Are you really that delicate?
We took our border terrier, Addie, for her first formal grooming last week. We volunteered her to be a part of a training where the groomers were learning how to hand strip (what you do with wire hair dogs). I stayed with her and was petting her to help her stay calm. But when I started to pet her against the grain, the groomer straight up reprimanded me and said I would damage one of her muscles (I don’t remember which one. Not relevant.)
Here’s the thing, Addie’s breed was bred to pull vermin out of holes. And, now I’m stating the obvious, if a dog goes in the hole, it has to come out of the hole. Which will pull hair against the grain SIGNIFICANTLY harder than I was petting her!
I was telling my friend this story and she said, “Yeah, this is exactly how it is in pelvic PT.”
“DON’T LIFE WITH PROLAPSE!”
“DON’T RUN WITH LEAKAGE!”
“DON’T BREATHE WRONG!”
Give me a break. We are NOT that freaking delicate!
I feel far more confident saying this 23 years into practice, going through this myself, and seeing how the research has changed. We really need to reexamine what we tell our clients.
Or if you’re a client, what someone is telling you!
But it can be so hard because usually when you’re seeking help it;s because you feel like something is wrong and you’re afraid. The fear drives the feeling of fragility.
My dog isn’t delicate and neither are we.
We also have to remember, it’s only recently most of this research is coming out and it’s getting better. That we have pro women athletes that continue to compete postpartum and showing us that we can do these things at a high level.
Women have been doing this stuff for a long time, but we’re finally getting visibility and awareness behind it.
With the lack of evidence, it’s hard to find your way. And I’m saying this as a practitioner AND a mom who’s had every symptom under the sun and experienced that fear that I was too fragile to do the things I loved. But then I realized it was all crap!
That’s why it’s so important for me to dispel this thinking. Because I’ve lived it.
This all goes to say:
- We need more research
- We have to have conversations
- We need to question the advice we are given and what the “evidence” actually means
Question the advice you’re getting. “Tell me more about that.”
