Podcast Episode 326: Why Kegels Aren’t Important: The Truth About Pelvic Floor Therapy for Women Transcripts

Please note: Transcripts for the No Guilt Mom Podcast were created using AI. As a result, there may be some minor errors.

JoAnn Crohn 

Welcome to the No Guilt Mom podcast. I am your host JoAnn Crohn joined by the lovely Brie Tucker.

Brie Tucker 

Hello every buddy! how are you doing today?

JoAnn Crohn 

Do we have an episode for you? Brie and I had so much fun recording this interview with our guest, cause we get real TMI and enjoy it.

Brie Tucker 

I’m going to say I need to put a little warning on this episode. If you tend to pee your pants when you laugh, you might need to get something to be prepared, because it is a funny episode all about how we pee our pants and what we can do about it.

JoAnn Crohn 

Exactly. If you’re going to hear Brie reference something about a ping pong ball, and just know that we go into that in the outro. So like after the interview, make sure you keep listening so you could hear that entire story, but see if you catch it during the episode as well, which he says it.

Brie Tucker 

Yes, and I also think you will never look at blueberries or milkshakes the same after this episode, but it’s all good. It’s all good.

JoAnn Crohn 

Yeah, it’s all a great thing. Before I introduce today’s guest, I really want to ask you all a favor. If you could take a second, share this episode with a friend or go and review us on Apple podcasts. Like it really, really helps get the podcast out to more people. Apple podcasts, the reviews, and then they are like, Ooh, we’re going to show this podcast to other people to cause people like it. So if you could do that, that would mean the world.

to us. And now let me introduce our guest. She is Megan Zimmerman, who is a pelvic floor therapist that specializes in pregnancy, postpartum and women’s pelvic floor concerns. She treats clients in person and also has a 12 week online pelvic floor program for women outside of the Phoenix area and in other states. And she’s a mom of three.

So let’s get on with the show.

INTRO MUSIC

JoAnn Crohn 

Welcome to the podcast, Megan. I am super excited to have you on because I want to ask you all of our dying questions about peeing our pants after pregnancy. So welcome.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Yay!

Brie Tucker 

How about just pee in our pants every time we got a sneeze, jump, we get startled too quickly. I mean, take your pick, take your pick.

JoAnn Crohn 

yeah. my gosh. So make it. Yay. Yay. It’s like poise pads are like a topic of discussion in my house. I’m like, I tell my husband, I’m like, I need more poise pads, because it’s like, how can you not help it? Like, how can you not talk about it? I’m like, hey, you cause this condition. So you get to go shop for it too. And you get to know all the details. Thank you so much. Yes.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

talking about it finally so yay! Right? I know it’s like our version when we used to send our boyfriends to go get tampons and it was like a big deal and now we’re like, should we send our husbands? Or we fix it.

Brie Tucker

to go get our leak pads, to go get our leak pads. mean, I feel like I’m back to kind of being, you know, a toddler again, where I occasionally pee my pants. And then I’m like, discreetly being like, let’s not show anybody.

JoAnn Crohn 

Absolutely.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Yes.

JoAnn Crohn 

Yes. So if you’re listening right now to this episode, we’re going to have a lot of TMI. So get ready for it. I hope you enjoy that about Bree and I and this podcast. But Megan, so we’re talking about pelvic floor issues. So first of all, I want you to explain like a little bit about what you do as a pelvic floor therapist.

Brie Tucker 

Yes!

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Absolutely. Yeah, so if you had go back in time and asked me if I was gonna be a pelvic floor PT, I would have said 100 % no, I did not know what that was. We barely talked about it. I was going to work with athletes. I played soccer in college and I’m like, I’m gonna go save the soccer players. Like that is gonna be my jam. And then fast forward, I got pregnant the first time. I had a really long labor delivery and I ended up having a C-section.

And I realized there was absolutely zero guidance when it came to recovery from a C-section or a delivery in general. So I figured I’m a physical therapist, I’m an athlete, they cleared me at eight weeks, I’m gonna go for a run. That’s a good idea, right? So I get about, I don’t know, probably a mile away from the house and then all of a sudden I look down and I’m like.

