Forget Glastonbury! There's a women's health festival happening in Cardiff on Saturday June 24th, 2023, and it's going to be epic!

The EveryWoman Festival is about offering empowerment, support and education on health topics that may be difficult or considered taboo to talk about.

In this bonus episode, Helen is joined by the colorectal surgeon and EveryWoman founder, Julie Cornish, as well as fellow-speakers: the GP and health educator Dr Aziza Sesay and author of PMSL, Luce Brett. They give us a flavour of what's to come - smashing pelvic health taboos, closing the gender health gap, periods, menopause, mental health and sexual wellbeing...alongside belly dancing, cookery, music and more!

You can buy tickets from The EveryWoman Festival website

You can follow @theeverywomanfestival on Instagram

If you've ever Googled your pelvic floor problems, you've probably come across Hypopressives. They're not easy to describe, but are essentially a series of breathing and posture exercises for your core and pelvic floor, with a focus on decreasing intra-abdominal pressure.

While they're not currently a recommended NHS treatment, more evidence is emerging about the use of hypopressives in treating symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction, including incontinence and prolapse. Alice Housman is a hypopressives trainer with a background in gynaecology nursing, and she’s working to publish her own research. She's also a mum with pelvic organ prolapse, who found that hypopressives helped her to become virtually asymptomatic.

In this episode Helen and Alice discuss hypopressives - what they are, how they're thought to work and what the evidence is behind them.

As ever, this content is not intended as medical advice, so please seek out your own professional support and, of course, do your own research.

You can find Alice's website here

Alice is @hypopressives_with_alice on Instagram

The paper that Alice refers to is Effectiveness of Hypopressive Exercises in Women with Pelvic Floor Dysfunction: A Randomised Controlled Trial (Navarro-Brazález, B.; Prieto-Gómez, V.; Prieto-Merino, D.; Sánchez-Sánchez, B.; McLean, L.; Torres-Lacomba, M. Effectiveness of Hypopressive Exercises in Women with Pelvic Floor Dysfunction: A Randomised Controlled Trial. J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9, 1149. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9041149)

Not an ad!

In 2022, for the first time, a pelvic health guide was published to help non-specialist clinicians advise women on pelvic floor muscle training. It's for GPs, midwives, nurses and health visitors - to try to plug a long-standing knowledge gap and help more women with pelvic floor dysfunction to access practical support.

In this episode, Helen speaks to Dr Adanna Okeahialam, an Obstetrics & Gynaecology registrar with an interest in Urogynaecology, and co-author of the 'Pelvic Floor Muscle Training: A Practical Guide'.

They discuss the sudden spotlight on pelvic health, why pelvic floor exercises are a first line treatment and their role in preventing pelvic floor dysfunction.

NICE Guideline: Pelvic floor dysfunction: prevention and non-surgical management (Published 9 Dec 2021)
RCOG Position Statement: Pelvic Floor Health
RCOG Survey: Pelvic Floor Health
Pelvic health resources from POGP

If you're new to pelvic floor dysfunction and want to go back to basics, go back and listen to this episode.

The book, Why Mums Don't Jump: Ending the Pelvic Floor Taboo, is available NOW!