Pelvic Health Blog Roundup: CrossFit Controversy and More!

In Female Pelvic Pain, Pelvic Organ Prolapse, Pregnancy and Postpartum Pelvic Health, Stress Urinary Incontinence by Stephanie Prendergast4 Comments

Our favorite health bloggers have been busy in the past couple of months! For one thing, they swooped in and completely set the facts straight after a viral video endorsed the infuriating message that it was “okay to pee during workouts”. (See how the controversy unfolded below.) On top of all of that, our blog buddies offered up a slew of fascinating posts on all the topics we love to dish about from vaginal lube, to overactive bladders to postpartum rehab to STDs to bowel health, and more.

Check out our roundup below for the detes and links!

CrossFit Controversy: PTs Say Nope, not Okay to Pee During Workouts!

The viral video that unleashed the controversy:

I have to say that my pelvic floor PT colleagues did the most amazing job responding to this infuriating video!

Among the blog posts by fellow PTs, was a notable response by Julie Wiebe, one of our fave pelvic health bloggers. Julie writes that [the video] has “given huge visibility to an issue that really needed to come to light for a long time” not just in CrossFit, but in all fitness pursuits. Agreed!

And always one to take action, Julie explains that she and her colleague, Antony Lo, have developed a survey to gather info from the Crossfit population. “We hope this is a first step towards understanding the issues at a greater level, to create better treatment and training approaches, and to educate athletes, coaches, therapists, and trainers on symptoms to look for, what those symptoms might mean for participants, and how to help.”

Read Julie’s blog on the topic where she discusses some of the early results of her research! Pretty interesting stuff!

Click here to read the post.

Another wonderful response came from the Pelvic Guru. In her post, the PG a.k.a. Tracy Sher offers an analysis of all that is wrong with the video stating:

“It’s wonderful to stand in solidarity and bring this topic out. This is something women (and men) should be able to talk about and find solace in knowing they are not alone. BUT, this felt to me like it was a valued, prized quality – If you pee during a CrossFit workout you “put out” and you are super intense. Wrong message!”

In her typical proactive Pelvic Guru style, Tracy goes on to provide a brilliant explanation of the incontinence issues at the heart of the controversy along with her take on CrossFit-specific issues. She wraps up her post with an incredible explanation of available solutions, complete with a host of valuable resources!

Read the post in its entirety here.

And never one to shy away from controversy, another friend of PHRC, Talli Rosenbaum, in her blog post titillatingly titled “Calm down Pelvic Floor PTs: An Alternative Perspective on the CrossFit Controversy” writes that the collective response of pelvic floor PTs gave her pause, and that she wished to offer an alternative point of view. The points that she brings up in her post are extremely important to the conversation!

Read Talli’s post here.

To get the full breadth of the controversy, in addition to my pelvic pain PT colleagues’ blogs on the matter, you should give a read to the in-depth coverage by health and medical journalist, Melissa Davey of the Sydney Morning Herald. Read Melissa’s articles here and here as well as an explanation from the Australian Physiotherapy Association on why it chose to publicly criticize the video.

Why you should NOT get Blood Test for Herpes

In her ever-informative blog, Ob/Gyn, Dr. Jennifer Gunter, advises readers to “just say no” to the IgM blood test for herpes.

Writes Dr. G: “But say you did get a herpes blood test (even though it’s not recommended many people seem to get it done) and it’s positive for something called IgM antibodies. Armed with these results your doctor proceeds to tell you that the results mean you caught herpes recently, so you start to freak out…

Stop right there.

A positive herpes IgM test means nothing.”

Dr. Gunter goes on to explain exactly why the test results don’t “mean much of anything.” Fascinating!

Click here to read the post.

pelvic zenTalking Bowel Health and Overactive Bladder

On her informative monthly radio show, “Pelvic Zen” Austin-headquartered PT, Angela Dobinsky, talks bowel health covering what are considered normal bowel movements, proper toilet positioning, and other tips on how to maintain good bowel health.

Listen to the show here.

And pelvic floor PTs Sarah Haag and Dustienne Miller take to video to chat about over-active bladder problems. All very much worth a listen/watch!

Watch Sarah’s video here.

Watch Dustienne’s video here.

Gotta Go, Gotta Go Right Now? There’s an App for that?

Speaking of bladder health, urogynecologist, Peter Rosenblatt, MD, discusses his new app for bladder retraining on the Share May Flowers blog.

Read Dr. Rosenblatt’s post here.

 

 


slipstufTalking Lube

Another guest blogger on the SMF blog offers a magnificent post on vaginal lube. A must-read!

Click here to read the entire post.

 

 

All about Rectus Diastasis (a.k.a. Diastasis Recti): Annie’s Story

One of our absolute favorite pelvic floor gurus from Down Under, Sue Croft, posted a wonderfully thought-provoking blog about how one of her patient’s approached her post-partum rehab issues. I loved this blog for many reasons, not the least of which was that it brought home the important point that there is NO one-size-fits all solution for our patients.

Read Sue’s post here.

Decapitated Pain? PT Weighs in on WCAPP in AmDam

And wrapping up our roundup is another offering from Chicago-based pelvic floor PT, Sarah Haag, who wrote a thoughtful blog post on our favorite brainy blog from the Body in Mind folks. In her post, Sarah weighed in on a talk at the recent World Conference on Abdominal and Pelvic Pain on neuromodulation and abdomino-pelvic pain delivered by Dr. Melissa Farmer from Northwestern University.

Not only did Sarah hit the high points of the lecture, she gave great insights on what she took away from the talk and delivered to her patients upon her return from the conference.

Check out Sarah’s post here.

What did you think of the CrossFit controversy! Or any of the other posts spotlighted in our roundup?

All my best,
Stephanie

Comments

  1. Excellent round up of great posts from some of my favorite blogs! I am so glad there are such great fellow Pelvic PTs who have vocalized great responses to the CrossFit video!

  2. I think that there is both good and bad to Crossfit. It is super important the people identify the risks behind it. I wrote a post about the negative effects it can have on renal function. http://trestleschiropractic.com/blog/crossfit-killing-your-kidneys

    I had no idea that this was causing so much pelvis distress in individuals. I also think it’s horrible that some gyms glorify vomiting or claim that it is not a good workout if you do not throw up. its just sad. This can be a great workout process when good trainers are on staff.

    1. Author

      Thank so much for your feedback Ryan! Great blog on Crossfit/renal function. Super-interesting! Thank you so much for sharing!

      All my best,
      Liz

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