JoAnn Crohn 

Ha ha ha, yeah.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

supposed pee my pants, but…

JoAnn Crohn 

That’s what you think, right? Like that’s what I tell myself too. I’m like, why is this happening? So I’m so glad you’re like countering this, but yeah, go on.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES

Yeah. Yeah. I was like, this.

Brie Tucker 

didn’t earn it guys. I had the C-section. I avoided this. Or not, not earned it, but yeah.

JoAnn Crohn 

Yeah.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES

Yeah, the baby came out of the sunroof here. So why is like, why, why am I being? So I was so frustrated and it just put me on this complete pivot. And I realized that if I wasn’t taught this information in physical therapy school, and we’re supposed to be the muscle experts, then what are all these other moms doing out there? They’re just like swimming upstream, not knowing what to do. So I started taking all these classes, I combined it with a lot of pelvic with pelvic floor and

JoAnn Crohn 

I like that.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Pilates based rehabilitation and realize that this is a big deal and we need to be talking about this on podcasts, on social media, at the park, by the fireplace. Like this stuff is important and women’s health deserves to be addressed because we can fix these things.

Brie Tucker

It’s almost like women’s health is kind of in the shadows. What do you think, Joanne? Like we have to hide everything.

JoAnn Crohn 

Yeah, but that’s the thing I think you touch on Megan is like, we could fix this thing because that’s what I think of when we don’t talk about these issues that it’s like, it’s only me. It’s only happening to me. There’s something wrong with me. And then we don’t find out how to fix it. So I’m very like happy that you say we could fix it. I want to know how we could fix it. But let’s go into this like a little bit. like how?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

We can fix it.

JoAnn Crohn 

Do mobs know if they have a pelvic floor issue? Like is every point of like leaking actually a pelvic floor issue?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Hahaha

Brie Tucker

peeing. Yeah. Also, are there other things? 

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

No, you’re good. Funny thing, I always start with anybody because everybody has a pelvic floor. And I say that because I cannot tell you how many husbands or male partners have come into the office and said, I don’t have a pelvic floor. I was, yes you do. We all have a pelvic floor. And fun fact about that, the pelvic floor is actually the bottom of your core. So we don’t, we think of core as just the abs. Actually it’s the diaphragm, which is our breathing muscle, our abs.

JoAnn Crohn 

Yeah.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

our pelvic floor is the bottom and then our back muscles. So it makes this nice little 360 like soda can and that’s what supports us in order to sit with good posture, to exercise, to run, to jump, to pick up our kids. So we want to reestablish the strength in that core versus if I go and chug my Diet Coke and I have my top off, if I can crunch that can super easily and that’s how I compare pregnancy.

Our our soda can got chugged, it is weak and it’s got some pressure issues. So in a perfect world, and they’re doing this in so many other countries around, or other countries in the world, pelvic floor physical therapists are part of the standard of care. So you’re pregnant, you meet with a pelvic floor physical therapist so you can do birth prep, right?

JoAnn Crohn (05:22.076)

Let’s get some pressure.

JoAnn Crohn 

What?

Brie Tucker 

Yeah, just another checklist to the crap we’re missing out over here.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES (05:42.629)

We’re missing because if you ask most of our mama friends, they probably lied on their back in the hospital, they put their legs up super far, and they purple pushed as hard as possible and bearing down and don’t breathe. And that is so rough on the pelvic floor. And we need to teach people that you can actually deliver a baby and protect your pelvic floor. There’s a concept, right? Like we can do both.

JoAnn Crohn 

So you say like we could actually deliver a baby and protect the pelvic floor. will, so these sections where we did not deliver a baby, how did this pelvic floor get damaged?

Brie Tucker 

So many questions.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES

because you were pregnant.

