I am a bit of a gadget geek, and this awesome machine is definitely top of my list! I’ve been using my ultrasound machine in clinic for a year now and it’s a fantastic tool to have. I’m using it more and more to help gain more information during an assessment and as a biofeedback tool to teach/educate patients on what’s happening in their abdominal wall and/or pelvic floor. I use the ultrasound in two ways: transabdominal and transperineal/translabial 1.     Transabdominal Using ultrasound to check out what the abdominal wall is doing is just next level! I am using this no ..read more

The following blog is taken from the PESSARY GUIDELINES. This is an information blog only and NOT a substitute for medical advice. Please get in touch with myself, your local pelvic floor physio trained in pessary management, your GP or Gynaecologist to discuss you individual symtpom’s.  If you have never seen or heard of a vaginal pessary you are probably looking at this picture with a slight WTF?!? Expression on your face….let me explain. These blue magic little devices are support pessaries for vaginal prolapse and stress incontinence that can be made from silicon, rubber or plastic ..read more

The most common question we get asked as pelvic floor physiotherapists is “What can I do to protect my pelvic floor during birth?” The answer is…it depends.  Research in this area is a bit scarce, so I’ve written this blog based on a few different courses I’ve completed that discuss the little bit of research we do have.  Most women when they book their Pregnancy WOF want to know “a few exercises to stop them from having problems afterwards or get back to sport/running/exercises ASAP afterwards” And the reality is these magic exercises simply do not exist.  Remember the biggest ..read more

March is Endometriosis awareness month. Of all the conditions that I treat in the clinic, this would be the most common one. Many women will be in for other issues such as leaking, back/pelvic girdle pain, painful sex and when I ask about their periods…endo is often mentioned or suspected.  According to no endo.org.nz, around 1 in 10 women in New Zealand have endometriosis. That’s a lot of women! My patients experience:  Painful, like excruciating pain from the moment they had their first periods Heavy bleeding Fertility issues And unfortunately, their journey to diagnosis i ..read more

This is a blog I wrote for my studio website, inverted Fitness and I wanted to share it here too. I hope you enjoy it and let me know how you go with the 65 minute class! Welcome welcome welcome and thank you so much for wanting to know a bit more about yoga with us at Inverted Fitness! Lesley is our resident teacher having completed her 300 Hour Power Yoga Training and now onto another 200 hour training because…why not! Yoga at this wee studio is fun and fabulous. As soon as you walk in the door you can feel the welcoming and warm vibe…something I’m very proud off! Students love the relaxed ..read more

What happens during a Return to Running screen? To do a full assessment, pelvic floor examination is strongly recommended. I complete a full assessment including bladder and bowel function, sexual dysfunction, previous injuries, pregnancy and birth history followed by a pelvic floor examination (if consent is given) to check for signs of dysfunction, weak/over active muscles, tummy muscle separation and teach you all about your core and pelvic floor. If there are any issues, we will make a plan to tackle those first and get them under control. This does not mean you have to stop exercising – w ..read more

It’s been 6 weeks since bubs arrived, and I’m ready for running and impact exercise right? Em No. When the clock strikes midnight on Week 6 post natal, the body tissues do not magically heal to allow you to go straight back to pre-pregnancy exercise (sigh…if only it were true though!!) De Mattos Lorenco et al. 2018 completed a systematic review to look at all the research on urinary incontinence in female athletes. They concluded “High-impact activities showed a 1.9-fold prevalence over medium-impact activities and 4.59-fold prevalence over impact activities” Running can create ground reaction ..read more

Let me start with an amazing experience I had during the Visceral Manipulation course. I had some work done on the on the connective tissue of the small intestine.  After baby number 2 I had a two and a half centimeter separation of my abdominals with a lot of sinking and sponginess around my belly button. It has stopped me from getting back on my pole and progressing with my yoga. BUT after this treatment the tissue along my tummy felt a lot firmer, its now easier to connect to my middle fibres of transverse abdominis AND the gap is now down to a centimeter and a half. Mind BLOWN!! &nbs ..read more

If you have read any of my other blogs, you will have realised by now: I am addicted to learning EVERYTHING I can to help my patients I keep finding new explanations and reasons as to why things happen in the body – and how all the systems are connected. I reckon Visceral Manipulation is bridging the gap between the musculoskeletal system, the connective tissue, the nervous system and the organs. Are you seriously telling me the liver can cause headaches? Yes I am! Let me start with the background of whom developed visceral manipulation.  A chap named Jean-Pierre Barral was born in ..read more

Last week, I was on a course all about Visceral Manipulation. When I first signed up for it, I was a bit nervous and to be honest a bit skeptical about what I was going to be learning about especially as I knew it had something to do with the organs.   An incredible and very brilliant physiotherapist that I used to work for Krissy Gunn (who owns Contact Physiotherapy in Methven) introduced me Visceral Manipulation several years ago. I saw Krissy back in October 2020 to learn a bit more about it and she took me through a session. I could not believe what was happening.  Krissy knows ..read more