025 - Carolyn Vandyken - Pelvic Pain - What Are We Missing?

Explicit content warning

02/03/20 • 66 min

In Episode #25 we have the great pleasure in interviewing Carolyn Vandyken - an extremely knowledgeable and experienced pelvic health and musculoskeletal physiotherapist (and educator!) based in Canada. This is a must-listen for anyone who works with clients who have musculoskeletal pain or pelvic floor dysfunction - ie EVERYONE!

Carolyn is a physiotherapist, educator, researcher and advocate in the areas of low back pain, pelvic health and pain science. She has been practicing for 33 years and is passionate about helping therapists get out of their silos and integrate a biopsychosocial perspective. Her research is in the area of connecting pelvic health to low back pain.

In this interview, we discuss
- what pelvic pain is and what it might look like
- the link between the lumbar spine and pelvic pain
- how pelvic floor dysfunction might masquerade as other types of musculoskeletal pain such as low back or groin pain
- why pelvic floor screening is so important for all musculoskeletal /sports physiotherapists and fitness professionals to consider and how they might go about it
- why consideration of the whole person is so important when helping clients with symptoms
of pelvic pain or pelvic floor dysfunction

If you would like to get in touch with Carolyn Vandyken you can find her at: https://www.physioworksmuskoka.com

Here are some of the articles that Carolyn wanted to share with everyone:

Hilton S, Vandyken C. 2011. The puzzle of pelvic pain. A rehabilitation framework for balancing tissue dysfunction and central sensitization, I: Pain physiology and evaluation for the physical therapist. JWHPT 35:103-113.

Vandyken C, Hilton S. 2012. The puzzle of pelvic pain. A rehabilitation framework for balancing tissue dysfunction and central sensitization, II: A review of treatment considerations. JWHPT 36:44-54.

Louw A., Hilton, S. Vandyken C. 2014. Why Pelvic Pain Hurts: Neuroscience education for patients with pelvic pain. Minneapolis: OPTP.

Vandyken C., Chapter contribution to the IASP proceedings of the 1st International Congress on Abdomino-pelvic pain, 2014.

Vandyken C., Hilton S.: An Integrative Approach to Physiotherapy; Chapter contribution in Padoa, A., & Rosenbaum, T. The Overactive Pelvic Floor (2016).

Vandyken C., Hilton S. 2017. Physical Therapy in the Treatment of Central Pain Mechanisms in Female Sexual Dysfunction. Sex Med Rev 5: 20-30

Dufour, S., Vandyken, B., Forget, M., & Vandyken, C. (2018). Association between lumbopelvic pain and pelvic floor dysfunction in women: A cross sectional study. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, 34, 47-53.

Keizer, A., Vandyken, B., Vandyken, C., Yardley, D., Macedo, L., Kuspinar, A., Faghani, N., Forget, MJ., & Dufour, S. 2019. Predictors of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Among Women with Lumbopelvic Pain. Physical Therapy

If you would like to get in touch with Carolyn Vandyken you can find her at: https://www.physioworksmuskoka.com

Here are some of the articles that Carolyn wanted to share with everyone:

Vandyken C, Hilton S. 2012. The puzzle of pelvic pain. A rehabilitation framework for balancing tissue dysfunction and central sensitization, II: A review of treatment considerations. JWHPT 36:44-54.

Louw A., Hilton, S. Vandyken C. 2014. Why Pelvic Pain Hurts: Neuroscience education for patients with pelvic pain. Minneapolis: OPTP.

Vandyken C., Chapter contribution to the IASP proceedings of the 1st International Congress on Abdomino-pelvic pain, 2014.

Vandyken C., Hilton S.: An Integrative Approach to Physiotherapy; Chapter contribution in Padoa, A., & Rosenbaum, T. The Overactive Pelvic Floor (2016).

Vandyken C., Hilton S. 2017. Physical Therapy in the Treatment of Central Pain Mechanisms in Female Sexual Dysfunction. Sex Med Rev 5: 20-30

Previous Episode

024 - Molly Galbraith - How Can I Heal My Relationship With My Body?