Brie Tucker 

So wait, so you’re saying that the things that we can do can start all the way back in the like, because I don’t remember doing Jack squat when I was pregnant, like either way of anything. I can’t, I can’t remember any.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

And so many of us too were taught, okay, you’re pregnant, don’t do a lot of exercise, but definitely don’t do any core exercises, don’t do any ab work. But your abs are gonna hold up your baby bump, and then it’s gonna take a lot of that pressure off the pelvic floor. So if you can keep strength in your hips, and you can do strength in your abs, and then you learn how to push correctly without putting just a ton of negative pressure on your pelvic floor, you’re already setting yourself up for success after the delivery going into postpartum.

And then I teach postpartum, like you were going on this big hike and you rolled your ankle and the last thing you do after you roll your ankle is go for a run. You’re gonna go home and you’re gonna rest and you’re gonna start adding movement to it slowly versus we’re still hearing in hospitals, okay, go home and do Kegels. Anybody who’s pregnant out there, don’t. Please don’t do Kegels right after you have a baby. Like if you don’t wanna go for a run after you roll your ankle, then don’t do a Kegel after you have a baby.

JoAnn Crohn 

That’s the only thing they give you. Yes!

Brie Tucker 

Okay, wait, I have a very specific question. All right, having a stronger pelvic floor, could that have any difference in pregnancy complications? So like if you came in with a healthier pelvic floor, does that make you less likely to have intense complications from things like…a placenta previa or anything like that or no, that’s like totally separate?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

No, anything with the placenta has to do with where, so in those very early development when the egg implants into the uterine lining, it’s just about where it’s planted. So it could plant here, it could plant lower. So placenta, no, but if you have a normal strength in your pelvic floor, your abs, your hips, you’re gonna support everything. So you’re gonna have less likely to have pubic pain, like that lightning crotch we talk about. You’re gonna have less likely to have low back pain, tailbone pain in pregnancy.

Brie Tucker 

okay.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

But at some point, we don’t wanna go crazy. So I’ve had women come into the clinic that are doing Kegels, Kegels, Kegels to start a support. When we have a vaginal delivery, the pelvic floor actually needs to stretch about two to four times its length. So you want that muscle to be strong, but also flexible. And women postpartum can have actually too much tension in the pelvic floor, which causes pain with intimacy. It can actually cause incontinence symptoms, just as likely as weakness.

JoAnn Crohn 

So that is what I’ve heard about that sometimes like when you have leakness and incontinence, it may not be because your pelvic floor is too loose. So you don’t need to do kegels. Actually, kegels are like not helping your situation whatsoever. Is that true?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Yes, very true. And so many women are, we’re not even taught how to do a Kegel correctly. We’re just said, you know what, just do them at the stoplight. Every time you go to a stoplight, just do some Kegels. We don’t do them correctly, so.

Brie Tucker 

No!

JoAnn Crohn 

Hold up. That’s so interesting. So you say that there’s stuff that you could do while you’re pregnant. I want to just put a pin in that one. And if there is people out there, like I want to focus this episode on the moms who had babies and they didn’t do anything during pregnancy. They were told to do their Kegels on the stop at the stoplight and what they can do now. And we’re going to get into that right after this.

Brie Tucker 

Okay, I am very interested in this. Also because the two of you got better advice on Kegels than I did. All I was told was just to, when you’re peeing, stop peeing. And that’s a Kegel.

JoAnn Crohn 

That’s awful.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Also, please don’t do that. So it’s fine if you’re like, I want to know if I can do this. So you’ll try when you’re urinating and do a kegel and see if it stops. But so many people then think that’s how they should do it as an exercise. And when you’re peeing, you’re supposed to relax. So please don’t do kegels when you’re trying to pee. That’s a myth. Don’t do it.

Brie Tucker

Yeah

JoAnn Crohn 

This is how to do that.

JoAnn Crohn 

That’s helpful advice.

Brie Tucker 

I just had to throw that in because before the break, I’m listening to the two of you going like, damn it, I got some crappy advice from people.

