Opening my own business, Breathe. Physical Therapy & Wellness, in November 2016 never seemed like much of a risk. I had an established self-referral client base, a visionary business partner, a supportive husband with a great job and Professional Yoga Therapy training. Over three years as I completed the training I was able to really refine my personal treatment style into something unique and actually holistic- and not just paying lip service to the term. In addition to learning how to apply a true biopsychosocial medical model to my practice and my life, I also met so many women who were opening their own businesses and something that had never seemed like a possibility to me (opening a business) suddenly became a reality.
Yoga inspired holistic care for your pain, stiffness or weakness. Core strengthening postpartum.
I have been doing pelvic floor and pelvic physical therapy for over 7 years, but a couple of years ago Ginger, several other PYT women and I collaborated on a narrative review of diastasis recti abdominis (DRA). When I started on that paper I really did not understand DRA but over time I became an expert and learned that there was a huge need in our area for post-partum strengthening and women WANTED help. Suddenly I became a sought-after post-partum therapist. Since that time, this kind of physical therapy has become more common and we have trained countless physical therapists in our technique. Many women now come to Breathe. for help with strengthening, or to decrease post-partum incontinence but leave with much more. They leave with less back, neck, knee and foot pain. They leave with a realistic understanding of their condition and confidence about how to continue to improve. They leave with a life long partner in healing.
Using Physical Therapy, Holistic Health & Wellness Practices To Bring Relief
We use Medical Therapeutic Yoga in many ways in our clinic. The yoga poses have helped me see the whole body as a biomechanical system and that we cannot work on a foot problem without also working on a hip problem, for example. Physical Therapists are taught anatomy in such a piecemeal fashion so it can seem impossible to understand how the hip affects the foot or vice versa. Practicing yoga and learning the biomechanics of the poses has given me a tremendous framework for being able to see the small details that most other practitioners miss and I have passed this training onto all of Breathe.’s physical therapists. We use this training to simultaneously begin to work on many issues that patients think are unrelated. We still use a lot of traditional physical therapy exercises and for many patients, it doesn’t look like we’re doing yoga with them, but it underlies all of our interactions. Maybe most importantly, combining the deeply calming effects of yogic breathing with pain neuroscience education gives clients a framework for changing their thinking which overwhelmingly changes their ability to heal themselves.
What Makes Our Health Practice Different
Every medical provider has a sheet of paper on which their patients write their medications and past medical history, but not many take the time to go through it with their clients. At Breathe. we talk about medications and their possible side effects, often helping people with many of their symptoms just by sending them back to their physician to get off of unhelpful medications. We talk about scar tissue from past injuries and surgeries and how that might contribute to constipation or discomfort in a seemingly unrelated location. The past is so important in putting the client’s health picture together and count on the Breathe. Physical therapists to look at a client’s entire medical history for answers.
Breathe. Physical Therapy & Wellness Was Created by Women, for Women
We have two favorite things we like to hear from patients. The first is a variation of “I have tried to describe my problem to so many different healthcare professionals and you are the first person who has actually listened and really seemed to care. Thank you.” And the second, “now I have hope.”
Breathe. is unique! Integrative physical therapy for women. Private, personalized care that celebrates client victories, big and small. We believe all women deserve to live energetic, vibrant and active lives and it’s our mission to be a partner in achieving that, by specializing in dry needling, DRA, pants peeing, pregnancy/postpartum pain and recovery, pelvic floor dysfunction, headaches, back pain and other orthopedic concerns.
Appointments available in Des Moines and Iowa City / Cedar Rapids / North Liberty area. www.breatheptw.com