In this interview with Heather Edwards, Antony and Marika learn a lot about gender, sex, sexuality, BDSM and more!

Heather has been a pelvic physical therapist since 2003 and is one of only a few AASECT (American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists) certified sex counselors in the world. As an artist, she has a line of coloring books the blend gender-inclusive genital anatomy with fun and approachable designs. As a producer and host, she created a sex-ed-in-a-bar event series, Vino & Vulvas, in 2015.

In this episode, Heather tells us about her journey in pelvic health and how she fell into it when no one else wanted to! Along the way, Heather discovered an interest in sexuality and wanted to learn more about this topic, so she went on to do further studies.
Some of the questions that we asked Heather were:

• What does LGBTQIA stand for?
• What is the difference between sex and gender?
• As a health or fitness professional, how can we support people of all genders and orientations in our clinics? How important is the environment and our language? (NB Heather recommended the podcast Decolonising Fitness)
• Where can health and fitness professionals learn more about supporting LGBTQIA clients?
• When doing a subjective assessment, how do we create a safe space so that our clients feel comfortable sharing information?
• What does BDSM stand for and how can knowledge of this area help in working with clients with pelvic pain?
• When people talk of penetrative sex as being the goal, how can we introduce other aspects of sensuality into their rehabilitation program?
• Are there any particular things you’d like pelvic health physiotherapists to know about gender reaffirmation surgery?

Please Click Here to download the colouring pages – you can buy the book from Amazon by Clicking Here.

You can find Heather:
http://www.heatheredwardscreations.com
vinoandvulvas@gmail.com
https://pelvicguru.com/event/trans-inclusive-trauma-informed-kink-aware-care-optimizing-sexual-wellness-in-atlanta-ga/

In this incredibly practical episode, we interview Teresa Waser and ask her for her top tips for helping female athletes.

Teresa is an Orthopaedic and Pelvic Health physiotherapist, operating within a non-traditional model. She works at RX Physiotherapy, her clinic located within a CrossFit gym in Leduc, Alberta, Canada where she has also coached running clinics and CrossFit, particularly in older adults. She also has a special interest in pregnant and postpartum athletes. When not in the clinic, she acts as Senior Teaching Assistant for Antony Lo’s The Female Athlete course, in addition to teaching her own seminars independently.

Teresa shares her journey within physiotherapy and her frustrations along the way as her beliefs were being challenged. She talks about when she discovered pain science and how her thought process changed after doing the Female Athlete Course and The Masterclass Program – Peak Simplicity – with Antony Lo.

Teresa then goes on to outline her acronym TIIPPSS- FC that she developed to help give course participants, and later all health and fitness professionals, a framework to think about what aspects of the person’s presentation they could change.

T= tension to task (global and local)
I = Impact (eg with the body or with equipment)
I = Irritability (incl irritants of the pelvic organs or symptom irritability)
P = Posture and Position (ie static and dynamic)
P = Pressure (ie IAP. Modified by breathing, muscle contraction etc)
S = Strategy (eg technique, scaling)
S = Sensitivity (central and local. Consider sleep, stress, beliefs, attitudes etc)

F = Fatigue (is the person experiencing symptoms at the end of a session?)
C = Capacity (ie SAID principles)

Teresa then gives examples of how these principles can be applied to clients.
Eg a client who has some mild low back pain with deadlifting.
A client who has some leaking with running.

You can learn more about Teresa here:

Website:
www.rxphysiotherapy.com
www.pelvicguru.com/professional/teresa-waser/

Email:
teresa@rxphysiotherapy.com

FB:
www.fb.me/teresa.graysonwaser
www.fb.me/rxphysiotherapy

IG:
www.instagram.com/rxphysio