JoAnn Crohn

Okay, so I want to go into like this step by step process that we could use because I need this information just as much as everyone listening out there needs the information. like when you have incontinence and everything and you’re like, okay, I need to start healing the core and pelvic floor. Like what’s the first thing you should do?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

I mean, perfect world, go make, if you have access to a pelvic floor physical therapist, go in for at least one evaluation. We like to think that physical therapy in general is something you’re gonna have to do twice a week, for six weeks, or eight weeks. So if you can see pelvic floor, absolutely. If you can’t, one of the best things you can do is not the kegels at the stop sign, you need to look at how your posture is. Because if we are sitting like this, like most of us sit,

There is no coordination within your core. And one of the simplest ways you can build strength up is just breathe with your diaphragm instead of your shoulders. So with inhales, we’re thinking the ribs are expanding. That actually naturally stretches the pelvic floor, so less tension, less pain. Exhale, the ribs come in. So I tell people five minutes a day, inhale, exhale. Number one, stress.

JoAnn Crohn 

That’s really good for stress reduction too, because it’s something that we teach our balance members as well to calm themselves down. So calming themselves down at a pelvic floor, it’s a twofer. You get both.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES

And if you have tension in your jaw, guess where else you have tension? Your pelvic floor. They look almost identical. If you look at MRI imaging of the throat by the jaw and the pelvic floor, they look almost the exact same. And we hold tension here, here, and in our pelvic floor. It’s bananas. That’s a bad thing. If this is bad, right? We don’t like the tension.

JoAnn Crohn 

in your pelvic floor? I have a lot.

Brie Tucker 

So that’s a bad thing. So that’s a bad thing. Damn it. I am so up a creek here, Joanne. Like I am just not doing well. I’m batting an O for two so far.

JoAnn Crohn 

What?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

It doesn’t matter though, you’re never too young or too old to fix your pelvic floor. It does not matter, they’re just muscles. So you can fix them, we can fix them in our 60s and 70s, it doesn’t matter.

Brie Tucker 

Yes, I do know that.

JoAnn Crohn 

well, they get, okay. So I want to dig into a little bit more about this evaluation because honestly, they, the thought of it scares me. I hear they’re very, very invasive. Can you explain like what happens during this evaluation?

Brie Tucker 

Yeah, where do you go?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES

Yes, so number one, we just chat. We figure out what is your problems, what are you looking like. Honestly, as you’re chatting, I’m looking at you. I’m trying to see like, how are you sitting? Are you crossing your legs? Are you squirming? And then I’m gonna look externally. So I’m gonna look at your hip strength. I’m gonna look at your abdominal strength. I’m gonna look at your butt, because what mom out there doesn’t have a flat butt after pregnancy? We all do. Yep.

JoAnn Crohn 

I’ve had a flat butt my whole life. Flat butt.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Yes, and if you honestly take one thing out of this podcast episode, go check out your butt in the mirror. If your butt is flat, get on the ground, do some bridges.

JoAnn Crohn 

Do some bridges. my gosh.

Brie Tucker 

What if your butt is anything but flat?Just asking, I’m asking for, I’m asking for a friend, you know.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Then probably look at your ass.

JoAnn Crohn 

Then you have a gi-ot! A gi-ot is a really great thing!

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Well then I’m very happy for your butt, but let’s look up at your posture too. There’s always something we can like, we can make a little better.

Brie Tucker 

people can’t hear, can’t see us right now, but like as soon as you started talking about posture, both JoAnn and I were like, let’s just kind of straighten up how we’re sitting right now.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES

It’s hard, right? Because we’re living in a computer, cell phone world, and we’re driving a lot. And then if we just had recent babies, like we’re living in this like rocking and feeding and rounded world. It’s hard.

JoAnn Crohn 

So I, little tangent, mean, it’s the no gut mom podcast, little tangent tangent. Of course we start talking about butts, so I have to bring this up. I have this like body suit thing that measures me, like takes body fat measurements. It’s called the Zozo fit. It looks like a futuristic body suit and like you use your phone. Anyways, it could assess your booty and it says I am a low key peach. It’s really interesting, right? Like personal booty metrics too, but.

Brie Tucker 

There’s tangents.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Ooh, okay. Well, what does that mean? I love that. Does it tell you you have to like lift that peach up a little bit?

