Episode #22: Navigating changes in our exercise routine during pregnancy and postpartum with Teresa Waser
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In this episode, we get the exciting opportunity to chat with one of our colleagues (and fellow Canadian 🇨🇦), Teresa Waser.
Teresa Waser is an orthopedic and pelvic health physiotherapist and owner of RX Physiotherapy, a non-traditional clinic in Leduc, Alberta, Canada, where she blends her experiences as physio, coach, and educator to empower people of all ages to achieve their goals in athletics and life. She has coached running, as well as CrossFit for kids through to older adults. She is a mother of 3 (including twins) and loves lifting heavy and running trails.
We’re so thankful for Teresa for sharing her passion and wisdom with us. We touch on a lot of topics in this episode including:
🔹 What initially got Teresa into physiotherapy as a career and then focusing on pelvic health
🔹 Her pregnancy and birth experiences with 3 kids (including twins)
🔹 How her exercise routine changed throughout her pregnancies and postpartum journeys
🔹 How her approach as a pelvic floor physiotherapist has changed over time
🔹 How she came up with her TIIPPSS-FC course
🔹 Helpful tips for people who experience leaking with skipping
🔹 Tips for fellow practitioners managing work life with motherhood
🔹 Details about Teresa’s TIIPPSS-FC course and where you can sign-up
We’re excited for you to listen to this episode and hope you get as much out of this conversation as we did.
Reach Teresa here:
Instagram
Website
Teresa’s courses including TIIPPSS-FC
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Episode #22: Navigating changes in our exercise routine during pregnancy and postpartum with Teresa Waser
We're excited to have you join us for this episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness. I'm Dayna Morellato, Mom, Orthopedic and Pelvic Health Physiotherapist. And I'm Rhonda Chamberlain, Mom, Orthopedic Physiotherapist and Pre Postnatal Fitness Coach. On this show, we have open and honest conversations about all phases of motherhood, including fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, menopause, and everything in between.
We also provide helpful education and information on fitness, the pelvic floor, and many aspects of women's health, including physical, mental, and emotional wellness. Please remember as you listen to this podcast that this is not meant to treat or diagnose any medical conditions. Please contact your medical provider if you have specific questions or concerns.
Thanks so much for joining us. Grab a cup of coffee. Or wine. And enjoy!
Welcome to episode 22 of the Pelvic Health and Fitness Podcast. Today we are excited to chat with one of our f. Public health colleagues and fellow Canadian Teresa Waser. Teresa is an orthopedic and public health physiotherapist based out of RX Physiotherapy, a non traditional clinic in Leduc, Alberta, Canada, where she blends her experiences as physio coach and educator to empower people of all ages to achieve their goals in athletics and life.
She has coached running as well as CrossFit for kids through to older adults. She is a mother of three, including twins and loves lifting heavy and running trails. Welcome, Teresa. Thanks for having me. Yeah, we're so excited. All right. So we'll just dive in here. What initially got you interested in physiotherapy and pelvic health as a profession?
That's a great question, Dayna. For almost my whole life, I wanted to be a vet. Yeah. And then, um, when I was a university student, I volunteered at some vet clinics and realized that that probably wasn't a good fit for me. Um, and knew that I wanted to work with people and I ended up, um, in microbiology research and, uh, that was great.
I was in a spectacular lab and it just wasn't fulfilling for me. Um, so I knew that I needed to have that, uh, interaction with humans. Um, and so I started to explore what some options could be and physiotherapy really appealed to me. Um, I love the idea that I could have more time and greater opportunity to build connection with people versus like a physician where.
You know, they they don't get as much time. They don't see their clients as often and certainly don't they don't see them for as long. Um, and I also love the promise of a better work life balance for physiotherapy versus some, you know, talking to some physician friends that You know, it was a bit of a struggle for them.
