​Self-care is not self-ish.  It is essential for the long-term sustainability of your body, your mind, and your whole life.  While self-care looks different for everyone, there can be some common areas in which to evaluate your life in order to know what you need to nourish your body.  In my women’s pelvic health physical therapy practice, I tend to provide my patients with body practices and equally important, breathing and self-regulation practices to learn to live in a more “peaceful” nervous system state.  This affects everything else, including the pelvis and pelvic organs.
​This is a short post and I’m not really saying anything new this time.  Lately, Life has called to me to remind me about the importance of choosing in to care for myself, especially when life is full.  Truly, when I say to myself that I will work on something in my body, mind, or soul when I am finished with this training, or that project, or the “crazy-busy next couple-of-weeks,” the ironic thing is that is does not seem to slow after whatever that thing is.   For me, it requires a priority shift...

Constipation is quite common and sometimes difficult to resolve.  If you do not have at least 1 bowel movement each day, constipation is a likely challenge for you. 
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Here are four reasons why it is important to address constipation for the overall health of your pelvic bowl, and your entire body, for that matter:

Do you need post-partum pelvic physical therapy but struggle with coordinating all the moving parts to make it to a visit?  I am providing a new service to moms whose youngest child is 12 months or under: Post-Partum House Calls!

Remember: bladder leaking, pain with intercourse, low back pain, pelvic organ prolapse issues, pelvic floor weakness, and c-section scar pain are common after birthing a baby, but they are not normal, and the sooner you are able to address them, the better in most cases.  

So, if you live within a 7-mile radius from my office in Northwest Denver and you have been thinking you need to have your pelvic floor checked out, but it feels like an impossible task to coordinate it, look no more!  

I am now offering a limited number of house-call visits to help moms with this dilemma. I will come to your home with my bodywork table to complete 90-minute sessions with you.   Your pelvic health is important at all times, including when your baby is young.  Contact me at bethanne@wombmatters.com or 720-470-4734 to learn more and to schedule a visit.  

​The six-week post-partum visit is an important time to check in with your obstetrician, midwife, or other birth care professional to ensure that your body is properly healing after such a momentous physical event.  Often however, women feel lost after this follow-up visit about how to help their bodies to continue healing.  The belief that everything is supposed to be ‘normal’ at this point may not be made explicitly.  Unfortunately, many women receive the impression, usually through no one’s fault, that they should feel normal and back-on-track not only physically, but mentally and emotionally at this point in their recovery....

​Or…at least the heels…In my one-on-one physical therapy work with patients, I am often helping them to incorporate changes into the ways in which they already move in the world, before I add heaps of exercises.  Let’s face it: we all lead full lives.  We have newborns, jobs, recreation, community events, school, soccer practice, and a host of other activities in our days and weeks.  
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I want my patients to improve, and often it’s the little tweaks to their typical movement regimen done consistently over time that make a big difference.  One of the most common recommendations I make to women who see me for issues related to leaking (known in the medical world as ‘urinary incontinence’), hip pain, or pelvic organ prolapse (such as cystocele or rectocele), is to experiment with their footwear...