ON Thursday 31st March at 7.45pm, the cue “5, 4, 3, 2, 1 your LIVE!” was proceeded by a non stop 30 plus minute broadcast from Facebook’s Headquarters through the pages of Hello Magazine. In other words, I got to do my stuff, that’s real stuff , ie. healing corrective exercise that actually helps mums via a live broadcast. Within minutes our views had gone up to 10,000. 4 days later and that number is at 152,000 and counting.
I love the power that social media can have when it comes to reaching out to a specific audience. I’ve done lots of live TV before but air time is so precious and expensive - your lucky if you get 2 minutes to say your bit, let alone 30 to a large audience! And this is what makes this particular live feed, that I feel privileged to have been a part of, so amazing. For not only did it get huge numbers of views but also got large numbers of shares/likes and tags with messages to so many more people saying ‘you really need to watch this – this is for you!’
Not that I did anything shocking or particularly groundbreaking. The real ground breaking stuff is being done by a small group of amazing women’s health physios and corrective exercise teachers who on a daily basis help women (and men) in very unique and life, quality saving way.
And I say life quality rather than LIFE because pelvic health issues, often a result of traumatic births but also operations, injuries, they can be sports related, postnatal, menopausal, post retirement, are very rarely considered LIFE THREATENING. But they are life debilitating, and in a major way.
And this is why we often don’t hear about it. When it comes to our health, particularly in the UK, you don’t get fast tracked, referred or considered important just because you wet yourself or worse. No, you’re expected to live with it… and with incontinence pads for the rest of your life.
What’s more frustrating however is that there really is another option. Which is what makes last Thursdays class even more important. It’s a lack of understanding, lack of conversation, lack of knowledge amongst everyone – families, friends, mums groups, fitness groups and health care groups, whether professional or not.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PELVIC HEALTH
in a far more open and positive way than we do.
Every day I am learning more through my lovely clients and colleagues but I have so so much more to learn and the only way we are all going to get better on this is if we continue to learn and share.
When I was researching (countless moons ago!) For my Masters on women’s fitness provision I recorded a statement from my research groups that has stuck with me to this day, “He doesn’t understand that we simply cant do those jumps and have to keep running out to the loo every 5 seconds”
If you can relate to this statement, then please do Click on this link. which will take you to my facebook page from which you can view and share the class. Whether you are teaching exercise to mums or are a mum or know a mum, please share to more. And if you are an exercise teacher, physiotherapist or personal trainer whose clients are Mums, make sure you are addressing your own education as well as that of your clients by making sure you know what matters most when you are a Mum. There are, of course, an array of other topics. Us mums are a broad and variable group!
We are strong, wise and we love a good laugh - Which brings me back to those pelvic floor exercises…God Someone take me off the subject!
And a big big thank you to HELLO! Magazine for trusting me with a live broadcast and putting on a class Made for Mums.
Photos: curtesy of Hello Magazine and Hugh Gilbert