It’s Time to Stop Whispering: Why Pelvic Health Needs an Open Conversation with Dr. April Morrison PT, DPT
As part of our Expert Spotlight Series, our founder Lauren chatted with Dr. April Morrison, founder of Destinations PT and a passionate physical therapist with a deep commitment to helping people live their lives to the fullest. Her focus on pelvic health grew from personal experience navigating reproductive challenges and a desire to bridge the gaps in women’s care—especially in the years before and after pregnancy. She believes in empowering women through knowledge and practical tools that support long-term wellness.
And let’s be honest: pelvic health still feels like a whispered topic—something we tiptoe around, even though it impacts everything from how we move and breathe to how we experience intimacy and recover postpartum. But that silence comes at a cost. In this candid conversation, Dr. Morrison and Lauren pull back the curtain on what pelvic health actually is, why it's foundational to overall wellbeing (not just "pee and poop"), and how small shifts—like breathing differently or staying hydrated—can create big changes. Whether you're new to this topic or deep in your healing journey, this is the kind of empowering, real-talk conversation we all deserve.
Catch 5 highlights below, or watch the full chat on Youtube!
1. Pelvic Health Isn’t Taboo—It’s Foundational to Your Wellbeing
Lauren:
How do you explain the importance of pelvic health to somebody who either has not a ton of knowledge or maybe hasn't even heard about it before?
Dr. Morrison:
I would say that the majority of the people that come through my office, I ask them what they know about pelvic health, and most of them say nothing. And so I basically say if you think about your body and where your pelvis is located, it's pretty much the center. If you think about your core, that's right where the heart of your body is, and it's responsible for so many things, not just peeing and pooping and all those things that we think about, but intercourse, pleasure with intercourse, balance, coordination, your movement of your hips, so your ability to move around in life.
So I kind of approach it in that respect so that people realize it's not a taboo thing to talk about, because it's just another part of your body that is really necessary for you to live your life and do the things you enjoy doing.
2. Simple Habits That Support Better Pelvic Health
Lauren:
Are there simple habits or things to keep in mind to promote good pelvic health that could be helpful for anyone to hear?
Dr. Morrison:
The first heavy hitter is to drink your water, be hydrated, stay hydrated. I think a lot of people think that if they don't drink water, then they won't have to pee, and then they're not going to leak, and that is such bad information. It's just completely false. So be hydrated. Your body needs it for several things. So that's one great piece of advice.
And the other is to tune into what your breath is doing in your daily life. If you're concentrating on something when you're driving and you're looking for directions or you're working at your computer and you're really detailed on something, are you holding your breath? And are you hunched forward? And is your posture terrible? If your posture is terrible, then your body can't push the pressure that it needs to where it needs to go in the body, and it could be pushing it in the wrong places and causing you issues. So key in to what your breath is doing. As you go to get up from a chair, do you bear down and hold your breath as you go to stand, or are you exhaling? And those little tiny things, keeping conscious of what your breath is doing and keeping hydrated are the easiest ones that we can start doing, and everyone can benefit from that.
Lauren:
The breath is huge. That was one of the big learning experiences for me when I was first getting introduced to pelvic floor PT: how it is just this whole system and your breathing impacts everything, and being able to relax and then reflecting on that in your day-to-day life. You just start to notice things about yourself that you may have not even realized before. And once you realize it's all connected, it's a lot of "Aha moments" as you learn more.
Dr. Morrison:
It's hard not to pay attention to it. Once you know it, it's hard not to think about your breath. And then you'll probably find yourself telling other people, oh, you're holding your breath when you're doing that.
Lauren:
A big one for me too, along those lines is the butt clenching and when I'm doing certain things or the jaw clenching, I think those are both very kind of related. And once I learned about that, I was like, oh gosh.
Dr. Morrison:
Yeah. It's good though. Knowledge is power.
3. How Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Stopped Bladder Leaks After 18 Years
Lauren:
Do you mind sharing with us a success story about somebody that you've worked with?
Dr. Morrison:
Yeah. One of my favorites is this mom who came in for leaking. She was leaking, she's an equestrian rider, and she had had her daughter. At that time, her daughter was 18, and so she had been dealing with leaking for 18 years and recently got back into horseback riding and had a little more freedom. Her daughter had graduated and she was able to do more things and was getting into barrel racing. And she came in tears because every time her horse would take off, she would leak and she would get off of her horse and off of the saddle. And she was drenched. And she was so mortified, because she was doing this in front of all these people. And she would tell me, she's like, "It's a joke amongst these riders in the rodeo. That's what happens when you're a woman of a certain age."
And she's like, "Is there any help for me? Is there anything I can do?" And I was like, "Heck yeah, let's do it. Let's try. Let's see. Let's do an evaluation."
We did an evaluation and no word of a lie, three sessions is all it took for her to be able to ride a horse and not deal with leaking. And we did a lot of different things. I had her video herself riding because I couldn't go and see her doing it, but I had her video herself, and she would tell me what was happening so we could look at her body mechanics that she's doing certain things and what the horse was doing, and gosh, we were able to just kind of take care of that. So she had been dealing with it for 18 years, and she's like, "I wish I had done this so many years ago." But she put in the work. It wasn't anything magic that I did, I just was the vessel to give her the information. And she put the work in and three sessions over the course of about a month.
