By Riva Preil
Last week was a huge week for pelvic floor physical therapy! Fortunately, a very brave young woman named Nicole agreed to come forward and publicly speak about her near decade struggle with pelvic pain on daytime television. The popular syndicated talk show, The Doctors, is an hour long daytime program produced by father and son Phil McGraw and Jay McGraw (CBS Television Distribution). The series is a spin-off of Dr. Phil which itself is a spin-off of The Oprah Winfrey Show. The show features various medical care providers discussing a wide range of medical conditions.
On last week’s shows (November 13. 2013), Nicole was brought onto the show to share her story with Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a board-certified Ob-Gyn and attending physician at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in New Jersey. According to Nicole, “I know that there are a lot of other people who are living in silence with this and I want them to know that it’s not their fault and they’re not alone.†After Nicole courageously shared her experience and perspective, Dr. Ashton reassured Nicole, “A lot of what’s really going to help you has nothing to do with what I did in my office, it’s pelvic physical therapy… We get conditioned to think that what’s going to go on in the doctor’s office will make such a big difference, sometimes that’s just the beginning…there are great pelvic physical therapists out there, it’s just a matter of finding a good one, and hopefully you did.†Fortunately, Nicole’s response was “Yes!†Thank you, Nicole, for stepping outside of your comfort zone for the sake of the many suffering in silence, and thank you, Dr. Ashton, for promoting pelvic floor physical therapy. May your testimony raise public awareness regarding the benefits of pelvic floor physical therapy and help bring others closer to their healing process. To see two clips from last week’s episode of The Doctors, please click on the links here and here.
