The first in a 3-part series of interviews with local pelvic health therapists. In this episode, Rachel & Amanda sit down with Dr. Julia Salazar, owner of Core Pelvic Physical Therapy and a board-certified physical therapist.
We talk about who has a pelvic floor (answer: everyone), who can benefit from pelvic floor physical therapy (answer: everyone), and if it’s ever too late to strengthen your pelvic floor (answer: NOPE!).
Core Pelvic PT is a high-visibility ad partner on the Spokane Birth Resources Directory. You can find its ad under the Physical Therapy category!
0:42 – Intro
1:15 – “Talking about pelvic health is like kicking the door down to having conversations about of things… And we are here for it.” – Rachel
3:00 – Spoiler alert: if you have two hips, you have muscles in between.
3:38 – “That’s our goal: to talk about uncomfortable things in a safe space with people who know exactly what they’re talking about.” – Amanda
4:56 – Introducing Julia Salazar
5:40 – Favorite Spokane thing
8:00 – Julia’s vision
9:33 – “I want to educate the community, that’s always been my goal. What’s normal? What’s not normal and when should I seek help?”
9:46 – Start into pelvic health
12:30 – Business expansion and education
15:48 – Difference between Male and Female pelvic floor
16:10 – People fall into two categories: hypotonic or hypertonic.
18:22 – “If your foundation goes down after birth, then by the time that you hit menopause- it just tanks. If you worked on getting it stronger then at least you’d have a higher foundation before menopause so you wouldn’t tank down so low.” – Rachel
19:13 Functional baseline for 70- and 80-year-olds
20:50 – Pelvic floor myths
21:29: Wearing a tampon should never hurt or be uncomfortable; it is never good to leak- leaking is not normal and you can get rid of it; you should not go more than a week without pooping; and then sex should not hurt, it should only feel good.
24:52 – Kegels
25:54 – If your muscles are partially tense and then all you do is try and strengthen through kegels, it will just tighten it even more, decreasing blood flow and weakening over time.
27:17 Tampons and menstrual cups
28:38 – We’ve actually had an increase in prolapse- which is dropping of the uterus and cervix- and it’s correlating back to menstrual cup use because of people aren’t releasing the seal correctly.
29:26 – Pessary and fitting
30:08 – Pessary is a ring or cube, it’s pliable, and it sticks to the cervix and the vaginal walls. it holds the organs up and not dropping into the vaginal canal.
31:42 – What makes up the pelvic floor?
34:09 – One thing to know
34:40 – Pelvic floor health during pregnancy/before birth
35:35 – Breath work is one of the biggest things you can do to help not tear during birth.
36:30 – C-sections and pelvic floor
37:05 – A C-section is a major surgery! I think it gets downplayed a little bit too much. It goes through so many layers of tissue and cuts one of your biggest support systems for the whole body.
40:38 – Favorite memory/case
42:30 – Endometriosis
44:30 – PT can help play a factor (in Endo) by helping release adhesions, helping get rid of inflammation and letting all of your organs do what they’re supposed to do, or at least giving them the best chance.
44:47 – Business information
