The “Just Do Kegels” Myth Might Be Harming Your Pelvic Floor with Dr. Lisa Kelly

Pelvic health is one of the most important  and often overlooked aspects of women’s health.

Many are told that bladder leaks, pelvic pressure, or discomfort during exercise are simply part of aging, pregnancy, or menopause. But the truth is, these symptoms are common and they are also treatable.

In this episode, I sit down with Lisa Kelly, Doctor of Physical Therapy and pelvic health specialist to explore how the pelvic floor connects to strength, breath, movement, and long-term mobility.

We unpack some of the biggest myths about pelvic health — including why “just do Kegels” is often the wrong advice — and discuss how proper breathing, core coordination can support pelvic floor function at every stage of life.

Dr. Kelly shares how pelvic health changes across the lifespan, from pregnancy and postpartum to menopause and beyond, and why early awareness and proper support can make a profound difference in quality of life.

If you’ve ever experienced leakage during workouts, pelvic pressure, core weakness, or unexplained back or hip pain, this episode will help you better understand what may be happening in your body — and what you can do about it.

Connect: 

• Learn more about Dr. Lisa Kelly on her website 
• Wave Physical Therapy and Pilates 
• Instagram @anchorwellnesscincy

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Transcript

Today's guest is Dr. Lisa Kelly, a doctor of physical therapy and a pelvic health specialist. With Wave Physical Therapy at Anchor Wellness Center in Cincinnati, her work focuses on helping people restore function, confidence, and quality of life through a whole person approach to movement and rehabilitation.

Dr. Kelly is especially passionate about advancing pelvic health education. Across the lifespan from pregnancy to postpartum recovery to menopause and pelvic pain care, while also increasing awareness of prevention strategies and support for people navigating conditions like prostate cancer recovery.

What really stands out about her approach is the emphasis on trust, meeting patients where they're at, and creating care that honors both the physical and emotional aspects of healing. In this conversation, we're exploring how pelvic health connects to movement, strength, breath, and independence as we age, and why understanding this part of the body can change how we experience our health at every stage of life.

Dr. Kelly, I am so glad you're here. Welcome to the show. 

Thank you so much for having me.

So I'm really excited to dig into the conversation because pelvic health is one of those topics that affect so many areas of our lives. Yet most of us were never actually taught how it works. Or why it matters. And what I love about your work is how you help people see the pelvic floor, not as an isolated body part, but as something deeply connected to movement, breath, strength, and of course confidence in the body.

 So Dr. Kelly, please start us off in a grounded place for listeners who may be completely new to this topic. When people hear the term pelvic floor therapy, they often assume it's only relevant during pregnancy or postpartum. How would you define pelvic health in a broader lifespan context? 

Okay, so talking about pelvic floor health, especially when we're looking at health in general along the lifespan, our pelvic floor applies to everyone. Everyone has a pelvic floor and at different stages of life, our pelvic floor can respond differently to us, especially as hormones change as we age, hormones change as we go through a pregnancy and postpartum stage.

As collagen changes as we age later on in life, there's gonna be changes that happen to muscles. And our pelvic floor is just that they are muscles just like we have in the rest of our body. So when we're talking about the pelvic floor, they really are muscles like we have on our arms and our legs and how they support our functions and our mobility is gonna be just as well as there our bicep supports our arm. 

So our pelvic floor muscles are responsible for supporting our, our bladder, our bowel, and our sexual health. And all of that is going to continue through the lifespan, no matter how old we get. Those are all still really important functions to support our quality of life.

 Our longevity. in terms of bladder control too, bowel control. If we start having dysfunctions in those areas, then sometimes quality of life can decrease and that can affect our overall wellbeing and health 

 And what are some of the biggest misconceptions that you see about pelvic health? 

I think the big one is that Kegels fix everything.

Ah,  and for those that might not know what a Kegel is, a Kegel is a contraction of our pelvic floor and a relaxation. But I think it's the relaxation component that a lot of people forget about, and everyone's very focused. A lot of times when you hear Kegel on the contraction and the strength. But our relaxation and our ability to relax our pelvic floor muscles is equally, if not sometimes more important than the strength and turning those muscles on.

