Pelvic Floor Dysfunction After Childbirth: Occupational Impact and Awareness of Available Treatment

Article Reviews
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I love this question! @satvika do you have any suggestions for new grads who are interested in getting involved in research like this?

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@SarahLyon, thanks for tagging me. Absolutely! A lot depends on which kind of setting you work in. If you are in a large hospital, see if it has a research dept. or is affiliated to a university with OT/PT/physical med. dept. If it is, then you might be able to reach out & collaborate with the researchers there. If not, then look around you & reach out to people with research experience who might then be able to guide you to researchers working in your area if interest. The best way might be to look at faculty profiles at a university close to you or look through researcherā€™s profiles on AOTA & AOTF websites and reach out to people from there. You might also want to attend a conference on the topic you are interested in and do some networking there to get started. Sometimes, it also helps to reach out to authors of the research papers on your topic of interest to get some guidance. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

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Trisha, we have a list of OT mentors on my Facebook group @otsforpelvichealth! It lists their geographic location, their years of practice and their area of speciality!

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Herman + Wallace offers courses for the geriatric population: Herman & Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Continuing Education - Geriatric Pelvic Floor Rehab
and Medbridge:
Pelvic Floor & Incontinence Education for Providers and Patients | MedBridge

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I have experience personally with PFD. Itā€™s possible that it started with childbirth but in my case, I believe it was worsened by my OT work in acute care. I do a lot of lifting and obviously that is not a good idea with PFD. I donā€™t believe our occupation or for that matter physical therapy addresses this as an occupational hazard. It does however depend on the area that you work. When employers say something like lifting of 50# is required this is usually not the case when lifting and moving people as it is much more than this. I donā€™t believe the majority of acute care hospitals have overhead lifts which really should be the case. I recently completed my required reading for work relating to lifting in the hospital and it stated that there was no safe way to manually lift a person. You can minimize the manual lifting impact by using back precautions but not completely. As far as PFD surgical options, I have heard the it can have an 80% success rate but I have also seen information requiring more surgery. Who wants that? I think preventative strategies is the best option if you address it early enough. I believe hospitals need to address the lifting equipment and spend the money to protect their employees.

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There is so much great information shared by Lindsey in this podcast! I have some experience with incontinence management from my time working in SNF and ALF settings. I agree that most donā€™t talk about PFD due to embarrassment. I know family members who experience PFD following childbirth, my mother still has issues 38 yrs after having her last child. This so would pair well with offering Infant Massage classes where we help build the bond and attachment between child and parent, but also to help motherā€™s feel important, loved, and valued to function in their day to day tasks.

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