Pelvic Floor Facts Every Active Menopausal Woman Should Know with Ingrid Harm-Ernandes, PT (Episode 232)

Hit Play Not Pause

Health & Fitness, Medicine, Fitness

4.9 • 769 Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2025

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Pelvic floor disorders can wreak havoc on your well-being, especially as a woman who wants to run, jump, hike, bike, and otherwise enjoy an active life. Unfortunately, pelvic floor dysfunction is extremely common, with about half of us experiencing urinary incontinence alone (let alone painful sex, constipation, prolapse, and so forth). But we don’t have to live with all these pelvic floor problems that are sometimes painted as just “normal aging.” This week we take an illuminating deep dive into what you need to know about pelvic floor health and function (spoiler: it’s way more than Kegels) with Ingrid Harm-Ernandes, PT, author The Musculoskeletal Mystery: How to Solve Your Pelvic Floor Symptoms.

Ingrid Harm-Ernandes, PT, WCS, BCB-PMD, is a board-certified women’s health physical therapist with over 40 years of experience, including nearly three decades specializing in pelvic health. During her tenure at Duke University Health System, she treated patients across urogynecology and physical therapy clinics, co-directed the Women’s Health Residency Program, and contributed to national pelvic floor research through the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network. A recognized leader in her field, Ingrid has served on committees for the APTA and AUGS, is a Medical Advisory Committee member for the National Menopause Foundation, and authored both scholarly articles and the book The Musculoskeletal Mystery: How to Solve Your Pelvic Floor Symptoms. Through her clinical work, writing, speaking, and “The Pelvic Detective” YouTube presence, she’s helped demystify pelvic floor dysfunction—addressing conditions like incontinence, prolapse, pain with sex, and menopause-related changes—while empowering people with the knowledge to advocate for better care.

Resources

The Musculoskeletal Mystery: How To Solve Your Pelvic Floor Symptoms here

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, feisty listeners, Feisty founder and CEO Sarah Gross here.
0:05.0	I am super excited to let you all know that our brand new suite of digital courses is
0:10.3	officially live and on demand starting June 9th.
0:14.8	And these courses are designed for one purpose to give active women like you the tools,
0:20.5	knowledge, and support you actually
0:22.8	need to thrive. For far too long, women's health has been treated like an afterthought. But
0:29.2	not here, not anymore. Whether you're dialing in your nutrition, building strength, navigating
0:35.9	hormonal shifts, or just trying to stay sharp and feel
0:38.8	like yourself, you'll find expert-led science-backed courses built for real life and real bodies.
0:45.6	And to celebrate this launch, you will get 25% off all courses through the end of June.
0:51.7	Check them out now at livefeisty.com.
0:55.2	The link will be in the show notes because your health deserves more.
1:19.0	You are listening to Hit Play, Not Pause, a feisty menopause podcast for active performance-minded women.
1:24.5	I am your host, Celine Yeager. Each week, I bring you advice from athletes, scientists, researchers, and other experts to help you feel and perform you best no matter what your
1:28.6	hormones are doing. This show is a production of Live Feisty Media.
1:35.8	Hello, strong feisty women. I hope you all are well. So as we speak, I am sitting here trying
1:43.0	to remember to relax.
1:45.3	And not just in general, though I need a daily reminder to do that for sure,
1:49.4	but specifically to relax my pelvic floor.
1:53.1	Because I think I've been clenching it since about 1992, three.
1:59.1	Seriously.
2:00.3	As women, especially in our demographic, we have gotten endless messages about how important it is to do Kegels.
	...

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