We need to be able to turn them off and relax them, and that can lead to different pain. Factors in pelvic floor and pelvic health, when there is difficulty relaxing those muscles as well as bladder and bowel dysfunction. 

I never heard about that before. Dr. Kelly. Interesting. When you put it in, in the context of a bicep supports the arm, and we think about when we're contracting the bicep muscle to do like a hammer curl, a bicep curl.

Of course, there is a tension in the muscle. But then we have to fully extend the arm and relax it because we're not going around all day long doing bicep curls or in that bent arm position as in like carrying something. 

So exactly, the arms relax by our side. So this is the same kind of concept you're trying to say then like we have to allow that pelvic floor just to take a breather.

Like you don't have to keep carrying the load. 

Exactly, and, and even more than the bicep analogy, I even really love like a trampoline analogy because our pelvic floor tends to take on a lot of those load forces when we're upright and weight bearing versus our. Bicep at our side. Those muscles need to kind of be able to recoil, like a trampoline, like move up and down and being a part of our deep core system connected to our breathing, which we can talk more about.

Yeah. That system of moving up and down is what we really need to get that length versus tension relationship and coordination. 

So let's describe, first of all, we're gonna take it right back so the listeners have a visual. What exactly does the pelvic floor look like? What is its size relative to the bladder, and where does it sit?

So we have a visual concept of this muscle in relation to the rest of the area, in our, in our bladder, in our vaginal area. 

Yes. 

And just give it a concept of just the. Perceived load that this one item is bearing in relation to everything around it. 

So our pelvic floor muscles are going to run if you, well, let's back up for one second.

And if we start with thinking about the pelvis itself, the bony pelvis as a bowl. 

Yeah, uh, you're gonna have this, this bowl, and at the bottom it's all open. So our pelvic floor muscles are the support system there, and they're gonna run from our pubic bone in the front of the pelvis all the way to the back to our tailbone.

Then they also run side to side. So think of those bones that you sit on, your sit bone to your sit bone. So they are covering that whole bottom part of the pelvis from front to back and side to side, supporting everything that sits inside the pelvic bowl, which would be our bladder, uterus, rectum, 

Uhhuh.

and these muscles are the base underneath all of that, kind of keeping everything inside that bowl.

So literally the foundation, for lack of a better terminology, the foundation. Let's talk about then, when it weakens with age related issues with pregnancy. 'cause I'm going to admit right now after I had my daughter. My pelvic floor was never the same, and I worked with a physiotherapist and, and we'll get into this, but it wasn't until I started weight bearing exercises and resistance training that I got the best results.

Yeah. So let's talk about what happens then. Why does it weaken and what can we do about it? 

Right. Well, I think there's a lot of factors that play into the weakening of the muscles. You know, with pregnancy specifically as we're talking, there's hormonal changes. You know, the elastin and things that create the ligament laxity.

there's the weight of the baby growing, which is putting pressure on pelvic floor. There is the body changes that are happening that impacts the way that our muscle support and carry the baby, but also our body. And there's changes because of that to the rib cage and.

How our diaphragm then is able to move because the rib cage is expanding in order to make room. So we talked a little bit about how pelvic floor and breathing are connected, um, with that tension coordination connection, and a lot of that's. Starts at that pregnancy stage when ribcage expands abdominals are lengthening to make room for baby.

 And that is all part of that deep core system. 

You mentioned the abdominal muscles and how they grow and change 

Mm-hmm. what is the relationship between the pelvic floor as part of this, like the entire system in that core, 

And then is there a direct correlation between diastasis with the pelvic floor, or how does that Definitely 

So, uh, when we talk about deep core, at the very top is gonna be our breathing muscle, the diaphragm. Pelvic floor is at the bottom. So in the middle we have abdominals in the front, and then we have our spinal stabilizers in the back.

So that creates kind of this canister. So if you think there's a top, a bottom, a front and a back, and then it goes all the way around our body. That is our deep core system there. So all of those things need to work in sync in order for them to best function. Now, can they still function if we're out of sync?

