Renew Pelvic Health

Are your bladder issues because of stress? Here's how to connect the dots.

3If you feel like you have a small bladder, if you're always running to the bathroom, if you leak when you jump, laugh, cough or sneeze, if you're up at night to p*e, if you have pain during or after p*eing, or if you get frequent UTIs or yeast infections — this is for you.

A busy mind creates a tense pelvic floor. Your pelvic floor is a stabilizing muscle, and stabilizing muscles are anticipatory — that means they respond to your thoughts, feelings and mental state.

You may not feel stressed, but your pelvic floor is holding tension from the stress associated with the busyness of your mind.

A tense pelvic floor can't function optimally. Your pelvic floor muscles and your bladder don't work well together, and you can have difficulty fully emptying. Tension also limits local blood flow, which can leave tissue more susceptible to infection or pain.

The first step is understanding the connection between your pelvic floor and your mind. The second is learning how to breathe correctly and coordinate your breath with your pelvic floor, so you can relax your pelvic floor properly.

Within a week of understanding this connection and practicing proper breathing, many of our patients have less leaking and pain — before any other work is layered in. That's the power of the mind-body-pelvic floor connection.

If you can’t feel your pelvic floor or you don’t know how to coordinate pelvic floor relaxation with your breathing, book with us at the link in our bio. We offer pelvic floor physical therapy if you live in the Atlanta area or virtual pelvic health coaching to anyone in the world.

Please note: this is education, not individual medical advice.

Unpopular opinion: starting perineal massage at 34 weeks is too little, too late.

One — you may go into labor early. So you think you have six weeks to prepare, but you might only have two or three.

Two — perineal massage only works the muscles at the entrance to your va**na. But that baby is coming through the whole passageway, and you can have tightness deeper inside that you're not aware of and not addressing.

Three — most women carry some anxiety going into birth, and as a society we're not connected to our pelvic floor and aren't comfortable with it at all. Waiting until the end doesn't leave time to change that.

What we teach at Renew Pelvic Health is to work with all of your pelvic floor muscles, beginning at least in the second trimester, so you're more connected and confident heading into your birth.

Start earlier and prepare better - check out our Pregnancy to Postpartum Optimization Package to learn more. Link in bio.

Please note: this is education, not individual medical advice.

In puberty, symptoms tended to settle as your body found its footing. Perimenopause can run the other way — what is a problem now can amplify over time.

Difficulty holding in p*e can progress to difficulty holding in p**p. Peeing often can become p*eing even more often. Pelvic pressure and heaviness can progress to more advanced prolapse.

As a pelvic floor physical therapist with 24 years of experience, the sentence I hear most is "I wish I knew this sooner."

Nobody has ever told me they came in to see me too early. Any work that you do before or during perimenopause to understand how your pelvic floor functions and to set up healthy habits will greatly affect how well your body navigates through perimenopause and into menopause.

I encourage you to not wait until you start experiencing symptoms - preventing issues is much easier than fixing them after they’ve advanced to a point where they're bad enough for you to notice them. But no matter when you get help - even if you’re already in menopause and feeling symptoms - you’re changing the future course of your health for the better.

Perimenopause is not puberty in reverse. See us to get the support you deserve - we'd be honored to help you! We offer pelvic floor physical therapy in the Atlanta area, and virtual pelvic health coaching anywhere in the world. Book with us at the link in our bio.

Please note: this is education, not individual medical advice.

Five signs you've been gaslit about your pelvic floor as a woman.

One — you said you leak when you sneeze, laugh, cough or jump, and were told that's normal. Leaking is common, but it isn't normal, and it's definitely treatable. You need an evaluation with an experienced pelvic floor physical therapist and an effective plan to help your pelvic floor coordinate properly again.

Two — you mentioned pain during s*x and were told to have a glass of w**e first. Pain during s*x isn't something you fix with w**e. It's a sign that something in your pelvic floor or your nervous system needs attention — and you deserve a provider who takes that seriously and knows how to help.

Three — you're pregnant with pain in your groin, hips, back or lower abdomen, and were told it'll go away when the baby comes. Pain during pregnancy isn't something you have to wait out or deal with - and pelvic physical therapy can help.

Four — you described pelvic pressure or heaviness, got a quick check and "everything looks fine." You weren't imagining it. Prolapse symptoms can be real even when they don't show on a quick visual exam. You don't have to wait until it gets worse for someone to believe you.

Five — you were handed a sheet of Kegel exercises without anyone checking whether your pelvic floor was weak, tight, or coordinating. If it's tight, Kegels can actually make symptoms worse.

If you recognized yourself in any of these, don't worry - we've helped hundreds of women with these exact issues. Book with us at the link in our bio to get help today.

We offer pelvic floor physical therapy if you live in the Atlanta area or virtual pelvic health coaching anywhere in the world. Your pelvic health matters, and you don’t have to figure it out alone.

Please note: this is education, not individual medical advice.

Every big pain started as something small.

Nothing starts as a big problem. The pain that stops you now didn’t arrive that way — it began as something small enough to work around, so you worked around it.

It may not be bad at first. It starts as discomfort, but that discomfort can turn into pain. If you don’t listen to your body when it’s talking, eventually it will yell at you.

Painful s*x starts as “uncomfortable.” Some of my patients reached a point where they couldn’t tolerate s*x at all because of the pain — and it didn’t begin there. It began as something that just felt a little off.

A lot of leaking starts as a little leaking. Leaking can go from just a little bit to a lot if you don’t listen to what your body is trying to tell you.

And it’s easier to heal an issue when it’s small than after it’s gotten worse. There’s less to undo, and fewer habits built around managing it.

If you feel disconnected from your body, or you don’t understand what it’s telling you, we can be your translator. At Renew Pelvic Health we help you understand your body so you can actually heal, not just manage symptoms.

Your comfort matters and your pelvic health matters. Save this for the next time you need a reminder. And if this resonates with you, reach out to us at the link in bio.

We offer virtual pelvic health coaching worldwide, or individual pelvic floor physical therapy if you live in the Atlanta area. We’d be honored to help you.

Please note: this is education, not individual medical advice.