Um, so yeah, I became a physiotherapist and, um, I have not regretted my decision for a moment. It has been awesome. A very, very good fit for me. Um, and in terms of pelvic health, I did not go into pelvic health straight away. Uh, so I kind of have had a bit of a journey, um, where initially, um, I was, um, you know, the manual therapist, sports orthopedic, uh, physio, and, uh, love that, uh, I had friends who specialized in pelvic health and I was like, yep, you can, you can have that.
I will just stay in my little zone. Um, but, um, you know, I really love learning. I like. You know, um, so I had a lot of questions about pelvic health. I started treating people, um, with pelvic health, but with an external approach. Uh, and I'd refer people on and, you know, sometimes, um, you know, I was finding that there was some restrictions that were happening.
Um, and, you know, so part of it was, I just wanted to know more. I wanted to know all the things about pelvic health. And I remember signing up for my very first pelvic health course that, you know, level one pelvic health, um, where we do our internal exams for the first time and being so nervous about that.
Um, and I signed up with the intention. I just said, you know, I'm just going to take this. just for learning and no expectation that I'm going to do anything with it. And it was like the most magical thing. Um, when I took that course, I was like, this is so cool. And I wish that I had done it years and years ago.
Um, and it just really lit a spark within me. Um, and ever since then, it's been kind of this. Insatiable journey for incorporating pelvic health and blending it in with my coaching background and with my orthopedic skills, um, so that we can really, like, I feel like having that pelvic health piece, um, and having more of that biopsychosocial lens finally allows me to step into.
you know, that real whole person approach, um, where I can see the human, like all the, all the different things, um, and not have to piecemeal it out or refer them out. Um, so yeah, that's a long winded answer, but, um, that's how I got into physio and pelvic health. So awesome. A lot of that I can definitely mirror.
I hear that. And I took my first course, I was blown away at the breadth of it. Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing. And not scary. Yeah, no, no, for sure. And I truly believe that it made me a better whole, like holistic clinician, even from an orthopedic standpoint. Yeah, agreed. . Awesome. So out of curiosity, did you take that course before you had kids?
No. No. So you had children and then took it? Yes. Mm-Hmm? . Okay. So was having kids one of the reasons you went that way too? I wouldn't say so. No. No. Interesting. I feel like that's usually the most common experience, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Dayna and I both. Yeah. Interesting. So let's talk a little bit. So you have three kids, uh, with a set of twins.
Super cool. Um, what was your biggest challenge going through pregnancy? So, you know, I guess talk about both pregnancies. What did you find was the most challenge challenging aspect, especially as someone that's active? Yeah. So my first pregnancy, I, I hate to tell people this because I feel like this is not, I had like the best pregnancy.
Um, so I, you know, I had no morning sickness. I felt great throughout my pregnancy. Um, this was pre CrossFit days for me. Um, so I, at that point was, uh, a runner. Um, so I was able to run through my pregnancy. I can remember doing like a 10K, um, trail run in Banff, uh, when I was. Visibly pregnant. Um, and everyone cheering me on.
And yeah, I, I had, um, I had a good birth. Um, my postpartum recovery was, was good. Um, you know, it was, it was really great. Uh, and then of course I got pregnant with my twins. Um, and they were born two and a half years later. Um, and that pregnancy was very different. Okay. Um, so my twins, they were a particular type of twin, um, which is called mono di twins.
Um, so basically they, um, had one placenta, a shared placenta and then two separate amniotic sacs. Uh, and this type of twin pregnancy can be at risk for what they call twin to twin transfusion syndrome. Um, and, uh, In addition to that, one of my babies, they discovered had a single umbilical artery. Um, and so there was a lot of monitoring.
I was taken off of work, um, really early. I remember working in the physio clinic and my OB saying, you know, we're taking you off. And I'm like, This feels ridiculous. Um, and, uh, yeah, being given like a lot of restrictions. So, whereas I was active with my first singleton pregnancy, uh, with my twin pregnancy, I was not, um, my OB didn't want me lifting.