Sure, but probably not to the best of their ability, and that's when we can start to see some dysfunction occur. And so things like diastasis, which is a separation of the abdominals. It creates a separation that weakens the abdominal wall. So if you think of a rubber band that gets fully stretched in the middle, that rubber band is really taut when you pull it tight.

Okay? So in pregnancy, those abdominals, they're separating. That rubber band is getting tight. And then after delivery, you still have that rubber band there. But there's a lot of looseness in the middle. 

Yeah.

Okay. 

And so that is called the the linea alba, which is holding the abdominal muscles together. And that connective tissue takes a lot of time to remodel and build and get taut again, So to make that rubber band not loose in the middle, but to tighten back down. so our deep core becomes the support system.

In that space. And if those muscles aren't turning on, then we can have more risk of pressure in that middle area where the connective tissue is now really lax and that increases more risk of, like an umbilical hernia or things like that if our pressure isn't managed well. 

So. With the weakening of the core muscles because of pregnancy and diastasis? Is that the right pronunciation? I said diastasis. 

You know, I think it's like a tomato, tomato kind of term. Um, I think either is is acceptable. Like Kegel or Kegel. 

Perfect. 

So, back to the core muscles. Now often we think, okay, I've had a baby, I've got this, loosening. and we think we've gotta just do more ab workouts, 

Mm-hmm. 

We want that nice flat six pack again before pregnancy 

But at the same time, we are probably doing the wrong thing. I would imagine because of that continuous strain on the pelvic floor, like your example with the giggles. We never let it relax. We're just constantly keeping everything pulled in tight. We always say pull the belly to the spine, 

right?

 is that wrong to give that information or give that direction? Say in The fitness arena, for example, coaches, physical trainers. And if that is wrong, what is it that we should be doing 

That's a, that's a great question. And I think the belly to spine is a cue that is used so often in like Pilates classes, even yoga classes.

 I've even caught myself using it at times. But I think it's the awareness around what the person understands, uh, who you're talking to when you say that term. Mm-hmm. and a lot of times there's not the understanding of what belly to spine is actually meaning, because you can suck in. and bring your belly to spine.

And that is, I think the co the more common, misunderstanding that we're not trying to say suck in the belly. 'cause that's using a little bit more of a pressure system to get belly button to spine versus activating that deep core, getting your abdominals to almost zipper up. I like to use the draw up and in queue so that we're, we're creating that lift and the muscle engagement while we're breathing.

 And specifically activating that on an exhale so that we're not getting that inhale kinda sip through the straw. suck in. 

there's so many different terminology. I've heard it suck in the gut, belly the spine, you know, zip up the pelvic floor like you're holding in a pee. activate your moula banda and it can, like you said. Get very confusing, and I think to women in our minds, we just have to know what the hell does that feel like?

What should it feel like in my body to do that effectively without constantly stressing my pelvic floor? 

Yes. And, and I think another, area with that too is the clenching in order to feel a contraction. So instead of bringing belly to spine is activating the glutes and getting too much glute tension.

So I would say what that should feel like when we're trying to get a proper deep core engagement, is to have your hips relaxed. Make sure you're not ing through your glutes. Make sure your breathing doesn't pause or stop. And put your hands on your belly so you can feel. And when you're drawing those muscles up and in that, we should feel that same motion happening.

So if you feel your belly press out into your hands, that's gonna be an incorrect way of turning those muscles on. That's using a little more pressure. Or kind of closing off that breathing system in order to, activate. But instead we're keeping the glottis open, we're keeping our airflow open. We're feeling kind of right above the pubic bone, right on the inside of the hip bones.

You can also feel for just a little tensing of the deep core. Mm-hmm. But it shouldn't like push your fingers off of the bone is what I'll tell people. 

 interesting. 

So if you push too hard or you're getting too much muscle working, sometimes those muscles will push your fingers off of the bone, but it should be just a subtle amount to feel that muscle tighten under your fingers.

I was just gonna say, pelvic floor physiotherapist had once described it to me was, while lying on your back, you should feel as though you're trying to connect or close up the distance between your two hip bones. almost like you're visualizing, although they don't move, but you're visualizing using the muscle that you're closing in.

