Between the Hips: A Practical Guide for Women

Have you ever wondered if your bladder and bowel habits are really normal? Did you know that pelvic pain is quite treatable? Would you like to learn how to achieve phenomenal orgasms? Most women have never been taught this paramount information, so they were left feeling hopeless...until now! Between the Hips offers the solutions you've been missing. In this compassionate and personal illustrated guide, Dr. Megan Rorabeck crushes common pelvic health myths from adolescence to elderhood, and she offers practical solutions to make sure you get the help and relief you truly need and deserve.

An annotated outline for this guide includes:

•Introduction: Gone are the days when women had to accept their pelvic health symptoms as normal just because they had a baby, got older, or were plagued with “female trouble.” With this book, there will be no more taboos or secrets about their bodies—only solutions.

• The Pelvic Girdle: This anatomy lesson is unlike any other; you will finally feel in-the-know about your “lady bits.”

•When Your Pelvic Support System Fails: Learn the lowdown of what could be hanging low down there with pelvic organ prolapse and just what to do about it. (Hint: You don’t always need surgery.)

•Between the Hips Sexy Self-Care: The title says it all—we discuss topics like odors down there, what actually happens during an orgasm (to help you achieve your best one), and how to properly pee in a public restroom.

•Bladder Health: Delve into common myths surrounding bladder leakage, urgency, and frequency—because leakage, even just one drop, is not normal. Discover how the bladder has quirky behaviors and that Kegels will not solve all issues. Most important, learn solutions that are nearly guaranteed to improve your bladder health.

•Bowel Health: See just how the bowels work to sense what is coming down the tube (solid, liquid, or gas), tie up loose ends with diarrhea, get things moving with constipation, and learn why certain positions make it easier to poop.

•Pelvic Pain: Up until 2013, pelvic pain was labeled a psychiatric disorder. This chapter sheds light on the unsettling reality that even today, women are not taken seriously when reporting this to their doctors. Get the truth about common pelvic floor pain diagnoses and learn how pelvic floor physical therapy can help.

•To Lengthen or Strengthen: To do Kegels or not to do Kegels—one of the ultimate pelvic health questions! This chapter helps you key in on your pelvic floor needs and explains why Kegels are not always the answer.

•Pregnancy: Explore solutions to have a relatively pain-free pregnancy and decrease your risk for postpartum depression. Learn how to prepare your pelvic floor muscles for a vaginal birth and the best positions for delivery.

•Postpartum: The Fourth Trimester: Discover how breastfeeding may affect the pelvic floor and how to address bladder leakage and pain, recover from a c-section or vaginal delivery, heal and strengthen your core, and identify postpartum depression so you can get support.

•Life Stages and Pelvic Health: This chapter highlights the life stages of a woman—adolescence, reproductive years, menopause, and elderhood—so you can make smart decisions about your pelvic health at all ages.

•Bonus Chapter: Wellness Screening and Testing: Many doctors see upwards of twenty patients a day, and sadly things get missed. This chapter helps you advocate for yourself by understanding your screening and testing needs.

•Appendix A: Test-Tracking Log: Use this tool to keep an organized record of your medical testing.

•Appendix B: Recommended Resources: Book, podcast, and website resources help you further explore topics discussed in the book, including how to find a pelvic floor physical therapist near you.

•Endnotes: Over eighty citations support the content in this guide.

•Index: Quickly search desired topics.

I am a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a Board-Certified Women's Health Clinical Specialist on a mission to help women all over the world understand that issues like bladder leakage (even just one drop-kids or no kids), constipation, and painful, anticlimactic sex are not normal. After I received my board certification in women's health, I was excited but also angry. The introduction to my book, Between the Hips, reveals more about my passion and dedication to this topic. In my practice, I have 2,200 highly sought after appointment slots for women each year. I teach DPT students at Carroll University, am a teaching assistant for pelvic floor continuing education courses, and lead community talks with catchy titles like Mind Over Bladder. I eat, sleep, and breathe all bits pelvic health! However, this is still not enough, and I am determined to get this information into more women's hands to underscore that there should be no more taboos or secrets, only solutions. I hope you add Between the Hips: A Practical Guide for Women to your bookshelf, share it with all of your girlfriends, and learn to embrace and feel even more confident in the woman that you are.