Didn't me, you know, doing. really much of anything right in terms of activity and exercise. Um, I had a great relationship with my OB. Um, I loved her. I trusted her. Um, and You know, I think that when we have, you know, fear of complications, um, I think as mothers we can, you know, go into that place where we'll do anything, you know, to try and protect our pregnancy and our babies.
And, uh, and so for me, what felt the right choice for me was to listen to what my OB said. Um, and so, you know, I wasn't very active throughout my pregnancy. Um, I experienced pelvic, uh, girdle pain during my pregnancy, um, during the second trimester. I was able to resolve that and I felt good in my third trimester, but I also remember, um, being shocked by how much my body changed, um, and Also by how difficult things were that I did not experience during my singleton pregnancy.
Um, so just things like getting out of bed was difficult to do. Um, and I, yeah, I'll never forget that, how, um, the simplest things were, were all of a sudden challenging to do. Um, I ended up, uh, being induced due to some signs of preeclampsia with my twin pregnancy. Um, and we did everything that we could, all the kinds of induction.
Um, and my body was just like, nope. Um, and so, um, ended up having, um, a C section with my twins. So kind of interesting as a pelvic physio that I, you know, I've got some personal experience with the vaginal birth and then also some experience with a C section birth. Um, and, uh, you know, with that, my C section recovery was, um, it was pretty good.
Um, and, uh, yeah, I dealt with a very significant diastasis after that. Um, and going back to your initial question about what was the most challenging aspect, um, you know, to be Truly honest for me, just personally, what I struggled with the most in my postpartum period after my twins was guilt. So I found it very difficult to go from that transition of being with my daughter.
So keeping in mind, I was taken off of work early. So we enjoyed this delicious period where it was just the two of us hanging out together and napping together in the afternoon. And, uh, you know, we were tight. And then all of a sudden having these two babies, um, that, you know, nursing and diapering and crying and being up every two hours with them.
Um, and, uh, it was, it was hard. Um, you know, to go from being able to just shower her with attention, um, to being so pulled in the care of two new little humans, uh, that needed me and her still, you know, obviously wanting mom, right? Um, so I think that was really difficult. Um, and. You know, I think one of the things that I pull from that, um, is that empathy for moms, um, when we're in that season of our lives, um, particularly for those people that are used to being athletic, they're used to having a lot of exercise, they're used to having that time and that energy to do that, um, and certainly what works for different humans is varied.
Um, so there's no right. There's no wrong. It's allowed to change. It's allowed to ebb and flow. Um, but giving ourselves that compassion, um, and knowing that we can also have permission to not exercise. Um, or to have exercise look differently, um, then we might ideally want it to look like or what it previously looked like.
And then that's okay. Um, and that I think can be sometimes one of the most courageous things that we can do, um, as new mothers is, you know, recognize what is in the shed pile. That isn't necessarily serving us. Um, so yeah, I love that. What a journey. Oh my goodness. I can only imagine going through twin postpartum experience, especially already having a toddler too.
That would be challenging. And so did you take quite a bit of time away from exercise after that twin pregnancy then? I did. Yeah. Um, so I was really gradual in my return to exercise after my twin pregnancy and in large part, to be quite honest, I was in survival mode. Yeah. So for sure. When you are, yeah, when you are up every two hours at night and you're not sleeping well, and then, um, you know, just trying to, again, like when I would have a free minute where I could, you know, my husband would be home in the evening and I could, you know, have him watch the babies.
I would just revel in being able to do some one on one time with my, my toddler. So that was the thing that, uh, that was a priority for me. Um, and then I also was dealing with, uh, a really significant diastasis. Um, and I can remember, um, you know, doing the head lift test, right, where you're lying on your back and you feel along your midline to, you know, palpate the linea alba.
And just feeling like both of my hands just like sink through my midline and just feeling this nauseous feeling, um, where I was just like, I'm not going to deal with this right now because I was in survival mode. And then eventually, as the clouds started to clear and, you know, things started to over time get easier and babies got a bit bigger.
Um, I started to, um, invest in rehab. Um, so yes, sort of exercise, but not in the way that I would traditionally need. think of exercise, right? Uh, starting with, you know, some just basic core exercises, um, and building up just by doing what I could when I could, um, nothing that was structured and just doing what felt achievable and sustainable.
And safe within my body, um, at the moment. Um, and then it probably wasn't until I think the twins were probably like 15 months old. Um, when I finally felt like I had the space and the opportunity in my life that I was able to start going to boot camp classes. Um, and I can remember, um, Going to this boot camp classes for like my first week and we were supposed to do these like spider man push ups You know the ones where you kind of go down and you'd like do the side bend and you like I don't know lift your one leg and bring your elbow and your knee together And I fell on my face and I had to laugh at myself because it's like, here we are, right?
Like this is where we are and let's embrace it and let's just enjoy this journey from wherever we are to wherever we're going to go. Um, and, uh, yeah, it took me down, you know, I did bootcamp for, for a while and then I ended up, um, switching over into CrossFit and, uh, yeah, rest is history. The rest is history.
So many people I think are going to resonate with that. I love that you said that you, you really didn't get back into exercise until 15 months. I think it's so important for people to hear that sometimes there's a lot of pressure for that six week clearance and get back into it. And it's just sometimes not, not the time.
Right. And to be clear, that's not to say that It's not appropriate for others and not that it meant like I didn't wait that long because I didn't think that it was safe for myself. Um, it was just the season of life that I was in and the choices and the priorities that felt right to me. Um, and that's a very personal thing.
Um, and that has no reflection on anyone else, what their choices or priorities are for them. Um, I 100 percent agree with. support, uh, women who, um, the best choice for them is to get back into exercise and a much earlier, uh, you know, time in their postpartum journey. Um, but for me, that wasn't a thing and that's okay too.
Yeah. And anywhere along that spectrum, of course. Yeah. So how has your. experience and then becoming a pelvic floor physio, can you tell us a little bit about how your approach with postpartum women has changed over time? Well, yeah, that's a good question. Um, I think, you know, it's changed a lot just as, um, I've learned more as.
evidence has changed. As a profession, we have started to challenge a lot of the old doctrines in terms of what was safe and what we should do and what we shouldn't do. Um, so I think that there's been a lot of progression, uh, in that, um, I think also A lot of the changes that have occurred in my practice are more around just like the foundation that everything rests upon.
Um, so I'm way more curious than I used to be. Um, I ask a lot more questions. I definitely champion shared decision making knowing that I'm not the expert that is telling them everything that they. Should or need to do. Um, but this is an active collaboration. Um, so, uh, yeah, my I think my sessions and my approach look very different than what they did, say, you know, 10 years ago.
Um, even five years ago. Um, and I think that that's a good thing, right? Like we, we all should be looking to constantly me. Transcribed And that doesn't mean that what we did previously was bad or wrong, but as we change and grow and learn and, you know, uh, as our collective understanding as a profession, um, progresses, hopefully we progress along with it as well.
Um, so yeah, I love that for sure. What are what are some of the sort of you said, challenge the old beliefs. What do you think some of those big ones are that I've just for our listeners? Yeah, so I think that a lot of it is around unnecessary restrictions. Um, so, um, Unnecessary restrictions and also physios wearing the hat of being the authority that are that we're telling people what they should and shouldn't do, as opposed to it being that place of honouring autonomy and collaborating with the people that we're working with.
You know, I think in terms of the restrictive stuff, I think back to like the old diastasis days where we were giving people T. A. contractions, um, and bent knee fallouts and, uh, you know, telling them not to do things, um, because they were going to, you know, make that diastasis worse. Um, it was very fearful, a lot of, uh, fear based messaging.
Um, and, you know, we were all very well intentioned. Uh, in preaching that, um, because that's what we had been told. That's what we had learned. That's what we believed to be true at the time. Um, and, uh, you know, fortunately that's changed. Um, yeah, I love that. Yeah. So in your journey, you've become an educator as well, which is really cool and, um, you're doing amazing things for our profession.
And so you, I'll, we'll let you kind of dive into, um, your tips. FC course and kind of what that's all about. And I know, um, that's open for enrollment, I believe right now, is it? Yeah. Well, and, uh, so I took your course and it was amazing. And I've messaged you a few times about how it's really helped me, uh, working with my clients, just giving me a different framework, a different sort of lens to see my clients through.
And just, I think, give me the confidence to realize that there's like you were saying before, there's no sort of like, do it this way, do it that way. Right. It's. There's many ways to get to the same result. And so through that course, I just really recognize your passion with just helping people continue to move, continue to exercise, not giving them again, those restrictions and basically just sort of changing how they move in order to keep them moving.
So how did you develop that framework? What got you to that point? And why are you so passionate about helping women stay active? They're all such good questions. Yeah, there's a lot of layers there. So TipsFC came about, um, at the time I was doing a lot of teaching alongside Anthony Lowe. Um, so acting as an assistant on his courses, teaching alongside him.
So I had the great pleasure and privilege of, um, being exposed to many different clinicians and fitness professionals through these courses. Um, and one of the things that, um, would often, you know, come out for me is that, you know, folks would. Um, they'd kind of like, just be on board with things that kind of fit in with their biases.
But then they kind of like just dismiss the things that that didn't fit in. Um or they would remember certain things, but then they kind of totally forget about other aspects that were important to the clinical picture. Um and so you know, tips FC came about by trying to pull together everything into, um, a simplified framework so that people could.
look at the individual trees and understand the individual trees, but also not lose the forest for the trees. Um, if that makes sense. So, um, yeah, it's meant to bring together all the different aspects that have the potential to create change in someone's experience, whether they're having pain. pelvic health symptoms, which could be leaking, um, could be prolapse symptoms, um, or, uh, issues with diastasis, um, or, um, even performance aspects.
Um, so maybe they aren't having any symptoms, but they're looking to get better at doing something. Uh, and whether that is, um, you know, an older client who is having difficulty getting up from the couch. Um, you know, without that being effortful or whether that's an elite athlete in the gym who is looking to PR their next lift or their next wad.
Um, so, uh, yeah, so it's, um, it's an acronym that goes through all these different categories of, um, potential places that we can intervene. And not all of them are going to be applicable to every individual in every situation, but it allows clinicians to have a framework to work from some structure, um, so that they can, you know, look at the individual in front of them and hopefully try to identify what are the, I call them the big rocks.
Like what are the big things that kind of jump out for them where they might want to change that? Um, but then also be able to go back to something and say, well, what else might I be missing? Um, and also have a framework for for them to actively challenge their biases. Um, so as an example, one, uh, uh, one of the categories is pressure.
Uh, so with pressure, we're referring to intra abdominal pressure and you know, a lot of physios like to. You know, use the things like low as you go or exhale with exertion. Um, you know, these ideas that we shouldn't be holding our breath that we should always be exhaling. Um, and, you know, we can get kind of stuck in those biases.
Um, and no doubt those are strategies that could be beneficial and can work for people. Um, but what if that's not actually the best strategy for the person in the task? Um, and, uh, you know, so we need to be able to go back and, and see, well, have we tried anything else? Um, maybe, um, a breath hold is actually going to be less symptomatic than that exhalation with exertion.
Um, or maybe we want to inhale on that movement, or maybe we want to change something else. Um, so yeah, it gives us, um, you know, somewhere to, yeah, to kind of challenge, uh, our beliefs. And to explore, um, and also to provide permission, um, to ourselves and to the people that we're working with to explore movement of that.
So I'm just curious because, yeah, so again, it's, it's a really great course to just keep people moving and to not have that fear based messaging of. Avoid this, don't do this, which I really love. So in your experience working with clients, do you have people come to see you that maybe had seen other practitioners that received that type of messaging?
And is that like, I just can really see your passion with continuing to get people moving and not, you know, having that fear. Is that something you experienced with your clients? I do. Yeah. Um, yeah. And I think that it doesn't have to come from other clinicians. I mean, sometimes that does happen. I think that it's all around us, right?
So you only have to go as far as your phone or your computer and, and Google and, you know, all of that messaging is around us. And even when we think about like, pain science principles. Um, I know certainly for myself growing up in North American society, very much the narrative that pain, you know, equals damage, um, was a belief that I, you know, thought was true.
Um, so, you know, I think, yes, it definitely can come from very well intentioned clinicians or fitness professionals. who are, I believe, doing the best that they can with their current understanding, um, and who, unfortunately, can convey messaging that is not evidence based and is potentially harmful while well intentioned.
Um, but, um, you know, when we know better, we can do better. Uh, and that's why education is really, really important for me because I can have You know, I can have an impact on the people that come to see me as clients in my clinic, but that's a very small number of people in comparison to the people around the world, right?
So if I can have an impact on helping to empower other clinicians and other fitness professionals to then go out and empower all the people that they work with, then this have a much bigger, bigger difference. This doesn't matter. We need to keep people moving because, you know, movement influences everything, right?
Our self perception, our confidence, the way that we can show up in our lives, um, it, it is truly biopsychosocial. Um, so we think about exercise and movement as having influences on our cardiovascular system, our musculoskeletal system, our bone health as we progress through our lifespan, our preservation of our lean tissue.
Um, you know, there's so many effects on our physical body, but then also those effects on our cognition, our emotional health, um, our social connections and, um, you know, just the ripples throughout our entire life. Span. Um, you know, you have someone who, uh, has leaking in the postpartum period and that becomes a barrier to exercise for them and no one ever helps them with that.
What happens to the trajectory of their life? Yeah. Right. Versus, you know, you help that person to realize that movement and exercise can still be a delicious part of their lives. Um, and you can totally change their life. Um, so I just, yeah, I think it's so important. So cool. I love to, I love to, to convince people that they're not fragile.
Mm-Hmm. , you birth the human, you know? Right. You're a rockstar. Mm-Hmm. . Yeah. . I say that all the time. Um, okay, so let's dive into skipping as sort of an example of all this. Sure. Many women have a legitimate fear and aversion to skipping because they leak when they do it. What are some practical strateg strategies?
Pardon me, our listeners can use if they leak when they skip. Great question. So with skipping, it really depends upon how they're skipping. And we can look at changing the how. Um, so what are some common things that we may notice? So if you consider going into like a CrossFit gym and we've got maybe some double unders on the board, and maybe some folks are doing some single unders as well.
Um, we may notice that there are various strategies going on with that. Um, so within the strategy category of Tips FC, we may notice that someone is doing what we call a Pike Uh, technique where they're like hiking their legs. Their legs are staying straight and they're kind of kicking them forward as they're doing their double unders.
We may have someone who's doing like a stomper technique where they're bringing their knees up quite high and having a high impact, um, movement down. Uh, we may find that they're creating a ton of tension within their back. Um, uh, you know, really kind of extending through their, their head and their neck as they're doing this.
And those are just a few of them, uh, but we can look at the strategy and see what's happening with tension. Um, so the higher the tension that we're generating within our body, the higher the intra abdominal pressure. And very commonly, the more likely we are to leak, right? When that pressure above exceeds the closure pressure at the urethral sphincter level.
He's going to come out. Um, so, um, looking at how someone is doing it and seeing, can we change the way that they're doing it in order to make those symptoms better? Um, so sometimes this requires practice, right? Um, so obviously if someone is, you know, doing spiking, uh, piking, or they're stomping or these kinds of things, uh, then we might need to do some technique work.
Um, if their technique actually looks pretty good, um, we might look at tension. Um, so are they just, you know, kind of dialing that global tension up a lot and that's what's driving their pressure up? Uh, and if so, how can we potentially cue them to have some softness? Um, so we might cue them to just kind of be relaxed and to dial that tension back in their body as they're skipping.