Mm-hmm. Almost like either side of the bowl, 

Yes. And, I think my description there was focusing on the deep abdominal muscle component. And so when we think about the, the Kegel or the pelvic floor contraction with that, Both of those systems working together and thinking about drawing the pelvic bones in is a great analogy to visualize and also feel for 

 In fitness often we'll hear that again, another terminology that may not be correct is feel the expansion of your belly as you take a deep breath in and feel the expansion of your chest. Is that what we wanna be feeling?

'cause when again, you say that people might literally push their navel forward, right? 

And then push it back in with the exhale. 

Yes, yes. I know I have a love hate relationship with the queuing. Relax your belly. Because sometimes I think that cue does help people who tend to brace more through their abdominals, who might be, um, gripping a little bit more through their abdominals.

So when they're cued to kind of relax and allow their belly to expand, I think sometimes that helps, but. I also really want them focusing on the rib cage, expanding 360 degrees all the way around, so you should feel your rib cage expanding in the front to the sides and to the back while your belly relaxes.

Okay. Very different sensation. I'm doing it right now. 

and if. There's tightness that might feel more restricted in one of those directions. Um, so when we say relax the belly. The front might not be the part that is tight and limited, so then that becomes more dominant in like that front breathing pattern or more belly breathing pattern, versus if the back is really tight and we can't get that breath there, then that's where we're working a little bit more on how to open up.

Back muscles, relax the back muscles. So it's not just the abdominals that get tight, it's the back that can get tight and restrict that movement as well. 

And this is one of the things I wanted to talk about, how pelvic floor does interact with the rest of the body in terms of back pain, core stability, posture, and down to our legs, our feet.

Check, check, check. Yes. all of the above. the more I work with pelvic floor, the more and more connections I can draw to all parts of the body. Um, you know, so we think most commonly, our core, But there are even connections to the jaw. Our TMJ, there are 

Connections to our feet and arch support. from head to toe really. 

So from the front of the pelvic bone right to the tailbone has such a crucial role and can dictate so many other facets of the body. That's incredible. 

Yes. 

It's no wonder that pregnancy can throw that or a loop and we can just spend the rest of our adulthood leading into our menopausal years trying to correct that if we're even aware that it is an issue.

Yes, and so much too, when I'm seeing women and we may be getting to this more too, but talking about in menopause, that, you know, problems that might not have occurred specifically with pregnancy that then come on in the menopause phase that I think. Is confusing to a lot of women. It's like, well, you know, I wasn't leaking right after pregnancy, but then I hit menopause and all of a sudden now I am.

 Which I think just puts the need for more pelvic floor screening, pelvic floor education on those earlier years as such an important piece. 

 And again, it something that's not really well understood in our healthcare systems. We think about mammograms and other screenings, that pelvic floor screening, maybe even a cervical screening for cancer, but again, like the pelvic floor.

 What are some of the signs then of a pelvic dysfunction? 

most common pelvic floor dysfunctions, they're going to be related to bladder, bowel and sexual health. But that can be related to incontinence of bladder and bowel. So feeling loss of control, but it can also be the opposite of that.

So it can be difficulty emptying the bladder or constipation. Um. Pain can also be a factor for any of those functions. insertional pain or pain with bowel movements or bladder emptying. I could keep going. There are just, But the most common signs are, within those systems.

 but also just those sensations of like pressure or heaviness. difficulty with, abdominal engagement can be a sign of pelvic floor dysfunction since they work so closely in relationship to each other. so sometimes even just. Having some abdominal dysfunction can correlate to pelvic floor dysfunction, beyond leakage.

What about prolapse? 

Mm-hmm. 

Is that would be the extreme of dysfunction in the pelvic floor. 

So with prolapse. and that was, what I was referring to a little bit with the, the signs of heaviness. so that's a very common symptom, and prolapse can be also a combination of cause from a weak pelvic floor, but also a pelvic floor that's holding too much tension.

