Category: Pelvic Organ Prolapse

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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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Behind the Scenes of Pelvic Pearls

We are living in a very challenging time, one that has impacted every aspect of our lives and families, with much unknown still ahead. Many important services have been curtailed due to social distancing, including the work I do as a pelvic floor physical therapist. My daily schedule and ability to work with patients has changed significantly since March, yet I have tried to find the silver lining of this situation and utilize the extra time that I have been granted in a productive manner. While it is extremely tempting to binge watch Netflix, it is much more meaningful to spend time on professional projects that I have dreamed about but never had the opportunity to explore.

One of those projects is creating informational videos to educate the public about pelvic floor physical therapy. As a passionate pelvic floor physical therapist, I am grateful for the opportunity to share valuable knowledge and spread awareness of this extremely important specialty, especially considering that many people are needlessly suffering in silence. I enjoy giving lectures, blogging, and even answering questions that arise conversationally from curious friends. Knowledge is powerful, and the more that people know about their pelvic health, the better equipped they will be to address any issues that arise. That is why educating my patients about their conditions and instructing them on self care skills is one of my favorite parts of my job. I enjoy helping people understand the biology and physiology underlying their experiences, and I have found that it empowers them to take a more active role in their healing process.

Considering my thirst for both learning and dispensing knowledge, I have decided to shift gears and use the extra time to educate a larger audience. It is with great excitement and humility that I announce the recent launch of Pelvic Pearls. Pelvic Pearls is a YouTube channel which offers pearls of wisdom about pelvic floor physical therapy in short videos. Topics addressed include bladder dysfunction, bowel dysfunction, sexual dysfunction, pelvic pain, and prenatal and postpartum issues. This series is intended to educate and offer practical tips to listeners as well as explain how pelvic floor physical therapy can help address these conditions.

I am very grateful to my friend and colleague, Dr. Ivy Branin, for patiently teaching me how to create these videos, and I would also like to thank my roommates for allowing me to turn our apartment into a recording studio. I am also grateful to them for tolerating the constant sounds of “pastel slide short” introductory music that has been echoing through the rooms of our apartment incessantly. (One of them jokingly suggested that instead of a swear jar, our apartment should have a Pelvic Pearl music jar. Anyone who accidentally plays the song out loud owes money to the jar to be used by the other roommates as they please. #guilty)

Please subscribe today to access each and every Pelvic Pearl as they are posted. If there is a topic that interests you which has not been covered, please contact us and inform us what you would like us to address. We are here to help you in any way that we can during these trying times. Until we have the opportunity to meet and share knowledge in person, we look forward to continuing to do so with you virtually via Pelvic Pearls.