Brie Tucker 

That’s it. I’m interested to see.

JoAnn Crohn 

Yeah, it’s interesting.

Well, it tells me, and then it tells me my roundness, lift, and protrusion. Isn’t that unbelievable? it’s…

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

my goodness, I love this.

Brie Tucker 

scared to see where I would fall on that route.

JoAnn Crohn 

It’s pretty funny. so you said in this physical evaluation, now, when you said all of these things, is there any internal exam? Because this is what I’ve heard.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Yes, so there can be, not everybody. I have people that are mostly concerned about like their abs are separated from pregnancy. If you come in though and you’re concerned about leaking, you’re having pain with intimacy, you’re having like chronic tailbone pain, likely I’m gonna recommend an internal exam and it’s much less scary I think than going to the OB. It’s you’re under a sheet, you’re completely covered.

I do a gloved one finger, just my like pointer finger insertion into the body, into the vaginal canal, and I am looking for tension. I’m gonna have you do a contraction and see if you’re doing it correctly. And then I’m gonna give you feedback based on that. It does not happen all the time. And there are plenty of women that come in and they do not want that to be their first option and we don’t do it. There is enough education that we can provide without having to do something if somebody is not comfortable with that.

JoAnn Crohn 

Let’s get to know.

Brie Tucker 

I’ll take that over a pap smear any day.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

I will too, because those speculums are really uncomfortable.

JoAnn Crohn 

They’re so bad. Designed by men who didn’t have to feel them, I am sure.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES

Right.

Brie Tucker 

myself up to go in for those like checkups. yeah.

JoAnn Crohn 

Yeah.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES

And I was just teaching a class at a local mom school yesterday and one of these new moms is only seven weeks postpartum and she said they wanted to do a pap smear. So they stuck it right up there without even telling her what was going on. She said it was unbelievably painful. She started bleeding and I’m like, where’s the permission here? And that’s not, we don’t even have to go that route.

JoAnn Crohn

Ow!

Brie Tucker 

Okay, that’s the worst pap smear I’ve ever heard of. Like, mine’s been painful, but jeez, Lil’ Weasel.

JoAnn Crohn 

No.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Yeah. Yeah.

JoAnn Crohn

So you have like this evaluation that you go through. And then once you have the evaluation, like what is the treatment process like for your pelvic floor?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

So it’s gonna be very similar to if you went to physical therapy for your knee. So I’m gonna give you stretches typically, I’m gonna give you breathing exercises, and most women that I see, I’m gonna give you inner thigh exercises and butt exercises. Because if you think of the pelvis, there’s a lot of muscles that attach to it, our hips, our abs. So if we can strengthen those, we can support the pelvic floor so that it’s not having to work too hard.

Because a lot of these issues postpartum, whether it’s incontinence, whether it’s prolapse, which presents as like a heaviness sensation or a bulge that we actually can feel, those are caused by that pelvic floor, which acts as a natural hammock. And that hammock was stretched out and weakened during pregnancy, even if you had your babies 10 years ago. So the job of really pelvic floor therapy is to get that hammock to be supportive again, and to get all the muscles around it to do their jobs better.

so that everything works the way that we would like it to.

JoAnn Crohn 

Interesting. Well, I am interested into how like people could expect like how long they have to wait for like actual results to happen and like what results you have seen. And we’re going to talk about that right after this. 

So Megan, you talk about the exercises that people need to do during treatment. Like how long does it usually take women to see results?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Yes, so it depends on what the person’s coming in with. If this person’s coming in with, let’s say you only leak when you sneeze or cough, which is a lot of us, one of the best things you can do for that is, okay, you’re about to cough, you can feel that sneeze, you’re like, my gosh, it’s coming and I’m gonna pee. That is when I want you to do a hard pelvic floor contraction. I want you to squeeze as hard as you can.

