Janna Trottier, PT, DPT, CSCS recently attended our Biomechanical Assessment of the Hip and Pelvis in Tampa, FL, taught by Steve Dischiavi, MPT, DPT, ATC, COMT, CSCS. Here's what she had to say about this course:

Last month I attended the course “Biomechanical Assessment of the Hip and Pelvis.” It was created and instructed by Steve Dischiavi, MPT, DPT, ATC, COMT, CSCS. I was drawn to the program because I was looking for an SI course that was comprehensive including evaluation and treatment as well as a functional application for treatments. It was advertised through Herman and Wallace.

H&W is thrilled to announce that we have completed one more giant step in the process of developing our certification exam, the Pelvic Therapy Practitioner Certification (PTPC) exam.

Over the past few weekends, our team of Subject Matter Experts met in Seattle to painstakingly go through all 450 items (exam questions) for clarity, correctness and other conventions. This was a massive project and we are thrilled to have gotten over this hurdle.

Now that all items have been reviewed, we are only a few steps away from beta testing the first offering of the exam.

Our own Holly Herman, DPT PT MS OCS WCS BCB-PMD, is adding two more initials to her credentials.

She has met the criteria for the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH) Fellowship and is approved to use the designation IF after her name, making her one of only three PTs in the world to hold this title (the others are H&W friends Amy Stein and Talli Rosenbaum).

Congrats to Holly for this achievement!

We are glad to report that Institute founder Holly Herman arrived safe and sound in Santiago, Chile and just finished teaching Day One of our intensive Pregnancy and Postpartum course we are offering to therapists in the region.

This course is being offered in partnership with Francisco Eduardo Ubilla Benghi, PT, COMT, MOMT, a local therapist who worked with Herman & Wallace to put on this event.

Holly will be teaching the coures in English to an audience of Chileans (and a few participants from other South American countries) with the help of a translator. In Chile, people speak Spanish with a castellano dialect, which is wholly unique from the Spanish which Americans learn in high school (in addition to being a brilliant PT, Holly speaks Spanish).

This blog was written by Pelvic Rehab Report guest blogger, Richard Sabel MA, MPH, OTR, GCFP, who - along with Bill Gallagher PT, CMT, CYT - teaches the H&W course, Integrative Techniques for Pelvic Floor & Core Function: Weaving Yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong, Feldenkrais and Conventional Therapies as well as an online series of courses on the same topic.

RS: When considering the broad range of health issues that fall under the umbrella of pelvic dysfunction, we’ve observed that too many of our clients have PPA - poor pelvic awareness. Sure they’re cognizant of the pain, discomfort or distress associated with their particular issue, but in reality the pelvic region is, as Imgard Bartenieff described it, “the dead seven inches in most Americans’ bodies.” We’ve taken creative license here and call it “the dead zone.”

This fall, Herman & Wallace is proud to again offer the course Harnessing the Diaphragm and Pelvic Floor Piston for Rehab and Fitness, instructed by Julie Wiebe. The course will be offered November 2-3 in San Diego, CA

Our pelvic rehab report blogger sat down with Julie to hear more about her course.

PRR: What can you tell us about this continuing education course that is not mentioned in the “course description” and “objectives” that are posted online?

Earlier this week, everyone here at the Institute was thrilled to see pelvic rehabilitation and the important role of the physical therapist in addressing pelvic floor dysfunction highlighted in an article in Elle magazine.

This morning, we were equally excited to see pelvic physical therapy mentioned on The Today Show's "Gross Anatomy" segment, during which a gynocologist from Norwalk, CT answered a woman from the audience's question about her weak bladder with advice to seek out a good pelvic physical therapist.

It's wonderful to see pelvic PT getting mainstream attention in women's glossy magazines and morning talk shows. We hope these will be venues to get the word out to patients: "You are not alone and we can help you!"

Recently, Elle magazine did a feature story on a woman suffering from pelvic pain who ultimately found relief from her debilitating and excrutiating symptoms through pelvic-floor physical therapy.

The article mentions Herman & Wallace, our founders Kathe and Holly, and H&W-trained therapists Amy Stein (of Heal Pelvic Pain fame) and Sarah Emmanuel.

We appreciate the shout-out, but - more importantly - we think it's wonderful to see in-depth and awareness-raising articles about pelvic floor dysfunction and the role of the physical therapist in a widely-read women's glossy like Elle.

Herman & Wallace instructors Bill Gallagher PT, CMT, CYT and Richard Sabel MA, MPH, OTR, GCFP are currently leading a four-session workshop for men who recently underwent prostate surgery. They recently completed the second two sessions and shared their story and experience with Pelvic Rehab Report:

You can read their dispatch from Sessions 1-2 here.

The group was a rousing success. In fact, the opening narration to Star Trek, with some modification, can be used here: The pelvic floor program was, for many, the final frontier. It’s 4-week mission: to explore strange and unusual sensations, to boldly go where man has never gone before, works well. Everyone had fun. There were lots of laughs, but some cognitive dissonance too - especially the first week when we were learning the pelvic breath. However, by the end, most were smiling as they felt the dance between their respiratory and pelvic diaphragms.

For the last few months, Herman & Wallace's team of Item Writers have been plugging away at writing the questions and answers that will appear on the multiple-choice certification exam for Pelvic Therapy Practitioner Certification (PTPC). We needed 450 items in the item bank in order to move onto the next step of exam development, and are so excited to announce that, today, we hit 400 items! That means, we have only 50 items to go!

In August, our team of Subject Matter Experts will meet to go through the 450 items to edit them for clarity, accuracy and convention. This is one of the final steps (prior to beta-testing the items after review) before we launch the exam!

Once the first offering of the exam is announced, H&W will be making study guides and other materials available.