FLAGSTAFF (Mar. 11, 2024) – Dawn Tucker uses her body for daily work as a trapeze coach and aerial artist. The mother of two is active, happy and living her best life.
However, shortly after the birth of her first son in 2021, Dawn suffered the unthinkable: a rectal prolapse also known as “rectocele,” which is when the rectum bulges forward into the vaginal wall and opening.
“It was very scary and weird,” Dawn recalls. “I literally thought my uterus was falling out.”
Dawn recounts that while she didn’t experience pain, it was extremely awkward and embarrassing at first.
“I had no idea [what was happening to me],” Dawn remembers. “No one had prepared me for this as a possibility of something that could happen. It felt like walking around with a tennis ball in between my legs.”
She knew she needed help, which is when she reached out to Banner Physical Therapist Amy Flory, who specializes in pelvic health physical therapy through Banner’s CoreVia Pelvic Health program.
“As soon as I connected with Amy, she made me realize this was all pretty common [for postpartum moms],” Dawn says. “Working with Amy gave me the confidence to go right back to the studio to practice [aerial for my trapeze coaching] pretty quickly.”
According to Amy, pelvic floor dysfunctions occur in 20-30% of the post-partum population.
“Over the course of [a] year, about 20% of my total caseload are post-partum patients, both during and following the ‘4th trimester’ and [consist of] 50% of my pelvic floor-related caseload,” Amy said.
Amy says she’s seeing less reluctance now for patients to report their pelvic floor dysfunction and seek out care.
“When I started in this specialty nearly 30 years ago, it took women on average nine years to report symptoms to their health care providers,” Amy said. “Care is still overall quite delayed for women with these problems, but there are so many more resources available now for new moms, and less stigma in publications and online forums.”
Dawn’s words of wisdom for other moms who may be experiencing a prolapse or another pelvic floor dysfunction is to not be embarrassed.
“Educate yourself on your pelvic floor health during pregnancy,” Dawn says. “See a pelvic floor physical therapist as soon as you can and get all the pelvic floor information you can. Don’t be embarrassed.”
Banner Health is one of the largest, secular nonprofit health care systems in the country. In addition to 33 hospitals, Banner also operates an academic medicine division, Banner – University Medicine, and Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, a partnership with one of the world’s leading cancer programs, MD Anderson Cancer Center. Banner’s array of services includes a health insurance division, employed physician groups, outpatient surgery centers, urgent care locations, home care, and hospice services, retail pharmacies, stand-alone imaging centers, physical therapy and rehabilitation, behavioral health services, a research division and a nursing registry. To make health care easier, 100% of Banner-employed doctors are available for virtual visits and patients may also reserve spots at Banner Urgent Care locations and can book appointments online with many Banner-employed doctors. Headquartered in Arizona, Banner Health also has locations in California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming. For more information, visit bannerhealth.com.
Banner Physical Therapy is part of a joint venture partnership between Banner Health and Select Medical’s Outpatient Division, a nationally prominent, locally driven provider of outpatient physical rehabilitation. Banner Physical Therapy offers 60 convenient locations throughout Arizona. The centers provide a wide range of services to patients, including physical therapy, hand/occupational therapy, pelvic health, cancer rehabilitation, pediatric therapy, sports medicine and work injury prevention and management. For more information, visit selectmedical.com/outpatient.
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