Thank you!
Thank you to everyone for their kind messages and heartfelt congratulations on my recent Order of Australia Medal (OAM). To say I’ve been feeling overwhelmed with your generous thoughts and good wishes is an understatement. It is gratifying that in these hectic times people have taken the time to send personal messages and many have read my blog on my physiotherapy career. I have definitely been feeling the love.
However, many physiotherapists in pelvic health in Australia deserve a similar award. Some are working in research and are creating the foundational evidence upon which we work and give validity to what we do. Others are instrumental in educating the current and the next generation of pelvic health physios and plough hours into reading and dissecting hundreds of research papers and then presenting it to us in a way that is easy for us to understand. There are also many, who are equally and daily, changing women (and men and children’s lives) for the better through quality pelvic health physiotherapy strategies.
Is physiotherapy relevant?
Lately there are some loud voices from within our own profession and from other professions on social media questioning the relevance of a career in physiotherapy.
Take it from someone who is ‘mature’ and been working a long time in pelvic health – if there is silence about the shame and stigma around pelvic health issues – there is also silence around the happiness and joy when their problems are resolved by a pelvic health physio. Because if a patient was to sing about their successes with their treatment, then the cat is out of the bag that they were soiling their pants, were unable to have sex due to pain or leaked like a sieve when doing a parkrun. Only the Very Brave can talk openly about their embarrassing issues and certainly rarely contest these blistering, blustering attacks on our profession.
We are also very strongly monitored by AHPRA on our websites and in the SoMe area for testamonials and patients giving us a wrap and there are big fines for contraventions. So pelvic health physios and all physios have to be very careful about patients singing their praises.
To the patients
So to patients reading this – your pelvic health physio doesn’t need an award to change your life. That will come much later for them. Be Brave, take the first step and look at the APA Find a Physio page to source a local pelvic health physio to start the process of chatting to someone who doesn’t get fazed by bladder, bowel and sex conversations (amongst many others) and I promise you if they are not sure how to help you they will refer you on to a more experienced colleague somewhere.
To all the physios – emerging and established
And to those pelvic health physios who may be feeling a little burned out from the hardest three years (of my life) ever then take heart. Your patients will be so glad and relieved from your efforts and the referring doctors who do hear how well the patients are doing will be very happy also. Don’t feel that your efforts aren’t appreciated – they will be. To the younger physios who are entering the profession or others who may be contemplating adding pelvic health physio to their skillset – don’t listen to the naysayers. Go for it!
(Finally over the past few months I have come to realise the blog has been playing up and may not have been going automatically out to people who have signed up for it. Please check if you have received the last few blogs -since around October – and then maybe resubmit your email address in the SUBSCRIBE box at the bottom of the blog page.)
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The joy of flowers
