45. Are you doing Kegels properly?
01/16/23 • 20 min
In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to do a pelvic floor self-examination and check if you’re doing Kegels properly. Contrary to popular belief, you do NOT need someone to insert their fingers inside you in order to confirm whether or not your pelvic floor works. Trust yourself and your body. Just like you don’t need someone to hold your elbow while you do a bicep curl, you don’t need someone to confirm that your pelvic floor is contracting properly. You can check for yourself using your senses! I teach you how to use your eyes to look, your nose to smell, your hands to feel, and your ears to listen while you breathe and perform pelvic floor contractions and relaxations.
For other pelvic physiotherapists and practitioners: I am not against internal examinations. While they can give you a lot of information, and are often considered the gold standard, we have to acknowledge that they are not accessible to most people. We can’t leave people without support just because they don’t live near an in-person pelvic physiotherapist, because they cannot afford care or because they don’t want an internal examination. We need to remember that many people don’t have the interest in getting an internal examination (cultural reasons, religious reasons, personal reasons, history of trauma etc.). And frankly, most people don’t need an internal check from someone else to tell them whether or nothing something works or hurts in their body. Let’s start trusting the humans we work with. Each person knows their own bodies the best. My philosophy is that we need to educate and empower our clients so they can be the experts of their own bodies.
.
Links & Resources:
—Through virtual physiotherapy and coaching, I help you resolve pelvic floor symptoms like leaks, manage prolapse and pain, and return to exercise with confidence! Book your virtual consultation: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca/book-with-surabhi
—Are you a practitioner wanting mentorship? Book your mentoring session here: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca/book-with-surabhi
—If your pelvic floor feels tight or sore, and you want simple ways to release your own pelvic floor, buy my Release your Pelvic Floor e-guide: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca/release-pelvic-floor-e-guide
-
Connect with Surabhi:
—Find Surabhi on Instagram or Facebook @thepassionatephysio
—Website: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca
In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to do a pelvic floor self-examination and check if you’re doing Kegels properly. Contrary to popular belief, you do NOT need someone to insert their fingers inside you in order to confirm whether or not your pelvic floor works. Trust yourself and your body. Just like you don’t need someone to hold your elbow while you do a bicep curl, you don’t need someone to confirm that your pelvic floor is contracting properly. You can check for yourself using your senses! I teach you how to use your eyes to look, your nose to smell, your hands to feel, and your ears to listen while you breathe and perform pelvic floor contractions and relaxations.
For other pelvic physiotherapists and practitioners: I am not against internal examinations. While they can give you a lot of information, and are often considered the gold standard, we have to acknowledge that they are not accessible to most people. We can’t leave people without support just because they don’t live near an in-person pelvic physiotherapist, because they cannot afford care or because they don’t want an internal examination. We need to remember that many people don’t have the interest in getting an internal examination (cultural reasons, religious reasons, personal reasons, history of trauma etc.). And frankly, most people don’t need an internal check from someone else to tell them whether or nothing something works or hurts in their body. Let’s start trusting the humans we work with. Each person knows their own bodies the best. My philosophy is that we need to educate and empower our clients so they can be the experts of their own bodies.
.
Links & Resources:
—Through virtual physiotherapy and coaching, I help you resolve pelvic floor symptoms like leaks, manage prolapse and pain, and return to exercise with confidence! Book your virtual consultation: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca/book-with-surabhi
—Are you a practitioner wanting mentorship? Book your mentoring session here: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca/book-with-surabhi
—If your pelvic floor feels tight or sore, and you want simple ways to release your own pelvic floor, buy my Release your Pelvic Floor e-guide: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca/release-pelvic-floor-e-guide
-
Connect with Surabhi:
—Find Surabhi on Instagram or Facebook @thepassionatephysio
—Website: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca
Previous Episode
44. C-section recovery as an athlete & releasing the Type A with Sharon Fan
This is a super special episode with Sharon Fan, who I have the pleasure of knowing for many years now, and also got to support her in her postpartum recovery and return to fitness. Sharon and I discuss her experience as an athlete, ultra-marathoner and runner, and having an unexpected C-section in the middle of the pandemic. We talk about burnout in motherhood, how being Type A actually drove her to being more chill as a parent, and the importance of adequate maternal and parental support and leave. We discuss how being career driven often takes away from the joys of motherhood, and why it is really difficult to “have it all.”
We discuss:
—Giving birth during the pandemic in Taipei, Taiwan
—Why 6 weeks postpartum is just the start
—Pressure to bounce back and hating her body
—The unexpected benefits of motherhood in the pandemic
—How she went from Type A to super chill after experiencing burnout
—Outsourcing parenting
—Social judgement for taking maternity and parental leave
—How a society treats their mothers and why USA is failing moms
—Unsupportive jobs and unfair preference for men
—Why women treat each other like sh*t
—Forgiving yourself for making mistakes
—Our work together through virtual physiotherapy
—Sharon’s advice to the average or high achieving athlete
—Choosing career vs parenting
.
Sharon Fan Bio:
I'm a stay-at-home working mom with a 15 month old and a lover of spontaneous adventures, either in the mountains or in career. Motherhood has been THE greatest challenge of my life and I am still learning every day about myself, my relationships with my partner & family, and the world at large. I am Taiwanese-Canadian and my husband is Iranian-German, so we are also keen on exposing our child to as many cultures, languages, and perspectives as possible.
.
Links/Resources:
—Follow Sharon on Instagram @shFantastic
.
Connect with Surabhi:
—Find Surabhi on Instagram or Facebook @thepassionatephysio
—Website: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca
Next Episode
46. Healing, joy and returning to your authentic self with Inemesit Graham
Surabhi Veitch interviews repeat guest, fitness and nutrition coach, and anti-racism educator, Inemesit Graham, for a conversation all about healing, joy and returning to your authentic self. Inemesit lives Audre Lorde’s message: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” We get into how reconnecting to her beautiful Afro hair has been a way to celebrate herself and to heal from years of being bullied for her hair. We also discuss white supremacy and how it plays out with Karens, double standards, tone policing and immense pressures on Black, brown and racialized peoples.
.
We discuss:
—How treading water can be just as hard as swimming against the current
—The history of white supremacy, slavery and arbitrary rules for segregating Black peoples
—Prioritizing self-care as an act of self-love
—Healing through reconnecting with and celebrating her Afro hair
—Connecting with her kids and herself via art
—How white supremacy culture shows up in clothing, loss of cultural languages, pressure to assimilate and double standards
—Queen Elizabeth’s death and why we don’t mourn it
—What the term “Karen” actually means and why any white woman can be a Karen
—The Civil Rights Movement, the violence of white women, and Emmett Till's murder
—Tone policing in the workplace
—Defining empathy and why so many people have trouble with it
—Being African is not a monolith. Being BIPOC is not a monolith. Being Asian is not a monolith.
—The pressure for exceptionalism as a way of survival
.
Inemesit Graham Bio
Inemesit is a personal trainer and nutrition coach specializing in pre and postnatal fitness. Inemesit's goal is a decolonized approach to fitness based on body liberty and not body oppression.
Links/Resources:
—Follow Inemesit on Instagram @mummy_fitness
—Inemesit’s website: https://www.mummy-fitness.com/
—Sign up for Get R.E.A.D.Y: https://www.mummy-fitness.com/fitnessprograms/p/country-feast-set-3nybt-t73yr
.
Connect with Surabhi:
—Find Surabhi on Instagram or Facebook @thepassionatephysio
—Website: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/mom-strength-323777/45-are-you-doing-kegels-properly-47441898"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to 45. are you doing kegels properly? on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy