#22: Pelvic Health & OT with Lindsey Vestal (CE Course)

[lindsey6 (Lindsey Vestal)]

Take the Quiz to get 1 CEU

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Full Course Details: Public course page
Learn more about our guest: Lindsey Vestal, M.S. OTR/L

Read the article and discussion upon which this podcast is based.

Course Description

Released December 7, 2021 from Aurora, NE

The research we explore in this podcast calls pelvic floor dysfunction a significant and neglected public health issue.

The authors share a discouraging statistic: despite pelvic floor dysfunction impacting around 25% of women in the US, there is a profound lack of understanding of the disorder and how to treat it.

The good news is that OTs are perfectly poised to help meet the needs of pelvic health patients! We’ll use our primary research article to jumpstart our understanding of pelvic floor rehab, including how pelvic floor dysfunction impacts occupation.

Then, it is my pleasure to welcome Lindsey Vestal of the Functional Pelvis to join us. Lindsey is truly a pioneer in promoting OT’s role in pelvic health, and she will discuss her own practice providing pelvic floor rehab in people’s homes. At the end, we’ll also talk about the future of OT’s role in pelvic health, including which trends you should be watching.

Primary Research Explored

Be sure to check out the OT Potential Club’s written breakdown of the following research article. Then, share your questions and thoughts with fellow practitioners.

Burkhart, R., Couchman, K., Crowell, K., Jeffries, S., Monvillers, S., &; Vilensky, J. (2020). Pelvic floor dysfunction after childbirth: Occupational impact and awareness of available treatment . OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health, 41(2), 108–115.

Recommended Resources

Assessments

• Australian Pelvic Floor Questionnaire
• Context Sensitivity Index
• Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)

See all Pelvic Health Assessments

Books

• ACT On Your Business: Braving the storms of entrepreneurship and creating success through meaning, mindset, and mindfulness
• Beyond Kegels: Fourth Edition
• The Bathroom Key: Put an End to Incontinence
• It’s No Accident: Breakthrough Solutions To Your Child’s Wetting, Constipation, UTIs, And Other Potty Problems

Podcasts

• To Birth and Beyond

Secondary Research

Radzimińska, A., Strączyńska, A., Weber-Rajek, M., Styczyńska, H., Strojek, K., & Piekorz, Z. (2018). The impact of pelvic floor muscle training on the quality of life of women with urinary incontinence: a systematic literature review . Clinical interventions in aging, 13, 957–965.

Sobhgol, S. S., Priddis, H., Smith, C. A., & Dahlen, H. G. (2019). The Effect of Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercise on Female Sexual Function During Pregnancy and Postpartum: A Systematic Review . Sexual medicine reviews, 7(1), 13–28.

Learning Objectives

• You will be able to identify the occupations most commonly impacted by pelvic floor dysfunction, notably which ones you can address in your treatment.
• You will be able to describe what an OT evaluation of pelvic floor dysfunction entails.

Agenda

Intro (5 minutes)

Breakdown and analysis of journal article (10 minutes)

• What is the pelvic floor?
• What is pelvic floor dysfunction?
• What was the goal of this paper?
• What were the authors’ methods?
• What were the results?
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• Takeaways for OT practitioners

Discussion on practical implications for OTs (with guest Lindsey Vestal) (45 minutes)

• Can you tell us the story of how you found pelvic health OT?
• What were your initial impressions of the journal article?
• Do you view pelvic floor dysfunction as a significant public health issue?
• How do people typically find you when looking for pelvic floor rehab?
• Can you tell us briefly about what your evals look like with these patients?
• What treatments do you utilize?
• What do you think needs to happen to make the public more aware of pelvic floor dysfunction and treatment options?
• How would you like to see occupational therapy change over the next 5-10 years to support more OTs going into this practice?
• If someone wants to learn more about incorporating pelvic health services into their practice, what is the first step you would recommend?

Contact Hours

1 hour (0.1 AOTA CEUs)

Target Audience/Educational Level

Our target audience is occupational therapy practitioners who are looking to learn about pelvic-floor occupational therapy. The educational level is introductory.

Instructional Methods/Registration/Special Needs Requests/Cancellation Policy

This course is an independent/self-study course delivered via podcast on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play. Explore your listening options on the OT Potential Podcast page.

If you need accommodations to take this course, please contact us and we will address your needs on an individual basis.

If this course were to be cancelled, please see our cancellation policy on our terms page.

Course Completion Requirements

In order to receive a certificate for this course, you must first listen to the podcast in its entirety. Then, you will need to take the test (found at the top of this page) and earn 75% or higher. If you pass, a certificate will be automatically generated and sent to your email.

Speakers

Lindsey Vestal, M.S. OTR/L :

Lindsey Vestal is the founder of The Functional Pelvis, the first in-home pelvic health practice in New York City run by an Occupational Therapist.

