Episode 178: Your Pelvic Floor is NOT a Unicorn
For the Busy Mommas…
We'd be lying if we didn't admit we've giggled over our guest’s business name.
It's actually downright brilliant. Equal parts funny and straight to the point.
Jenn Lormand is bringing some fire today mixed with humor, hope, and healing.
She's a published researcher, exercise physiologist, and author. AND she's been living and thriving with Stage 2 prolapse for the last ten years.
After being told an invasive surgery was her only hope following her third birth, Jenn was determined to create her own solution. Together with her Tighten Your Tinkler cofounder (PT + manual integrative therapist Christina Walsh), Jenn developed a new movement-based protocol that allowed her to reverse her pelvic floor symptoms.
Before going online in 2019, Jenn and her business partner Christina helped hundreds of New Orleans women reduce and eliminate pelvic floor issues.
The Journal of Women’s Health Physical Therapy featured their research, confirming the effectiveness of their protocol at ending pee leaks, back pain, and painful sex – WITHOUT kegels or trendy internal vaginal devices.
The Tinkler mission is to inspire hope and healing – helping women to heal holistically so they can show up fully present for their lives through at-home programs that are non-invasive and kegel-free.
What is Prolapse and How to Recognize It (01:40)
First, it’s important to know that pelvic floor dysfunction and prolapse are a bit different. If you’re told you have pelvic floor dysfunction, just know it is very typical (although not common) after having a baby. It’s simply an imbalance of the muscles that hold your guts in your pelvic floor.
Prolapse is just a progression of pelvic floor dysfunction, and it’s the falling down of the pelvic organs into the pelvic compartment. Unfortunately, it can progress to the point where the organs are falling out of your body.
Check out Jenn and Christina’s YouTube channel here for a variety of informative videos explaining pelvic floor dysfunction and prolapse.
This can manifest as back pain, hip tightness, pain with insertion for sex, or it can feel like pressure during sex (or soreness or swelling after sex). Pee leaks with urgency (with jumping, sneezing, coughing), gas leaks, just a myriad of different issues (and they’re all from the same thing).
Another symptom worth noting (that comes up around 9:17) is Diastasis Recti (DR, or separation of the abdominals). You could also brush off the downward heaviness in the pelvis and lower abs. Other things to look for are when a tampon won’t stay or feels like it’s inserted wrong. (You’ll find ALL the resources here).
The First Step When You Recognize Prolapse or Pelvic Floor Dysfunction (05:45)
Before you do anything else, head here and take the quiz. Jenn and Christina converted their published research into a simple quiz that will give you a category you fall into and tell you the best next step.
Prolapse is quantified by stages 0-4, and the noninvasive methods of Tighten Your Tinkler are best equipped to help women with pelvic floor dysfunction through stage 2 prolapse of bladder, bowel, rectum, etc.
Every Woman's Body Has a Unique Story (06:30)
Every woman’s body has a different story, so it’s difficult to say that every woman who’s had a baby likely suffers from pelvic floor dysfunction.
There are some things that can provoke these things through pregnancy that Jenn’s learned…
If you had chronic respiratory problems as a kid (allergies, bronchitis, asthma), it could begin to weaken the muscles (and throw you into prolapse when pregnant).
Research shows that high-impact activities (cheerleading, gymnastics, etc.) from a young age cause the highest rates of pelvic floor dysfunction in puberty because of the repetitive impact and the lack of learning diaphragmatic breathwork and simple movement patterns to strengthen the pelvic floor.
Your pelvic floor, while it IS special, it is not a magical unicorn.
If you’d like to access all the resources Jenn mentions, head to her website here. She and Christina are passionate about ensuring women feel seen, heard, and validated…that they’re not alone.
The Healing Journey (10:40)
These discussions are extremely emotional because we’re not just our bodies; we’re body + soul. So when something like this impacts the physical body with basic functions (like holding in your urine and stool), it impacts how we show up in all our roles (wives, mothers, sisters, friends).
Jenn and Christina teach extensively through their free resources and inside their paid course because every woman needs to go through a cycle of healing.
The first step is acknowledging that there’s a problem.
Step two is the belief that healing is possible for each woman.
Step three is making the decision to do something about it.
Step four is doing something about pelvic floor dysfunction.
Jenn and Christina have a private community that goes along with their signature program, which walks women through these stages.
Healing your relationship with your body and healing your body physically is very important on this journey.
So many things have been accepted as “normal” post-partum…and they may be common…but NOT normal. Many women are handed pills and sent away when there’s a much better (and holistic) option to better honor their bodies.
Jenn's Story (17:45)
Jenn loves and hates sharing her story all at the same time. Her first birth was VERY traumatic. She pushed for 4 hours, her son’s APGAR score was 0, she sustained a 4th-degree tear, and the hospital was understaffed.
Six months later, Jenn was pregnant again. She hadn’t healed from her first delivery; she had a c-section, and after the birth, the doctor told her it wouldn’t be in her best interest to have another baby.
After a nine-year gap (and much healing), Jenn and her husband decided to have another child. Post-delivery, Jenn had significant back pain, zero core support due to diastasis recti, and she actually had surgery to sew her abs back together. Unknowingly, this created a LOT of downward pressure…
8 weeks post-op, Jenn felt and saw things coming out of her body. She went to her OB (whom she liked) and asked for a specialist. She was shamed and told it wasn’t THAT bad (but they gave her a referral).
Jenn’s “Not so bad” was a stage 2 prolapse (she discovered once she saw the specialist). With her new diagnosis, she went to the car and cried, and in a Holy Spirit moment, she decided that she had nothing to lose and she’d try something other than surgery.
Jenn then attended a conference, discovered the Pelvicore (an external exercise tool), used it (with success), bought 5, and began using them in her practice. Then she spoke with Christina, and they decided to conduct a research study.
Three years and 40 women later, the duo took their research to surgeons (and specialists) and were very disappointed to learn that they were not interested in helping women non-invasively.
It takes advocating for yourself to find these options because the health system is not communicating these things. Women NEED this information, and there are too many sad stories (that never had to happen).
The Most Severe Cases (27:05)
If you find that you’re in the higher or more progressed stage of prolapse, see a urogynecologist. They can make further recommendations, like a pessary (a device that acts like scaffolding and helps to hold your organs up and in).
If you’re in stage 4, make sure you feel extremely comfortable with your surgeon. These surgeries have a 25% failure rate.
Some women in the later stages still purchase the Signature program to strengthen the muscles in their pelvic floor (even though they won’t see the same results).
Another great aspect of the Signature Program is the private community (that Jenn & Christina protect fiercely).
More from Tighten Your Tinkler (31:31)
(This list contains affiliate links that will save you money but also result in compensation for The Deliberate Day).
Signature Program (Use code DELIBERATE for $50 off! Affiliate Code)
A's to Our Q's (32:00)
Jenn’s go-to back-up meal is meatballs and spaghetti.
Her guilty pleasure is reading (it’s also her love language).
Jenn is currently reading The Mystical City of God and The Diary of Sister Anna Ali.
One thing Jenn does every day that brings her joy is daily Mass.
A prized possession for Jenn when she was a child was her little doll, Sissy.
One activity that always brings Jenn peace is the Rosary.
And beautiful mommas, never forget…
YOU are doing beautiful work!