And by doing that, you’re reminding that part of the body how to fully close to keep urine inside of your body so you don’t pee. So for women with that, if you practice that over the next like week or two, I guarantee you’re gonna have less concerns when it comes to like sneezing and leaking. If you’re dealing with incontinence because it’s a like muscle issue weakness,

That’s gonna respond in about two to three months because just like any muscle in the body, it takes about eight to 12 weeks for muscles to physiologically get stronger. So you’re looking at a couple months usually. And then if you’re dealing with like pain with intimacy, that can take a bit longer because that’s just a lot more complicated.

JoAnn Crohn

Interesting. Yeah, like I, I’m able to jump on a trampoline now and I have to say like it is because of all of the Pilates and the ab work that I do each day. So I could definitely attest that strengthening the abs and doing everything like it actually, it works and no kegels needed whatsoever. You mentioned before that we’re not doing a kegel the right way. Can you like lead us through how we should do a kegel?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Yes, so get into a comfy spot. Do not do this in the car. Do not do this while you’re driving with your kids screaming at you in the background. So lie down in bed, get comfy, put your knees up, so your feet on the bed, knees up in the air, and then you wanna think about just the pelvic floor, so not your butt. We like to clench our butt when we’re trying to do a Kegel because we think we need to have this like maximum like.We just did like a bench press, like crazy kind of like muscle contraction.

Brie Tucker 

because that is so me. I don’t know how to separate. It’s just all in one.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES

Yes, and normally, yes, and like, we always, go back and forth, we’re like, should we even do Kegels? Because no muscle in the body really works in isolation, but we wanna make sure that muscle can actually do its job, and then we build it in with all its friends. So lie down, get comfortable, and I want you to think of mostly the vaginal canal, because that’s where babies come out of. They’re not coming out of the back of the pelvic floor. That’s where the poop is coming out. So focus on the front.

JoAnn Crohn 

You’re working on a giot. You’re working on a giot. Yeah.

Brie Tucker 

True.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

And really just think you can do two ways that people just absolutely love when I tell them. Number one, think that there’s a blueberry at their vaginal opening. You are picking up that blueberry. You are lifting it towards your belly button. Number two, this one. There you go. The other way that works, I mean, it might ruin this for some people.

JoAnn Crohn 

that’s an interesting image. Yes.

Brie Tucker 

I’m taking a ping pong balls, JoAnn. I’m taking a ping pong balls.

JoAnn Crohn 

my gosh!

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

The way that really, really works is imagine you’ve got a straw inside of the vaginal canal and you are sucking up the thickest milkshake you can possibly think of. You’re welcome.

Brie Tucker

I’m such a child. I am such a child. Okay.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

We all know what that feels like, right? So we know what, if we put a straw inside of our mouth, we know that we have to make that suction 360 degrees. And then we got to lift it up inside our mouth to get it down our throat where it’s all yummy and delicious. So think of the same thing when you’re doing a Kegel. Think of that milkshake. And then moms come in and they’re like, you ruined chocolate milkshakes. And I’m like, I know, I’m sorry. But it works really well. So we’re just thinking.

JoAnn Crohn 

Think of that!

my gosh. I just thought of an idea that I’m gonna make Brie laugh. I’m just gonna be sitting in a quiet space sometime and I’ll be like picking the blueberry and I probably like…

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES

But it works!

JoAnn Crohn

She like that.

Brie Tucker

be like enjoying my milkshake because that’s just how we work.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

There you go. You’re welcome. I can’t wait to hear comments later like, the milkshake works, but now I can’t drink milkshakes. And I’m like, well, good thing there’s other good things.

Brie Tucker 

Okay, so I’m curious, how do people find a pelvic floor physical therapist in their area? Like, if you don’t live in like a huge metropolitan area, how would you find one?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Yep, so if you go on, there is a website called Herman and Wallace, and if you go onto their website, they have a provider list that is very good. It’s pretty comprehensive for the rest of the country. There is also another website put out by Sarah Deval, who’s another physical therapist. She has a very large pregnancy and postpartum exercise certification, and her website also has

provider list. So it’ll tell you in your city who to work with and then I also do virtual programs. It’s a wellness program for anybody in the country. So for clients that live in rural areas that can’t have access or for really busy women that can’t get into a clinic, there are virtual options out there that work honestly just as well. I’ve seen really positive results for my in-person clients and also my virtual clients.

