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That Time I Wrote a Book…

book cover

Dear Readers,

I have extremely exciting news to share with you that will explain my blog’s silence these past few months. Blood, sweat, toil, and tears have been expended. (Nope, that’s overly dramatic Truthfully, I have only been expending toil, effort, energy, and love) into a different literary project that has been beckoning my attention. The project I am referring to is the book that I have been working on for several years, entitled “The Inside Story: The Jewish Woman’s Guide to Lifelong Pelvic Health.” 

That’s right, I have written a book which will be available for purchase within the next few months, with God’s help. My goal in this book is to help ease life cycle transitions for Jewish women. I want to share information about pelvic floor dysfunction and women’s health so that those suffering in silence can seek out appropriate treatment.

I feel so passionately about these topics and have the privilege and pleasure of helping individual women in my professional life. This book will enable me to bring help to an even larger audience. My hope and prayer is that God will help me educate as many women as possible, so that every single woman can have a satisfying and gratifying physical relationship with her spouse and with her own body.

As the title implies, the target audience of this (first) edition of the book is geared towards Jewish women, although the majority of the content is relevant and applicable to all women.

Please don’t get me wrong! I love and respect all women, and I embrace and look forward to the opportunity to share valuable information with EVERYONE in the next edition. That being said, I recognize that there are certain sensitivities that, as a proud, self-identifying Orthodox Jewish woman, I am capable of addressing. I also acknowledge that certain topics that I discuss in the book are considered taboo/uncomfortable, perhaps even more within my community than others. I hope that my affiliation with the Jewish community will help potential readers feel comfortable to read and benefit from my experience. And now that I have expressed in writing that this is only a first edition, you can all hold me accountable to ensure that a follow up version ensues.

So, please stay tuned for further details. I look forward to sharing more information about the book release and how to purchase it in the coming months, and I appreciate your patience with me while I diverted my attention elsewhere.

Yours in educating, enlighting, and helping many women in the coming months and beyond, 

Riva

 

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An Ounce of PT Prevention

No one wants to deal with urinary incontinence (UI), or involuntary loss of urine. Unfortunately, an estimated 25-45% of women will experience UI at some point during their lives. As if that were not bad enough, it has been hypothesized that women who experience UI are at risk of developing uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs). I am sure you would agree that this is a rather unwanted two for one deal. The reason for this is that dysfunctional voiding can disrupt the normal flow of urine through the urethra, which can result in bacteria travelling back to the bladder and creating infection.

Past research has focused on and proven that pelvic floor physical therapy can help reduce UI symptoms…but does pelvic floor PT help with UTI prevention?

I am not the only one who has pondered this question. Lucky for us, Dr. Kate Divine and Dr. Lisa McVey have asked themselves the same question and kindly performed research to help answer it. They conducted a single-subject case study with a 50-year-old schoolteacher who presented with a ten-year history of UI, UTIs, urinary urgency/frequency, and pelvic pain. Her conservative pelvic floor physical therapy treatment plan included bladder retraining, biofeedback, electrical stimulation, patient education, and exercises. After six sessions, the patient had achieved all her goals. When the researchers checked in with her three months later, she had not experienced any UTIs (compared to pre-treatment, when she typically experienced them every 1-2 months) or UI symptoms.

Obviously, additional research is warranted to explore if the same results occur across the board, because a sample size of one is rather small. It would also be interesting to see if the positive results continue beyond three months. But this is a huge first step. The research is extremely promising, especially because resistance to UTI antibiotics is on the rise. The fact that physical therapy, a conservative and non-pharmacologic approach, may be of help further reinforces my strong belief in “an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.”

If you are someone you know stands to benefit from pelvic floor physical therapy to address either UI or recurrent UTIs, please contact us! It would be an honor to serve as your healing agents.

Divine, Kate PT, DPT, WCS; McVey, Lisa PT, DPT Physical Therapy Management in Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections: A Case Report, Journal of Women’s Health Physical Therapy: January/March 2021 – Volume 45 – Issue 1 – p 27-33 doi: 10.1097/JWH.0000000000000189