She has helped thousands of people overcome chronic pelvic health challenges like incontinence and pelvic pain. Her goal is to empower women and men to listen to the wisdom of their own bodies—without resorting to invasive surgeries or prescription drugs—so they can heal and get back to enjoying life again.

SHE TAKES A DIFFERENT APPROACH FROM OTHER PELVIC HEALTH EXPERTS.

In fact, she doesn’t really take an “expert” approach at all.

Instead, she relies on her clients to share their expertise about their own bodies.

That way she can offer the personalized support they need to regain control of their basic bodily functions.

She considers the whole person, not just outward physical symptoms.

She doesn’t believe kegels are a one-stop shop for every pelvic floor dysfunction.

She also teaches AOTA CEU approved OTs courses on how to specialize in pelvic health and how to start their own private pay business, whether or not you are an OT in pelvic health. She has a thriving FB group called “OTs for Pelvic Health” where she hosts free weekly lives chocked full with case studies, business topics and more.

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L:

Sarah’s passion is helping fellow OT practitioners translate evidence into daily practice. Sarah earned her BA in religion from St. Olaf College, then earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 2011. Since then, she’s worked in numerous facilities, including a critical access hospital, an acute trauma hospital, and a state inpatient psychiatric hospital.

In 2011, Sarah launched OT Potential because she realized we needed a reliable source of quality occupational therapy-related content and resources. She has also had the opportunity to create content for brands like WebPT, MedBridge, Saebo, and NeuroLutions.

She launched the OT Potential Club in 2019 to marry her love of simplifying complex topics with her desire to help therapists access the most important OT-related research released each year.

Sarah is a prairie girl at heart, which is why she returned to her hometown to raise her children in Aurora, Nebraska (home of the strobe light).

After earning your certificate, please consider taking a moment to answer the following three questions:

1.) On a scale of 1-5 please indicate the degree to which the learning objectives were met.

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2.) Please rate our instructors on a scale of 1-5.

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3.) On a scale of 1-5, please rate the learning environment of the Club.

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Please share any other feedback below! Including, ideas for future programming, and most importantly, how you feel this podcast will impact your practice!

[sanchala (Sanchala Sen)]

Great podcast by Lindsey. Very excited to see many more OTs getting trained and practicing pelvic health issues. I have added this topic to my ‘emerging areas of practice’ course as one of the newer areas OTs can explore.
After listening to the podcast, I think it makes so much sense for OTs to practice in this area. Like Lindsey says- we are already there with the client in the most private areas- bathroom, discussing/adapting sexual functions, addressing sleep-everything that can be impacted by pelvic health. Nice work Lindsey and Sarah, thank you.

[vanessa4 (Vanessa Dallaris)]

I’m happy i learned something new. I had no idea OTs can work with the pelvis. I’m equally surprised and motivated when the author talked about how she was not taught this in class, but she sort of “discovered” it. Very nice article.

[savel (Savel Sabol)]

I always enjoy these podcasts and recommend them to my colleagues constantly! One topic I would enjoy hearing about is navigating working in the OT profession as someone with a disability.

[SarahLyon]

Hi @savel!! I’m so glad to hear you are liking the episodes!! I’m super interested in having someone on the podcast to talk about how our profession can be more inclusive of professionals with a disability. Does anyone come to mind for you, who you would like to hear speak on this topic?

[Bonnie66 (Bonnie Fischer-Camara)]

Great podcast! I was unaware of this area of OT and think it is amazing!

[SarahLyon]

Oh yay!! We are so honored to be part of spreading the word about this important practice area!

[hannah5 (Hannah Birkbeck)]

I love listening to practitioners that are so clearly in love with what they do. There was joy in Lindsey’s voice when talking about her work. I learned a lot from this podcast and article and I’m excited to learn more about an OTs role in pelvic health.

[sherry5 (Sherry Cebada)]

Excellent intro podcast on pelvic health! As a CLT (Certificed Lymphedema Therapist) we get so many referrals from the pelvic health team at our clinic and this helped provide greater understanding of their work. We are working together to address genital edema. The pelvic team is often the first to identify and refer patients for lymphedema and lipedema diagnosis and treatment. It’s a wonderful OT/PT relationship for our clients. Would love to see a podcast on the growing work of MLD (manual lymph drainage) and lymphedema/lipedema, which is also an under diagnosed and misunderstood health issue.

[SarahLyon]

@sherry5

Would love to see a podcast on the growing work of MLD (manual lymph drainage) and lymphedema/lipedema, which is also an under diagnosed and misunderstood health issue

Hey @sherry5! I would love to do a podcast on this!!! If you have any suggestions for research or guests- send it my way! We are scheduled out for 2022- but I think this should be a priority to get on the calendar for 2023!

[audra2 (Audra Killingsworth)]

Great podcast and discussion! Pelvic health occupational therapy helps so many and could help so many more. The more discussion we have and more people are aware of the possibility of how much we can help, the better our wellness will be.