Brie Tucker 

I love that because like you might not feel comfortable going somewhere. I like the idea of the virtual option.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES

Yeah, or you might not have time. mean, moms are juggling just a couple things or a thousand things, like every single moment of time it feels like. So for moms like that, you can still get help. You do not have to go to a clinic and have somebody physically touch you. There’s so much that we can do on a virtual basis and get you a program and get you forgetting about any of these concerns.

JoAnn Crohn 

So if you have incontinence right now, is it actually possible to totally relieve that issue and be off poise pads forever? Really?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Absolutely. Even I’ve been working with a, I have a handful of 70 to 75 year olds right now and they came in and they were like, there’s no way I can stop this. There’s no way I’ve had these problems for 40 years. Does it take longer in my 70 year olds? Yep. But those women are now hiking and playing pickleball without leaking. So I would say that’s a win.

Brie Tucker 

Okay, I have her new tagline, Joanne. It’s the poise free promise. Get it? Get it? Yeah? All right, it wasn’t that good.

JoAnn Crohn 

The poise we promised for that. Yeah. well, I, love to hear that because I think like so many women out there get into these issues and they think, okay, well, this is just aging and this is what I have to deal with the whole rest of my life. So I love that.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES

Yay!

Brie Tucker 

Yeah, because it’s kind of, it’s, yeah, it’s known as like a thing that just happens. Like, it’s like that running joke that, okay, you’re just gonna pee your pants for the rest of your life, because that’s what happens. So.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Yeah. And it does, you know, these are muscles like to kind of like circle back around. They’re just muscles and muscles in any part of our body are going to get a little bit weaker when we’re not as active. They’re going to get weaker as we age if we don’t do strength training. That’s why all of us are supposed to strength train our whole bodies two to three times a week because we naturally lose muscle mass as we age, especially women. We start losing our muscle mass in our thirties.

JoAnn Crohn

Yeah.

Brie Tucker 

Yeah.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

and we lose 5 % approximately per decade. So everybody on this podcast could probably benefit from a little bit more strength training the entire body, including the pelvic floor.

JoAnn Crohn 

Yeah, absolutely. You got to train for the life you want so that you’re keep, yeah, you keep going and, you don’t get like in bed and can’t do anything. That’s something that Bri and I say, I, no, I say that a lot because it’s like a lot of people don’t like exercise and, you realize as you get older, when your body starts like tightening up on you because of the lack of exercise, you’re not able to have fun and the activities you used to. And so you have to really train.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

And I will say too, you know, sorry.

Brie Tucker 

Yeah.

JoAnn Crohn 

for that life you want. And that’s how you look at exercise versus just the weight loss aspect that so many of us women have been fed over the years. Yeah. So tell us something that you’re excited about, Megan, that’s coming up in your life.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Exactly.I mean, honestly, I’m so excited how the pelvic floor world has changed in the past five years. When I go and teach classes, women know about the pelvic floor now. They know that they can fix it. And honestly, I think our 30, 40, 50 year old moms, like we are going to change the direction of women’s health. And that is going to be so empowering for even our own moms on the other end of the spectrum, but it’s gonna be so important for like our daughters and our daughter’s friends and just knowing that this is not embarrassing. This is not a shameful condition. This is just a muscle. And to be part of that and to be able to, especially with like being able to reach women that can’t access this across the country, it’s, never thought that that was gonna be my passion and it’s just.

Brie Tucker

Right?

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

I feel honored to be a part of it, I really do, because moms have it hard enough, so if we can find ways to make ourselves healthy and give ourselves that support inside our own bodies, then we can do everything else that we have to and want to do.

Brie Tucker 

I love that.

JoAnn Crohn 

Absolutely. I could not agree more. Megan, it was so amazing having you here and giving us all the instruction. And we’re going to be picking blueberries and drinking milkshakes for the foreseeable future. Yes, yes, we are. Go get that milkshake. Thank you. talk to you soon.