And I like to explain that in terms of a balloon. and when you think about a balloon being compressed in the middle, so if you were holding a balloon and you just squeeze in the middle that there's gonna be a bulge in that balloon below your hands. 

Okay. 

And if our pelvic floor muscles are above where that prolapse is falling, 

Then that tension or just trying to do Kegels to strengthen can sometimes be worsening that prolapse by tensioning it in the middle. so sometimes Kegels, and that's one of those myths we were talking about is not the best answer, but it's more focusing on that relaxation. So when you think of your hands around that balloon, when you release that pressure, that balloon's gonna gently come back up.

Okay, so that relapse can be reduced a little bit with some pelvic floor relaxation techniques. 

 Let's get into some of those relaxation techniques. 

So there's. Manual techniques that will, be done by the physical therapist. So doing like soft tissue massage, myofascial release, trigger point release, and those can be internal or external to the pelvic floor muscles.

Those can also be simulated at home. But in addition to more of the hands-on techniques, breathing strategies are gonna be a huge relaxation. go-to. So learning to connect our diaphragm and rib expansion to our pelvic floor.

So when we talked about the pelvic floor being a trampoline, thinking about how that trampoline will expand or relax on an inhale. And then recoil or kind of come back to that resting position on an exhale. So just learning to engage and let those muscles work in sync with each other. 

Okay. 

Is a good starting point.

 Mindfulness can also be a really helpful relaxation technique for just drawing our mind body connection and being able to identify, you know, maybe areas of holding patterns, um, in our body where tension might be being held. And sometimes just when we can connect and identify that we can make conscious ways to release muscles that we might not have known we were even holding or guarding.

To bring it back to another yoga analogy, and we often hear that in different yoga class, yoga practices, certainly in restorative. And when you do a body scan to identify where in your body you might be holding onto, whether it's in the feet, in the quads, but oftentimes you catch yourself gripping your bottom, gripping in your glutes and clenching in the jaw.

And I've heard it said before that there is a correlation between the clenching of the jaw and the hips, and it was actually a yoga instructor, of mine who said one nice way to relax through the hips is to take a big, wide open yawn or open your jaw and release, which helps release the hip.

Is that true? 

Yes. when we think about tension in the jaw, we're usually clenched through our teeth, which is tightening those muscles. So when we do a yawn and we're kind of opening and elongating those muscles, we're getting them on a little bit of a stretch, and we're also drawing attention to that area.

And we're hoping that when we release out of that yawn, that we're not clenching those teeth back together, but that we're keeping that nice relaxed position of the jaw, which is similar to our pelvic floor. So sometimes if we can notice that our pelvic floor is holding on and we can take that nice deep inhale, one that can reach your pelvic floor, and that's what I tend to cue or have.

Different clients work on is trying to really feel your breath, reach your pelvic floor, and there can be different reasons why it might not get there, and those are things that we would address and work on, but being able to make that connection is huge. 

I've heard visualization techniques and, certainly in meditation, and this is true for a lot of meditation practices that introduce or incorporate the chakras and the root chakra and visualizing your drawing up energy from Mother Earth or drawing up energy into your root chakra in the perineum area.

You can even visualize it being a red light or even flower. A flower budding analogy. 

A flower budding. Yeah. And it's just you're breathing up, up. 

Mm-hmm. 

And, and, and I've actually tried that myself, and it does seem to work because you are really having to be very imaginative in the visualization practice of

drawing something up from the earth right up into your perineum. Yes. And that can turn on a lot of muscles that you think you didn't even have. 

Right. and the opposite too, for when we need to drop that pelvic floor. Yeah. And think about the relaxation of that as well. you know, the visualization of that.

'cause that can sometimes be just as challenging as trying to find and turn on the muscles, is figuring out how do I let those muscles go? visualizing that lengthening or those sit bones kind of. Pulling apart rather than coming together as they would with a contraction. 

Yes. 

 It's still for many and I have to work on it all the time. Hard to visualize what should be going on in the pelvic floor What should that be feeling like?

