it doesn't lead to less issues, it just leads to less people getting help for these issues. Yeah and so, yeah, took a lot of work myself.
Speaker 2:I love that you're trying to make narrative yeah feeling comfortable, but definitely having a daughter myself.
Speaker 1:Now I'm like, oh my gosh, we are gonna teach her everything and I bring her because we run our own business, like I bring her to a lot of sessions or you'll see her on calls with me if we're virtual she's like chubby.
Speaker 2:I haven't seen pictures.
Speaker 1:No, I mean she's got some nice chubby cheese and some chubby legs. Yeah, that's a good age. Yeah, she's just super smiling, cute. But yeah, you'll see her at sessions and we'll include her in sessions and she's there here. I mean, obviously she's eight months, so like she doesn't really understand what we're saying. But we talk about all the things and I asked people you know about their, their bladder and their bowels and their sexual health in front Of her, and we talk about things and like there's no filtering or censoring and I mean they're probably won't be yeah, growing up good for her right, because it's just like I want her to understand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that like the. This is what pelvic floor issues look, like this is what's normal.
Speaker 2:You realize she's gonna be the seven-year-old kid. He is gonna tell all her friends about all these things.
Speaker 1:I can't wait, I'm so excited and the parents are gonna come to me and be like what is your dad, what is your child doing?
Speaker 2:She's only a little associate.
Speaker 1:Yes, she's exactly my groundwork right, but at least I mean, this is what I envision. At least she's giving her friends the accurate information. Yes, like Right, that's what I'm saying this knowledge needs to happen actually at a younger age.
Speaker 2:That way we don't become 16, 20, 30 years old like squealing at the word exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I had this conversation with someone yesterday and we were talking about Just growing up with good pelvic health, because she's got a two and a half year old who's dealing with constipation and has been for basically the last two years and I was like, oh, I can actually help with that as a pelvic PT. And she was like I had no idea. And so we started talking about all of these things and she was like, wait, you're telling me there are like different habits or things that we could do like early on that could prevent our kids, or like that our parents could have done that prevented us from having all of these issues.
Speaker 1:Yes, ma'am, yes. And she was like well, you do a class on this, we do a class for parents on like how to raise your kids with better pelvic health, or like optimal pelvic health. And here are like Things you need to kind of take into consideration, like what's normal and what's not normal and what are habits that we're instilling in our kids. Like this is a really common one, and I'm sure maybe your mom did the same thing, but, like, every time we left the house as a kid, my mom would tell us to go to the bathroom. Even if you didn't have to go, go to the bathroom, just try anyway, and we know that that leads to bladder issues and pelvic floor dysfunction.
Speaker 1:And so yes, and most people don't. I still tell my kids go to the Exactly, exactly, and so I get a whole generation, telling them To not trust when they have to go to the bathroom and to always go, and that contributes to a lot of issues down the road. So anyway, I'm like, yes, there are lots of people who are now realizing hearing about pelvic health. They're like, wait, we should. We should be learning about this stuff like when we're younger. Yeah, I'm like yes, yes, this should just be like basic health education.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just included in the curriculum. Everyone learns that. For adults Too. Yes, absolutely, Especially for the adults. Yes, we never got it.
Speaker 1:And Exactly if we go to school for that exactly. So we're gonna change the narrative, everyone's. We're gonna make people have healthy pelvic floors. Because you look at the statistics too. I had someone last week telling me about like prolapse and you know issues with having to get surgery and I was like okay, but that was a whole generation that didn't lift weights, that Like didn't know anything about their pelvic floors, that didn't have access to therapy, and they went 50, 60 years with issues like of course they're gonna need surgery at this point, like we are now intercepting 40 years earlier In terms of when people are getting help. So I'm hoping we see this in terms of Like surgeries and yeah, but like the goal is if we again intercept right when people have babies, as opposed to waiting until they're 60, 70, 80 years old, yeah, we don't need surgery and you also have a great life. You save yourself suffering in the yes, you save yourself so much time and energy and issues and underwear and underwear and pads and All the things exactly.
Speaker 2:Uh, just to wrap it up, what's one piece of advice you would give the world?
Speaker 1:Oh, man, that is like so broad. Um, I think if I had to say anything or like any piece of advice, it would just be to honestly to stay positive. Like I know there's a lot of toxic positivity in the world, um, there's also a lot of toxic negativity and I think, wait what's?
Speaker 2:toxic negativity. I never heard talk, I just heard negativity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess I'm just thinking people who are like chronically negative and just like, okay, like oh my gosh, can you ever say anything positive? Um, but honestly, if we can look at things from a positive lens, or if we can spin things into a positive lens, even the worst situations that we are in, we can start to take accountability and actually make changes for the better. And so, as hard as it is to do sometimes, if we can kind of look at things from the positive, I think we'll find ourselves in a much better place. And so I look back at 2023 especially and that was kind of my mantra and just like come on, lindsay, just stay positive. Like things are gonna work out 2023, this past year.
Speaker 1:Yes, this was like my big thing for 2023.
Speaker 1:I mean, I've always kind of been a more positive person, but 2023, especially as we- went through, did something happen specifically, I think, just going through this huge change of like being a mom, yeah, going, yeah, becoming a mom, and like knowing we were gonna go all in in our business and like we kind of had to make it work, my husband was very worried and I was like, think, if I just stay positive, it'll catch. Yeah, yes, and people again, people feed off of that and they want that too. They see that and they see what you can do.
Speaker 2:I'll have what she's having.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and so that, I think, is one of the biggest things that can help you be successful with your life, change your life. If you're a mom dealing with leakage, like let's view this from a different lens and now we're going to find ways to take action and actually fix this and think about how much better of a mom you're gonna be and the way that you're gonna be able to provide for your kids and your spouse and your job and do all the things that you wanna do because of that. So that's my piece of advice is, find the positive thing.
Speaker 2:My last question yes, do you take anything for this level of energy? No, okay, but really.
Speaker 1:I think just I mean, I had some coffee this morning, but I think this is just like you find your passion, yeah, and like this is just how I am talking about pelvic health all the time.
Speaker 1:Absolutely love it. Yes, I mean, I love what I do and I love the people that I can help and I think, just seeing the change I've been in this world for four years now and so I think, just seeing how literally life changing if I had to describe pelvic health PT, life changing it is for individuals like you would have this passion too.
Speaker 2:So I love your energy. Thank you so much for being on the show, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me.