06/06/2023
Hi, I’m Dr. Katharine Cline! I am a physical therapist and board certified clinical specialist in women’s health. I have also completed a pelvic rehabilitation certification encompassing pelvic health care for people of all genders and s*xuality. I have taken extensive continuing education regarding the treatment of bowel and bladder dysfunction in children. Basically, I know a lot about what goes on in the pelvis and how it affects movement and overall health!
But, when I started my physical therapy doctorate degree at Grand Valley State University in 2014, I had no idea what was going on in the pelvis. I had just completed my undergraduate degree in Exercise Science from Indiana University. This included a rigorous background in chemistry, biology, psychology, anatomy, and physiology... but, the space between the navel and the thigh had largely been ignored!
It was not until after graduate school, when I was taking continuing education courses in pelvic health, that I began to understand the pelvic floor and its massive impact on bowel, bladder, and s*xual function. Access to high quality information about how s*x, p*eing, p**ping, and farting work should not be limited to people with a graduate degree. It is foundational knowledge for overall health and should be available to everyone!
As a clinician, I know that there are a lot of people out there who leak urine when they laugh, have painful p**ps, have a “small bladder”, have painful s*x, are chronically constipated, and more. I treat these issues on a daily basis! But, I know there are a lot more people who never make it into physical therapy because of time or financial constraints. I also know there are even more people who never make it into physical therapy because they don’t know they have a problem or don’t know that there is anything that can be done to address it! There’s a lot of physical, mental, and emotional pain that goes along with issues in the pelvis. It can be really hard to talk to family and friends about your p**ping problem! And sometimes it can be hard to know you have a problem BECAUSE no one is talking about it.
I am on a mission to make these conversations easier and more normal. We should all have a basic understanding of how our bodies function. For one reason or another p*eing, p**ping, and s*x tend to either get glossed over or skipped entirely across all levels of education. My purpose with everything I do is to empower people of all ages, genders, and s*xuality to understand how their bodies should function and to have the confidence to ask for help from a qualified professional if something isn’t working correctly.
In love and care,
Dr. Katharine Cline