Lauren:
Was just so incredible. I love hearing stories like that and then being able to share them for other people to hear, because I hope that it encourages anybody who's sitting there--whether it's leaking, pain with sex, any of those things--if there is something bothering you or holding you back, hear stories like this and then find the right people because it can just be so impactful for the many, many years to come.
4. Why Everyone Deserves a Pelvic Health Baseline at Every Life Stage
Lauren:
I know people come in to learning about pelvic floor physical therapy specifically at different life stages. I feel like right now a lot of people are learning about it postpartum, but talk to us just a little bit about how you can think about how pelvic floor physical therapy can play into your life at different life stages.
Dr. Morrison:
So the pelvis, the pelvic floor, those muscles and all those structures around that are really important for your posture and for movement. And so regardless of if you're planning on having kids or if you've had your kids, making sure your pelvis and all of the structures around it are healthy and doing the things they want to do to carry you through life is so important.
If I was king of the world, everybody would have a pelvic or just a PT evaluation to make sure you're moving well. But just checking your posture, making sure you don't have any compensatory mechanisms that you're moving a certain way and you're protecting one thing, causing other issues. So doing those kinds of things throughout the stages of life is super important.
And if you talk specifically about women's health, like dealing with young women who are starting their cycles and learning what their bodies are doing during their cycles and how the hormones are reacting in their bodies to pregnancy and those hormone changes and the body structure changes, the balance changes, all of those things we can help with. Even if you're not having pain, those things we can help with.
And then again into menopause, post menopause, all of those lovely changes that happen in our bodies, we just keep changing and knowing that changing is so important to know, and it's not going to be the same from one day to the other.
Lauren:
Hope that No, no, absolutely. I feel like that's one of the biggest things. If I can get up on my soapbox--let's be proactive with these things too. Let's not wait until we have a problem. Let's get those relationships established with your physical therapist, generally and focus on the pelvic floor. Because I feel like to that exact point you were just making, you might have had everything kind of figured out, and then all of a sudden you're entering this new phase and things are different. And I think the more proactive we can be, which I know is a privilege, the better because it just lets you stay ahead of things and not get caught off guard.
So yeah, I like to hear how people think about it at the different stages because I feel like I kind of hear different things where it's either a badge of honor to not have to see a pelvic floor PT, or it's like, "I've done this small piece and then I'm done." That's why I like to ask that question.
Dr. Morrison:
And I think it's so common for us to have physicals and blood work, annual blood work and all that. And the reason for that is so that you have a baseline. So if something is weird, if something is off, then if you know. If you never have a baseline in your pelvic health, in your mobility and how you move and do things in life, then how will you know if something is off? And it will take that much longer to figure it out. If you have that baseline, you'll be able to address it.
5. Pelvic Floor Therapy Can Feel Vulnerable, but You Are Always in Control
Lauren:
I know some folks can feel hesitant to seek help. How did those conversations go? I mean, if you get the chance to have them, or what would you tell somebody who might be thinking about seeing someone like yourself but feels unsure?
Dr. Morrison:
Yeah. I think it is a vulnerable area of the body that we are dealing with. And I always let people know that no matter what is going on, they are in charge of what we do and what we don't do. So while maybe an internal assessment, people don't even realize that there's an internal assessment part that happens with pelvic floor PT, but that's how we figure it out. We feel those muscles, we see if they're moving just like we would with your arm or shoulder. We want to feel those muscles.
But if we can't do the internal assessment because of pain, because of discomfort, because of trauma, because of any reason at all--just don't want to, just not feeling it--then you don't have to. It might give us more information, but it isn't the be all end all, and that shouldn't be the reason that you don't seek help.
So it is a vulnerable part of the body. A lot of things come up during the assessments. Sometimes emotions come up, trauma comes up that you didn't even know existed. And I just tell people, this is a safe space to have those times, and they are in control. So if we need to stop, even if we're in the middle, then we stop and no questions asked. We just kind of go on and we talk about it or we don't. It is just really up to them.
Lauren:
No, I appreciate you sharing that. And one of my favorite things about my experiences with physical therapy has been one, the amount of time that you get to spend with your provider, it's so different than most other interactions I feel like you have. And then also the spaces. I know it's not always the same, but so many times it just doesn't always feel as medical as some of the other environments can feel. And so I think it can feel a lot more approachable than maybe people think it is sometimes. So
Dr. Morrison:
Thanks for sharing that. Yeah, it's important to have that clinical aspect, but it's also more important, I think, to be comfortable in the space that you're in. Especially when you're sharing really intimate parts of yourself. For sure.
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**Medical Disclaimer: This post is intended to provide information and resources only. This post or any of the information contained within should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis, treatment, or advice. Always seek the guidance of your qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding your healthcare, conditions, and recommended treatment.