Pelvic Health Comms with Athletes: Episode 122 with Dr Rachel Selman

Hello and welcome to today's episode where I'm delighted to share my conversation with Dr Rachel Selman, all about better pelvic health conversations with athletes.Rachel is a physical therapist and coach, who shares her experience integrating pelvic health into sports medicine practice and discussed her upcoming book aimed at educating athletes about pelvic health issues. We explored challenges in communicating with athletes about pelvic health topics, including the need for sport-specific subjective questionnaires and annual in-services (for sports AND pelvic health pro's) to normalize these discussions. Rachel explained her approach to making complex pelvic health concepts accessible to athletes and coaches, emphasizing the importance of connecting pelvic health to overall performance rather than treating it as a separate specialized field. We discussed the role of stress and anxiety in exacerbating pelvic floor symptoms, particularly during high-stakes competitions. Our conversation also highlighted the need for better integration between pelvic health and sports medicine professionals, emphasising the importance of training coaches and athletes to recognise and discuss these symptoms preventatively, comparing it to how they would address other orthopedic concerns. Rachel is doing her part to change the narrative, and is planning to release her first book, Floor It, this autumn and it is available for pre-order now!Make sure you're following Rachel on instagram @dr.rachelselman for her amazing anatomy education and exercise strategiesAaaaand...don't forget, my Summer Sale is still on for a few more days, so if you're interested in helping female athletes with their pelvic health, check out The Menstrual Detective, which includes the course 'Pelvic Health for the Young Female Athlete' for free! The code JUNE26 can be used for a €100 discount on ALL of my online courses, from Perinatal Pelvic Rehab, The Menopausal Toolbox, Female Pelvic Oncology and more - but only until June 30th!All of the course info is at CelebrateMuliebrity.com or you can find out more on my instagram feed, a haven for women's health nerds, @michellelyons_muliebrityUntil next time, Onwards & Upwards, Mx! #celebratemuliebrity