So one of the self biofeedback, tools that I sometimes will give if someone's having a really hard time just trying to feel. Their pelvic floor. there's the, the visual feedback, there's the tactile feedback, and then there's, like a functional biofeedback, which I don't like to give as an exercise, but, you know, being able to just like stop your urine stream is a way that we can.

At least try to see that if our pelvic floor is doing what it should be. 

As a time test. Um, again, I don't like it as an exercise. I think that it was a very old school kind of method that women were doing a long time ago. Stop and start. Stop and start. Yeah. Which we should do. We don't wanna disrupt the system, but I find it to be a helpful tool sometimes for those that are finding a really hard time, finding those muscles.

And then once they can. Figure out like, oh yeah, I, I could stop my urine stream. Then it's like, okay, now find that feeling outside of that scenario. 

uh, the, the visual feedback, sometimes using a mirror, to look for that active. Contract and relax of the pelvic floor muscles can be helpful for some people.

It kind of just depends on, what people feel comfortable with. and also, whether they're visual learners versus, more hands, 

more hands on. Yeah. so zip up the pelvic floor. Is like you're holding in a pee is actually a good analogy then. And we, again, we often hear that in the fitness industry.

Yes. I, and I think zip, zip up the pelvic floor, like your stopping your urine stream and keep it at a sub maximal effort. I think there's a commonality to over try. We want to feel such a strong contraction when we're trying to activate the pelvic floor and then we over recruit too much. So a lot of my queuing will be to keep it sub maximal, just turn those muscles enough that you're feeling them, and that's really all you need.

You don't have to maximally max out that contraction every time. 

Dr. Kelly. I'm glad you said that because in the Girls Gone Strong, women's coaching program and I've taken my certification and, It was the most advanced and probably the world's only coaching program designed for women by women with women's

health science and hormonal health in mind based on the latest research. And the best analogy I heard them say, and I use it now all the time, is about 30% effort in the pelvic floor. 

Are they bang on right? 

I think that's a really good, percent to think about. Okay. Yeah. Because we still wanna be functional while our pelvic floor is working and if we're maximally

activated. It makes it really hard to be able to take a full breath to squat in a position we wanna. Move into, because usually if we're going a hundred percent, we're kicking in some glutes, we're tightening our abdominals too much. which then restricts good functional movement. 

Yes. The Girls Gone Strong program.

I will say this, pelvic floor health is one of the most important aspects of coaching women, and they bring it right up in front at the very beginning of the certification training, making damn sure that We understand as coaches, we are not physiotherapists, and then if the woman has any issues, incontinence, leakage, pressure to work with a pelvic floor physiotherapist because it is so vital, their strength training program can either enhance or 

 Negative impact to the strength of the pelvic floor. 

That's great guidance. 

Shout out to them. with that in mind, What is a pelvic friendly strength approach for women who want, who are being told as you get older, start lifting heavy, build muscles, most metabolically active tissue in the body. You gotta keep building heavy knowing full well that some of their techniques could be doing damage.

Right. I think having the overall coordination of pelvic floor breathing and deep core engagement is the best thing you can have to add weight and movement onto our system. So if our breathing and our pelvic floor are not in sync. The way that they're turning on for us as we add load or add stress or impact.

Are going to, those muscles aren't gonna show up for us the best way that they can. So in terms of training and getting our pelvic floor prepared for, you know, a strength routine or a running routine coordination. I think is the number one. So having a pelvic floor that can turn on and turn off with, a squeeze, a release with a good timing.

 sometimes we can turn our, our pelvic floor muscles on and it's like, oh wait, okay. It takes me a few seconds here to fully relax that. so that's a sign that those muscles tend to wanna. Hold tension for longer than they should. And there's strategies there that we would work on to help with relaxation and timing.

 if they're having more trouble turning their muscles on. So if they just feel really weak or they're not turning those muscles on well, then more strength and, endurance tend to be the areas we want to focus on and not just, not necessarily with Kegel, but with looking at the whole system.

So usually if one of those areas aren't working as they should, we're needing to take a step back and kind of look at where is that coordination in the system failing us a little bit and, and addressing that. Particular part of the system. 