This episode is a little different in that we have a guest host - none other than Antony's daughter, Amie Lo.

When Antony mentioned that we were having the privilege to interview Molly Galbraith (Women in Charge of Girls Gone Strong) again and that we were going to be talking about body positivity, Amie had so many great questions for us that we thought it would be great if she asked Molly herself!

In this episode Molly shares her journey with us and how she turned her life (and her health) around by healing her relationship with her body.

Some of the things that she found helped were:
1. Noticing when she was having negative thoughts about her body and how often she was saying really negative things about herself and her body.
2. Getting clear on her values and what she believed.
3. Questioning the thoughts she was having and how they did not align with her values
4. Moving her thoughts from negative to positive (she gives a great example here regarding chronic pain)
5. Focusing on things related to her body that had nothing to do with how her body looked. This could include what her body could do, how her body served her and what value she added to the world.
6. Curating what images she exposed herself to on social media...

Some other questions that Amie asked include:
- do you get affected by social media influences like IG models?
- does posting on social media cause any anxiety?
- do you ever get tempted to photoshop or alter your photos?

Please listen and share this interview with your friends and family. This is a great one for your teenage girls!

If you want to get in touch with Molly you can find her at:
www.girlsgonestrong.com
https://www.facebook.com/mollymgalbraith/
https://www.facebook.com/GirlsGoneStrong/
https://www.instagram.com/themollygalbraith/
https://www.instagram.com/thegirlsgonestrong/

We'd also like to share GGS free 5-day course on pre/postnatal coaching!
*
*
What You Must Know About Pelvic Health - Your Ultimate Guide To Working With Pre- & Postnatal Clients
Sign up here: http://bit.ly/33GKbEw

Did you know that 67-75% of people who hire a coach or trainer are women, and 85% of women will have a baby in their life.

The curriculum for this course was developed by world-leading pelvic health physiotherapists, OB/GYNs, PhDs, pre- and postnatal fitness experts, university researchers and other women’s healthcare team members -- so you can feel confident it’s up-to-date and evidence-based.

***Disclosure Notice - By choosing to use the link, you will be supporting The Women’s Health Podcast. The money the podcast earns goes back to supporting the technical running of the podcast and donating to our chosen charities. Please click the link and support the podcast! Thank you!

Next Episode

026 - Lily Nichols - Have We Been Getting Nutrition For Pregnancy All Wrong?

In this episode, we have the pleasure of interviewing Lily Nichols about nutrition in pregnancy- and some may consider this one a little controversial.

Lily Nichols is a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, Certified Diabetes Educator, researcher, and author with a passion for evidence-based prenatal nutrition. Her work is known for being research-focused, thorough, and unapologetically critical of outdated dietary guidelines. She is the author of two bestselling books, Real Food for Pregnancy and Real Food for Gestational Diabetes.

In this interview, we cover
- where Lily developed her passion for pre/postnatal nutrition.
- how her approach to prenatal nutrition differs from what we've all been hearing for years (and why some of what we've been told just doesn't make sense!)
- what some of the things that she finds women need to add to their diet in pregnancy that perhaps they are missing out on
- how postnatal nutrition may support recovery of connective tissue in the mother as well as breastfeeding.
- some tips on how an expectant mom can plan ahead for her postpartum recovery so she doesn’t have to worry about shopping and cooking right after giving birth

This interview was a cracker and we both learnt a lot from Lily!

Please check out some her free articles and considering buying her books if you are pregnant or have gestational diabetes!

https://lilynicholsrdn.com/real-food-postpartum-recovery-meals/

https://lilynicholsrdn.com/prenatal-guidelines-updated/

https://lilynicholsrdn.com/vegetarian-diet-in-pregnancy

https://www.amazon.com/Real-Food-Pregnancy-Prenatal-Nutrition-ebook/dp/B079H8LL9L

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0986295000/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1