Uh, and different cues are going to work for different people. So there's not like. One right cue, you just have to try them on and one cue might work for one person and the next person the way their nervous system responds to that cue is different. So we want to be flexible and creative and in coming up with things.
And we can also invite them into the picture as well and ask them, you know, you know, we might even film their skipping and show it to them, they may have never seen themselves skip before and ask them, what do you think is going on? And what do you think you could potentially try differently to see if this creates a difference in your symptoms?
Um, now we can also look at, um, you know, things like the height of the jump. Um, we can look at what the impact of, um, fatigue is. Um, so sometimes, um, we might be okay with skipping up into a certain point when either our whole body gets fatigued and as our whole body gets fatigued, what ends up happening?
Intra abdominal pressure goes up, um, or maybe there's a local fatigue that's setting in at the level of the pelvic floor such that we're just kind of reaching our current tolerance. Um, and so maybe we need to. you know, uh, factor in, um, some programming decisions, maybe some rest intervals. Um, maybe we're going to build up capacity over time.
Um, we can also think about what's happening within the bladder itself. So do we have a happy and content bladder or do we have a bladder that's a bit irritated? Right. Um, so maybe someone is having like a pre workout before they are doing their CrossFit workout and that pre workout has, um, stimulants in it, potentially caffeine, and maybe it has some artificial colors and flavors in it.
Things that can potentially act as bladder irritants. Um, that mean that the, you know, feelings of urgency or leaking that we might experience can be exacerbated if we have that on board before we, um, you know, we're doing our skipping. Um, so people often have no idea that that could potentially be influencing their symptoms.
Um, so yeah, so it's really, um, it comes down to the individual. How are they skipping? And what can we potentially change? Um, in terms of strategy, tension, pressure, impact, um, and then considering other things as well. So sensitivity falls into that as well. Um, and sensitivity, you know, we could use distraction.
Um, so, you know, whether music is playing or whether it's not, um, one that I, I sometimes like to use is drawing a chalk box on the ground. Um, and then having someone just focus on kind of staying within the box, particularly if they're a traveler, when they're skipping, they're moving around a lot. Um, or maybe they're going to think about, you know, counting in their head or, or something just to kind of, you know, uh, distract their mind away from, um, you know, potentially thinking, Oh no, I'm going to pee or whatever, you know, the thought process is that potentially could be changing what's happening within their body.
And is this going to work for everyone? No. So that's why we create movement experiments and we apply test retest to this. Um, so again, I would watch that person skip. Um, I would see, okay, what are the big rocks? Like, what are the things within their technique of skipping that really jumps out to me that we might wanna change?
Um, and, you know, start there. Um, and if it, if that's all you need, great. You know, that might be just where you want to end, but you might want to cycle back around and try some other things as well. Amazing. So great. I think it's important too, for our listeners that to, and you can correct me if I'm wrong here, Teresa, but this could be applicable to pelvic organ prolapse symptoms or pain or anything.
of the sort. Absolutely. So great. And we can also transfer everything Teresa just said outside of skipping, right? So whether that's running, whether that's jumping jacks, I messaged Teresa about like one of my clients that had success with jumping jacks with this framework. So anything that you want to do, any way that you want to move and you're having symptoms with, you don't have to live in fear of that movement.
So many things. That's the cool thing about just hearing this framework. There's endless possibilities of ways we can change that movement to keep you doing what you love. It's not something you just have to give up. And trampolines. Trampolines. Trampolines. Who doesn't care of trampolines? Um, we apply the TIPS ST framework to changing abdominal wall, um, during, you know, for folks who have diastasis.
We apply it to folks who are having dyspareunia, painful intercourse. So, so, so many, uh, different applications. Um, and you just need the one framework. And once you understand it, you can apply it to any situation, um, that someone is coming to see you for. So good. I love it. So we have, um, a lot of practitioners that listened to this podcast as well.