Megan Zimmerman, PT, DPT, PCES 

Thank you.

JoAnn Crohn 

Okay. So Brie, you made a reference about a ping pong ball during this episode. I’ve, here’s the ping pong ball right here that you’re referencing.

Brie Tucker 

God, we’re gonna have to make a video about this one for sure. Do you wanna tell them the story of where it came from and all that?

JoAnn Crohn

We’ll have to make that. So what? Yes. It was when we went on our Italy cruise on the cruise ship. The musical that we saw was Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. And there is a very well known scene where one of the characters pops ping pong balls out her hoo-ha.

Brie Tucker 

They had never, by the way guys, I had heard of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, but I had never seen it. And I knew very limited information about it. Somehow the ping pong ball scene was never information I knew about it. So when I saw that on stage, I think they had to pick up my jaw off the floor. was like.

JoAnn Crohn 

She obviously does her kegels correctly, like in the movie. But anyways, I kept the ping pong ball because they throw them out in the audience, of course. And it’s not like a lewd scene or whatever. like, they do it like, was hilarious. was a hilarious scene. And it became our joke the entire cruise where we all had ping pong balls and we would lift up our legs and like throw them at each other. It’s just because we’re toddlers. Yeah.

Brie Tucker 

Yes, yes.No, no, it was hilarious. It was hilarious because you saw it as what it was. So, I wonder where mine went. I do have mine somewhere. Mine’s actually slightly dented, which, whole nother story.

JoAnn Crohn 

Throwing that ping pong ball too hard too hard too much strength there

Brie Tucker 

I just, okay, so I gotta say that that was one of the most fun and enjoyable and educational podcast interviews we’ve had. Like I just, I love anything where we can just be very honest about how life is going and stuff like that. I still wanna go with the tagline of become poise free. We have a poise free promise.

JoAnn Crohn 

I want to try some exercises because this is like a confidence thing for me. Like I have to travel with poise pads every single place I go because it’s out of control. And it has been ever since I’ve been pregnant. and so I love that she talked about, know, you didn’t have to do a vaginal delivery to have these issues because I had to see sections. Yeah.

Brie Tucker 

Right? Cause you and I both had C-sections and I have to admit like I can’t even, so I’ve got, so I get your self-confidence thing. Tell me if this is what goes through your head. Everybody said, you had a C-section then so lucky for you, you’re not gonna have all these problems. And then so when they start, you’re like, crap. What did I do wrong? Not knowing that this could happen. And I have to admit I was floored that I didn’t even think about the fact that guys had pelvic floors. Like it didn’t even dawn on me.

JoAnn Crohn 

Yeah, I knew about that because of something that happened in my family and that family member was going to go to a pelvic floor therapist to like help. And it was male. So I knew that that guy’s actually got this as well. But we never Yeah, yeah, it’s interesting, right? This is Yeah.

Brie Tucker 

Interesting. Very interesting. This is that and yeah, and it was funny too, she talked about like when you cough or sneeze, like how you need to like tighten up. I’m like, girl, I twist my legs into the tightest pretzel possible. There is not a loose muscle down there when I have to sneeze. That’s all I gotta say. Well, no.

JoAnn Crohn 

But do you pick the blueberry?

Brie Tucker

picked the blueberry when it happens. Like I’m just trying to not pee my pants. So I’m trying to do. Yes, it is. That is how it is.

JoAnn Crohn 

I mean, that’s how it is. It’s how it is. Well, we hope that you enjoyed this episode as much as we did. Please, please, please, if we could ask you to share this with a friend or to leave us a review, it really helps us get the word out about the No Guilt Mob podcast and shows the podcast to more people. So anything you could do to help us out, we are so, so appreciative. And just know that each time we see a review come in, it is something we share throughout our entire team. Like it goes up on the Slack channel. We celebrate. We have like a boost of energy. it’s the best. So until next time, remember the best mom’s a happy mom. Take care of you. We’ll talk to you later.

Brie Tucker 

Thanks for stopping by.