Thursday, April 3, 2014

Meeting Recap, March 27th 2014

Our second MOPS meeting of March featured a local physical therapist, Lisa Lewis. But first let's get to those announcements!

  • Many thanks to everyone who made our annual Spa Day a big success!
  • Registration is now open to all for the next MOPS year. So if you haven't registered, do it today.
  • Laurie Burke will be our MOPS Coordinator for 2014-2015! We know she will do an amazing job. And many, many thanks to Lauren Byrne for all of the hard work she has done as our Coordinator for the past several years!
  • FBC will be having a new Women's Bible study that begins on April 8th. They will be reading Beth Moore's "Sacred Secrets". The study will last 6 weeks, and childcare is available. Click here for more information.
  • Vacation Bible School at FBC will be held July 7 - 11. Volunteer registration is now available online. Children must be 4 years old by 9/30/14 to participate; however the children of volunteers who are younger than that may participate. 
  • Our MOPS Dinner Party will be on Friday, April 11th from 6 to 9:30pm. This is an adult dinner party so be sure to line up a babysitter asap!
  • Our April 10th meeting will feature author (and former Cville mops mama) Rachel Gerber! If you would like to read her new book, "Ordinary Miracles: Awakening to the Holy Work of Parenting", prior to the meeting you can order it here from Amazon
  • Our April 24th MOPS meeting will feature the famous Janet Mancini. We will also have a Mom's Night Out that same evening, where we will get to hang out with Janet at Lauren B.'s house. You don't want to miss it!
  • The JAG Corp Wives' Club will be having a "Spring Giveaway" on Saturday, May 3rd from 9am - 1pm at FBC. Donations of any and all household goods, clothes, toys, etc. will be accepted. Any items leftover from the giveaway will be donated to charitable organizations. Please contact Megan Stephens for with questions.


Our door prizes winners were Terri V. and Leah W.; congrats ladies!

Lisa Lewis, PT, MS
At this meeting we welcomed Lisa Lewis, a local Physical Therapist, as our speaker. Lisa specializes in pelvic floor dysfunction and rehabilitation. Her practice, Lewis Pelvic Floor Therapy, serves both men and women, of all ages and stages. Lisa began by telling us why someone might need physical therapy for their pelvic floor; reasons include urinary incontinence, pelvic pain, tail bone, sacral or SI pain, bladder pain, constipation, and pain with intercourse. Lisa shared that approximately 25 million Americans suffer from urinary incontinence, and of those 80% are women.  So while it is a common problem, urinary incontinence is not "normal" and can be helped. Another problem PT may help is Chronic Pelvic Pain. CPP can be devastating, causing 25% of the women who suffer from it to spend 2-3 days in bed per month. CPP can occur not just after a physical trauma, but also after stressful life events. Another condition Lisa treats is Piriformis Syndrome, where the piriformis muscle compresses the sciatic nerve, causing pain and numbness.

Lisa also told us that there are some contraindications for the type of Physical Therapy she offers. These include anyone less than 6 weeks postpartum or post surgery, anyone with severe pelvic pain, children or those without a prior medical pelvic exam, those who have suffered sexual abuse, and women who are currently pregnant.

If Pelvic Floor PT is right for you, Lisa begins with an evaluation, including a history of the problem, an observation of your symptoms, manual muscle test, and biofeedback assessment. Patients will also need to fill out a questionnaire on her website, a consent form, and a bladder or bowl diary if your problem involve those areas.  After that, the treatment is of course, exercise. Lisa will prescribe and teach pelvic floor exercises for you as well as self-assessment techniques. She will also examine some lifestyle choices that can exacerbate your condition; for instance, did you know that not drinking enough can actually worsen certain types of incontinence? Other treatment options include E-stim, or electronic muscle stimulation, and ultrasound.  Her practice also utilizes pelvic alignment, massage, and the application of cold and/or heat.

If you think you can benefit from Pelvic Floor Therapy and would like to contact Lisa, her website is www.lewispft.com, and her phone number is (434)960-4434. Many thanks to Lisa Lewis for educating us on Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy.

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, April 10th.  See you soon!

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