Pelvic Health Physiotherapy Professional Day – Red Deer, AB

Join guest presenters Stephanie Prendergast, Debbie Patterson and Shelly Prosko for a full day of engaging & interactive sessions on topics surrounding Pelvic Health Physiotherapy.

Who should attend?
Any Physiotherapist who is interested in women’s or men’s health, regardless if they do an internal exam, are welcome to register.

Our line up of amazing Physical Therapy speakers are:

• Shelly Prosko 
• PhysioYoga: Creating Pelvic Floor Health with Yoga
  Enjoy the opportunity to take the time for some well deserved self-care as you personally experience some the components of a pelvic floor focused PhysioYoga practice, and what it feels like to nourish all of your layers of existence by using a biopsychosocial model of health.
• Shelly Prosko, Physical Therapist, Professional Yoga Therapist, and Pilates instructor, is a highly sought after and respected leader and pioneer in the area of PhysioYoga Therapy, a combination of Physical Therapy & Medical Therapeutic Yoga.  Since 1998, she has been integrating yoga into her physical therapy treatments in order to promote optimal healing for people suffering from a variety of conditions including pelvic health issues and persistent pain conditions.  For more information please visit www.physioyoga.ca
• Yoga is one of the leading complementary health practices in North America.   Join Shelly as she discusses how and why yoga can serve as a valuable adjunct to pelvic rehabilitation. Be prepared to also participate and enjoy an educational, practical, inspiring and fun gentle yoga practice implementing a variety of techniques that you can immediately use with your patients in the clinic setting including pelvic floor awareness, visualization, mindfulness meditation, and breathing methods in a variety of yoga postures to help promote pelvic floor relaxation and modulate the pain experience. Mindful movements coordinated with pelvic diaphragmatic rhythm and breathing to help optimize PFM engagement and excursion will also be included.
• Anne-Marie Fafard
• Osteopathy and Pelvic Health: The Care of the Pregnant WomanAnne-Marie believes in continuing education and has taken several post graduate training related to women’s health and the pelvic floor. She has studied with Dr. Bernadette de Gasquet, physician and yoga instructor, from Paris, France, introducing new ideas around birthing and abdominal strengthening. She has also studied with the John Barnes’ Myofascial Release school in the United States and has now completed studies in osteopathy at the “College d’Etudes Ostéopathiques de Québec” (College of Osteopathic Studies of Quebec City).  You can find her at http://fafardphysio.com/ and http://www.consensioclinic.ca/home.html in Canmore.
• Anne-Marie will discuss where physiotherapists can play a role and how important our role is. Pregnancy is when we have to ensure women are growing comfortably and able to remain active until delivery. Women should be able to participate fully to their life and even enjoy this special time. It is also the time to educate and prepare the body for labour and delivery, as well as, the post-partum period. It is therefore, a very important time when physiotherapists can make a positive and essential contribution to the well-being of women. Prevention for possible pelvic dysfunction to develop also starts then. Some techniques will be shared.
• Stephanie Prendergast
• Pelvic Health: Pudendal Neuralgia – Then and NowThis lecture will look at the evolution of this diagnosis, and why we need the perspective of a pelvic floor physical therapist and an interdisciplinary team approach to explain how to manage this literal pain in the ass.
  A lot has changed since 1988.You can find her on Twitter @pelvichealth, on Facebook at facebook/pelvicpainphysicaltherapy. 
• Stephanie A. Prendergast, MPT is Co-founder of the Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center, which has locations in San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Gatos, Los Angeles, and Boston.  She currently treats patients in the Los Angeles location.  Stephanie began serving on the International Pelvic Pain Society’s Board of Directors in 2002 and in 2013 served as the first physical therapist President. She and Elizabeth Akinicilar co-developed and teach a continuing education course, Demystifying Pudendal Neuralgia. As a commitment to the role of physical therapy in management of pelvic pain, they also publish weekly blog and authored the recently released, Pelvic Pain Explained.  Stephanie is an organizing program member of the World Congress on Abdominal and Pelvic Pain, Amsterdam 2013, Nice, 2015 and Washington DC in 2017. 
• When PN was first described in 1988, it was viewed as a compression entrapment syndrome, similar to carpal tunnel syndrome. The treatment protocol consisted of three corticosteroid nerve blocks, medications, relaxation therapy and then surgical decompression. Pelvic floor physical therapy was not an option or part of the treatment protocol.
  
• Pudendal Neuralgia seems to be a diagnosis that is more polarized and controversial than other pelvic pain diagnoses.  WHY?
  
• Debbie Patterson
• Pain Science: Sex and Gender Differences in PainDebbie Patterson is a registered physiotherapist in the provinces of Ontario and Alberta.  She is a founding member of the Pain Science Division of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association.  She has practiced orthopaedic physiotherapy for over 35 years, treating both acutely injured and chronic pain patients.  Now she treats people with chronic pain exclusively.
• Debbie is a trained and certified Progressive Goal Attainment Programme (PGAP) clinician and is trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.  Debbie teaches interdisciplinary courses on persistent pain across Canada and is an invited speaker to conferences and events.  You can find her on her website http://www.painsolutions.info/
• It is now evident that sex and gender differences in pain do exist.  This talk will outline what some of the differences are, some of the possible mechanisms for these differences, and a perspective on the clinical implications.

We are really looking forward to this new direction of our provincial group meeting!  It promises to be a very educational and exhilarating day!

Michelle Day and Gayle Hulme

Please dress for comfortable movement as we will have practical components throughout the day.  Please bring a yoga mat if you have one.

Details & Registration HERE