What You Need to Know about Pelvic Health with Emilee VanHoven, DPT

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Episode 46. You guys. I have the pleasure of sharing with you today my chat with Emilee VanHoven PT, DPT, AT, ATC. I was excited about this interview, but listening to it back today, I got chills. I think that Emilee is wise beyond her years and I’ve learned so much from her. I’ve gone down a rabbit hole lately into the world of women’s health care and the areas where we are missing the mark. This podcast is all about how to move away from ineffective strategies to “control our bodies” and try to get them to fit into societal mold of what health is supposed to look like. Then we also want to look at what works, what’s effective.

What struck me in this interview was Emilee’s talk about holding space for women, meeting them where they are at and helping guide them to take the step that feels doable at that time. Empowering them and not worrying about throwing all the evidence-based strategies at them during the short amount of time they have.

It made me truly reflect on the importance of having more women in healthcare, because women can be pretty darn great at doing this. We need more providers willing and able to work within the system to hold space for all people, but particularly women as they navigate balancing work and home life, particularly pregnancy and post-partum.

In this interview, we cover a lot, including but not limited to:

• What is the pelvic floor and why all women, really all humans, need to better understand it
• The time periods in your life where a pelvic floor PT visit would be useful (you’ll probably be surprised about this!)
• What symptoms indicate pelvic floor dysfunction
• There is WAY more to it than “Just do kegels!” And in fact that advice may not be what you need at all
• We talk about the role of shame, pressure, and shoulds and again how it’s way less about your provider having the perfect strategies and way more about creating space for healing, which may mean you don’t get to all the perfect strategies
• Do NOT miss what she says that almost every women says when Emilee looks at their abdomen during her assessment
• The crucial importance of creating more space for women to share their stories versus just giving them all the strategies

Emilee is a licensed physical therapist and athletic trainer who practices in the fields of both pelvic health and performing arts. She has been working in healthcare for eight years and has a passion for helping her patients return to what they love. She has completed her pelvic floor coursework through Herman and Wallace and is eager to continue diving deeper into her areas of interest. Presently, she treats women only, and enjoys seeing diagnoses including: urinary incontinence, pelvic pain, pain with intercourse, pelvic organ prolapse, back and tailbone pain, and pregnancy and postpartum-related issues such as back, SI joint, and pelvic pain, diastasis recti, and C-section/perineal scar dysfunction. What Emilee is most passionate about is getting to know you as a person and walking alongside you as you find holistic fulfillment in your health.

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Are You New Here?

Welcome! I’m so glad to have you. You might be wondering what this blog and podcast are all about.

We relate everything in this podcast back to motivation, but not the hustle and grind kind. Truly sustainable motivation that keeps you feeling energetic and engaged in your life for the long haul. We talk about why “I’m just not motivated” is a myth, and why the TYPE of motivation you have is so important to fully understand. If you are ready to learn about motivation and respecting your body in an effective way so that you can live a life you truly love, you are in the right place.

Check out the Foundational Episodes of the Motivation Made Easy Podcast here!

• Introduction: What is this podcast all about?
• Episode 1: Want to Get & Stay Motivated? A Crash Course on Motivation, Weight Loss, and Health
• Episode 2: How Dieting Steals Our Motivation
• Episode 3: How To Get Motivated To Improve Your Health (Motivation 101)
• Episode 4: How to Transform Health Fears Into Forward Progress

Are you ready to take that first step?

Are you struggling with:

• Decision fatigue and feelings of overwhelm?
• Do you wake up anxious, not sure what to eat or focus on in your day?
• Or maybe you just aren’t sure you’re spending your time on the right things… Maybe you end up scrolling through your phone, or maybe you just jump into your emails. You don’t really know what to prioritize.

You finish your day focused on all the things you didn’t get done, frustrated and angry that you aren’t more focused on what truly matters. Maybe you felt that you weren’t present with your kids or loved ones. I know that’s the one that hurts me the MOST.

Or maybe you are like okay, so don’t focus on calorie counting or dieting, but what DO I focus on?

If you are ready to start getting clarity on this, it first starts with refining your values.

This is the #1 strategy I hear over and over that is MOST HELPFUL in developing autonomous and sustainable motivation, is to clarify your values. Have you done it yet? Or lately?

Grab the free guide at DrHondorp.com/goals which will walk you through step by step a process to get started on clarifying what matters to you, and what you should be focusing on at this season of your life. It’s never too late to stop dieting, reconnect to what matters, and to start truly living.

The gift of being able to walk alongside women in this journey will never fall lightly on me.

– Emilee Van Hoven, PT, DPT

What You Need to Understand about Pelvic Health

1. Pelvic health evaluation and treatment is incredibly underutilized. In many other countries (e.g., France) a pelvic health check is standard care, like a well child visit. We need to do better in terms of educating providers on its importance so that more women can feel supported and empowered.
2. There is WAY more to it than “Just do kegels!” In fact many times that’s the opposite of what you truly need.
3. There’s so much value in knowing and honoring your body.
4. We need to do so much better in so many areas with how we support women’s health, particularly around the parenthood journey.
5. You deserve providers who empower you, create space for you to process hard things. If you don’t have this yet, keep looking.

Support Independent Bookstores Near You!

Did you know that that if nothing slows their momentum, Amazon will have almost 80% of the book market by the end of 2025?

Look, I love the convenience of Amazon, but I’ve got a super cool way that you can support local bookstores and my blog and podcast simply by buying books like you already do! You can choose any bookstore on the list in the US and Canada (they plan to expand to other counties in the future) OR you can just let the donation get split between all stores. As of this recording, they have raised 15 million dollars for local bookstores. On my bookshop, you will see my absolute favorite books related to health and wellness, courage and vulnerability, and even my favorite fiction and kids books!

My recent favorite related to improving the quality of our lives was Digital Minimalism. Our family actually has decided to do an optional screen free August to re-evaluate the role of screen time in our lives.

So if you believe in supporting local businesses, please consider buying your books through Bookshop from now on!

The Psychology of Wellness Bookshop Link.

Disclaimer: This blog and podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual professional advice or treatment, including medical or mental health advice. It does not constitute a provider patient relationship.

Disclosure: Using the Bookshop.org links in this post means that I would get an affiliate fee if you purchase from the online bookshop (this supports my business, and local bookstores too!).

Credit: This blog post was co-written and edited by Sarah Grace Rapoport, podcast and blog manager and Psychology of Wellness Intern, and Dr. Shawn Hondorp.