Your Pelvic Health Might Be Impacting More Than You Think…
What is pelvic health and why does it matter? Jessica Bell, a certified menopause provider, explains how the body can be impacted during the menopause transition and how pelvic health connects to overall health.
Transcript:
Jamie Forward:
We hear the term pelvic health quite often, so can you just define “pelvic health” for our audience?
Jessica Bell:
I would say pelvic health can be a lot of things. I often talk about how everything lands in the pelvis. The low spine, hips, everything is connected in there in the pelvis. And so, pelvic health can be the musculoskeletal system.
That’s really where my pelvic floor physical therapists, I would say, are the experts. That’s also all of the tissues, as well. So, things that come up, like low estrogen effect, lichen sclerosus is one of my favorite diagnoses, is what I’d say.
Also, I would say recurrent infections that people might experience. I also work in urogynecology, so urogynecology is the in-depth understanding of the urological system, the gynecological system, all put together, because all of those things are in the pelvis as well. So, a really in-depth understanding, I would say, of muscles, musculoskeletal system, the pelvic floor, tissues, and the organs in the pelvis as well that people have. so, yeah.
Jamie Forward:
Yeah, so, really important part of your body that should be taken care of.
Jessica Bell:
Absolutely.
Jamie Forward:
How does pelvic health connect to overall health? Things like sleep, mental health, relationships. Can you share a little bit about that?
Jessica Bell:
Pelvic health is really important. Honestly, one of the things that I consider there as well is urinary symptoms. So, urinary incontinence, actually. Some people might understand that it’s, well, just a little bit of leakage. But we actually see that the number one comorbidity or the number one thing that goes along with that can be depression, as well.
And this occurs in all kinds of different ages and stages for people. It’s also true that, let’s see, different kinds of things like pain with intimacy is also something that really comes up for people as well. So, when a person experiences pain with intimacy, it doesn’t just – it’s not just experience at the tissue level or in the pelvis.
It also is experienced in the brain. Our brain is very smart, and we can really want intimate connection with a person or with ourselves, for that matter, and sometimes, that can contribute to pain and discomfort, and then the brain gets involved and says, “Hey, this is not comfortable,” and so that naturally can also create a disconnect, sometimes, in a person’s own experience with their body, or if they’re in a relationship as well, it can create a disconnect.