 I've come across many women who don't wanna do any jump, whether it's just like squat jumps or jumping jacks or even, a high plank position and you're running your knee.

So the classic mountain climbers, because that. turns on leakage for them. Many women, yes. 

So they are hesitant about engaging, not just in that particular activity, but engaging in fitness altogether. 

And I think it's important for women to know that there are places like pelvic floor PT that they can go in order to work on that, and that they shouldn't accept that as a new norm.

But To find someone who can help them look at the system. Is this a pressure management? Is this a weakness? Is this a relaxation need? and who can really help them improve that because, that is not something that women should have to just live with. 

 What is a risk we run if we don't address pelvic floor health at any point in our lifespan?

I think the statistic that I read most recently had, that stress urinary incontinence specifically, affected around 30% of women in their lifetime. And I think that's statistic is really low because of under-reporting. because of, Maybe fear of embarrassment, with polling. so I would think that that statistic is a lot higher.

But I do think that there is a high prevalence with hormonal changes, tissue changes, different. Ways that stress impacts our body as we age. That puts us at risk as women, for pelvic floor dysfunction later in life. so all of those things together, even with no prior history increases the risk.

 So aware of your pelvic floor, how to manage symptoms or identify them I guess would be the primary thing. So that if you do notice any signs of anything happening, that you can address it earlier on. 'cause addressing it later on is just a lot harder. 

 as we go back to your analogy earlier on, it's a muscle in the body.

 like our biceps and they support a system. So, I always like to ask rapid fire questions. 

Okay. And 

towards the end, this is something we've been starting in 2026 and I have, I have copy pasted substantiated from Dr. Brene Brown who does that. I think that's the first person I heard do this. And I just think it gives us a little bit more insight into your expertise and what you have to offer. So if you're ready, let's dive in. All right. 

One pelvic health myth you wish would disappear forever?

Just do Kegels.

 Yes. Most underrated muscle group in the entire body?

The diaphragm. 

Oh, yes. One thing you wish every woman understood before menopause?

That pelvic health can be improved and that there are pelvic health specialists that can help so no, no symptoms have to just be okay 

and we'll get to that 'cause you are one of those expertise in the field. what is one breath queue you give your clients, the most?

One breath cue. I would say

the 360 degree breath. So hands on the rib cage and feeling that expansion of the rib cage all the way around. Just so that you eliminate a lot of that forward belly breathing that's true.Uh, let's see. One daily habit that does more for pelvic health than people realize.

Meditation. 

I think with meditation comes like the body scanning and just having good mind body awareness and connection. 

 that's great. I got a couple more. A small change that can create a big difference in long-term mobility. 

Hmm. A small change

I think. Breathing. I, I mean, breathing can be a big change, but it can also be something you've just paid attention to more. So just thinking about an exhale when you stand to manage pressure. so small things like that can, make big impacts. 

 Last one, if Pelvic Health had a slogan, what would it be?

Oh, you're really pulling into my creative mind here. Um, pelvic Health had a slogan. 

 I don't know. I need time to think on that. I wanna be creative and witty and I'm not thinking of anything that rhymes 

 And you're gonna think about it tonight at making dinner and go, ah, dammit.

I have a good one. 

Oh, here, I've got one. you can have more with your pelvic floor and core. 

that's good. Dr. Kelly. This has been really informative, for so many reasons for me, not just for the listeners, but I work with women who are going through this.

I've experienced this, I've lived through the transformation of strengthening pelvic floor, you are absolutely bang on. Correct. It is possible. You just have to begin with being consciously aware that sucker exists in the first place. 

Yes. You're doing is fabulous and so happy to be a part of this movement.

Tell our listeners where they can find you, how they can work with you all about your practice. 

Yes, so I am at Wave Physical Therapy in Pilates, is in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the Kenwood area, and you can look us up, can find us. We've got two wonderful, myself included pelvic health therapists here, and we are happy to help.

We'll get all that in the show description below. Dr. Kelly, I can't, thank you enough for sharing your, your expertise, your energy, and your insightfulness into pelvic floor health. So kudos to you as well for this important facet of women's health.

Thank you and thank you so much again for having me.