And would you have some advice for Dayna and I'm sure would love to hear it too. Um, how to balance everything. I know there's no such thing as balance. It's more balancing and it changes over time, but just over the years of, you know, being a physiotherapist and managing a business and having three children.
So what are some tips you have for us in that? Yeah. Um, so it's hard. Um, and I think that it's important, you know, for us to authentically own that and that it's okay if it's hard. I think when we show up from a place of like, I got it all figured out. Um, you know, that's just, No, no one does. Right? Um, so, um, I'm imperfect at, uh, balancing everything, right?
That mythical balance, uh, wherever it exists. I don't know. Um, I think allowing for ebbs and flow in life is important. Um, so sometimes you might be investing a lot of time and energy in your business as an example. Um, and that that's okay. Um, and then another period of life. Maybe you're going to be investing a lot of time in your family.
Um, you know, we are allowed to, uh, ebb and flow, uh, in these various areas and there's allowed to be give and take and that's okay. I think setting boundaries is really important. Um, and I really love Dr. Kristen Neff's work on self compassion and in particular her work on fear self compassion. Um, so the idea if it's not.
a hell yes, it's a no. Um, I think is important. Uh, I think sometimes when you're really passionate about things and you really love what you do, we can run into trouble because we end up with too many hell yeses. Uh, and that's where I think that fear self compassion really comes into play. Um, I think it's also really important for us to surround ourselves with people that truly have our backs that encourage us and uplift us.
Um, I am super, super blessed to have a number of people, um, that I can, you know, call my friends that, uh, they know that I love and support them and, uh, they love and support me. Um, and I think the other thing I would say is, you know, having that self compassion, but also. Willingness to just be vulnerable and authentic.
Um, and I love Brene Brown's work. Um, and like her gifts of imperfection is a book that I read, um, you know, several years ago. And I remember that book, like it changed my life. Um, because I feel like so much throughout my life. And I think this is true of many, um, people in our work. Um, you know, we're high achievers.
We're type we're people pleasers. Um, and that can be really hard to. So, you know, embracing our imperfections, um, realizing that this is common humanity. Um, you know, I don't know any person that I truly look up to and admire that doesn't also have. This as well, right? Um, you know, so it's okay. We can all be works in progress and at the same time be amazing individuals.
Um, and I think that's all I have to say about that. Oh, so good. The elusive balance, right? The elusive. All right. Well, this has been so good. Teresa, can you let everybody know? How can we sign up for your tips FC course? When does one start again? How can people connect with you? Yeah, I'd love to. So my tips FC course right now is hosted live online with reframe rehab.
Um, so you can check the reframe rehab website and you should be able to find the current course offerings there. Uh, I have a. course offering starting just actually this weekend, uh, that's specific for the Australian North American time zone. And then we have one that is tailored for the North American UK time zone.
That's coming up in March. Um, I also have a course called beyond the pelvis, which is coming out with a pelvic health solutions, uh, this spring. Um, and I have a joint course with Anthony Lowe, uh, reframing resistance training across the lifespan. that will be coming up with Reframe Rehab. Um, uh, it's the second time that we've offered it and that's going to be, I think, in May.
Um, but, uh, yeah, whenever folks are tuning into this podcast, uh, this may be months down the road, um, but you should be able to, um, to check the Reframe Rehab, uh, website. site, pelvic health solutions, and you should be able to find my live online courses there. Um, or you can check, um, rx physiotherapy. com.
That's my website. And I usually try to keep, um, um, a tab on my website of courses, um, with the different courses that, uh, that I'm offering. Awesome. We'll put all that in the show notes and you are at rx physio on instagram, right? That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Thanks so much, Teresa. This is such a good chat.
Yeah. So many valuable tips, no pun intended. Um, so thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to today's podcast. We hope you enjoyed the conversation. If you liked what you heard, we would love if you could share this with a friend, leave us a review, or subscribe to anywhere that you listen to your podcasts.
Thanks for being here.
