NHS Pelvic Health Physio Miriam Evans: "It feels like I've found the missing key"

I've recently had the pleasure of working with Miriam Evans, an NHS pelvic health physiotherapist based in Wales. She is extremely passionate about providing excellent pelvic health care and has extensive knowledge about this specialist area.

This is what she had to say about Hypopressives, and why she has decided to train in Hypopressives and offer this technique within the NHS:

"Having been a pelvic health physiotherapist since 2008, I am passionate about seeing men and women get back to full abdominal and pelvic floor function. We are continually learning more and more about the body and how the pelvic floor functions best, including myofascial connections, breathing well, and the relationship between transverse abdominals, glutes and pelvic floor.

I saw a post from Alice on Facebook and saw the results it was having from people trying it, and thought that if so many people were benefitting from it, who had reached a plateau with other treatments, then I couldn't deny it was working and therefore needed to find out more.

I did the online course with Alice as I live in Wales. It was easy to follow and we had video consultations to check my technique.

Discovering Hypopressives feels like I've found the missing key. It seems to address all the above at the same time.

I've been doing them daily for 15 minutes for several months now and immediately after each session, my body feels looser from myofascial tension release, my breathing is much better, having had restrictions around my thoracic spine for years, and I can feel it activating my core muscles without me having to think about how to do it or make sure I'm using the right muscles - just by breathing in the positions.

And the nice surprise for me is that it has got rid of an 8 year old hip pain that had stopped me cycling and running and niggled when picking up the kids.

I still do my pilates and yoga but think more about my breathing while doing the routines. Now that I have the technique I can do it during daily activities such as when I'm washing up, standing in shopping queues etc.

I was cautions about the vacuum as I constantly tell patients not to suck in their upper abdominals as it causes downwards pressure on the pelvic organs, but the vacuum isn't a sucking in of abdominals but a pressure change that has very different effects on the pelvic organs. It is releasing myofascial tension around the diaphragm area (an area constantly tight from overuse and stress) and the diaphragm had big links to pelvic floor function.

I am keen to get skilled up in teaching in this area so I can use it to optimise my patient's recovery!"

Miriam Evans, NHS Pelvic Health Physiotherapist, Powys Teaching Health Board.

Since working with Miriam we've trained 100+ NHS and private pelvic health physios and healthcare professional through our Hypopressives in Your Pocket ® training. The feedback had been really encouraging of how it had impacted waiting lists positively, is helping women avoid surgery when pelvic floor exercises haven't worked.

If you'd like to find out more about hypopressives and how they can help you avoid surgery for prolapse or incontinence symptoms, you can book a taster session with Alice here.

If you're a professional interested in adding hypopressives into your tootkit, we offer 2 training courses - Hypopressives in Your Pocket ® and Hypopressives for Pelvic Health Professional Certification more info here.

Thanks for reading!

Alice

Former NHS gynae and sexual health nurse

Founder Create Lift Programme ®