Welcome to episode 3 of SAS - Self Advocacy Sundays, because sometimes you need a little sass to be your own advocate.
As an endometriosis warrior, I learned the power of self advocacy & body literacy over a painful 5 year journey to getting diagnosed with endo as well as PCOS. You may have seen me on TikTok where I talk about everything from tracking my fertility to managing my PCOS weight & acne. I firmly believe that you don’t have to be a doctor to know how your own body works & use that information to your advantage.
My goal for Self Advocacy Sundays (SAS) is simply to cultivate resources for our community to learn about how their bodies work & practical steps that you can take to improve your health in layman’s terms. By no means do I consider myself a health expert or guru or even an ‘influencer’ of any kind. I’m simply a girl who has struggled a lot with my own health, my food choices, how I view my body and understanding how it works. I want to make information about your health & wellbeing so easily accessible to all of you without pushing any type of magic cure. So in this space, you’re not going to find discount codes for supplements or programs that promise to give you the health & life you’ve dreamed of. Instead, we’re going to learn from experts in the field of health, beauty & wellness that want to help you without selling you anything or pushing their agenda. All of this is why I’m so excited to welcome my third guest, Dr. Ashlie Crewe Campitella.
Dr. Ashlie Crewe is a board certified Physical Therapist and Women’s Health Clinical Specialist who specializes in pelvic health for people of all ages and genders to allow them to live full and free lives. While treating patients and training in pelvic floor therapy, she also attended courses regarding pain neuroscience, finding her passion in combining the knowledge from her pelvic health courses with the neuroscience of persistent pain conditions. She has developed pelvic floor programs in several of her company's clinics and currently treats patients of all genders with pelvic health concerns, while providing mentorship to other pelvic floor therapists in her company, and educating her community about pelvic health rehab. She achieved her Board Certification as a Women's Health Specialist in 2017 and is also a member of the International Pelvic Pain Society as well as the Global Pelvic Health Alliance. Additionally she has served as a teaching assistant in various Herman and Wallace classes. She is developing curriculum for her company to make inclusive and affirming pelvic health education accessible to clinicians within the large orthopedic physical therapy company she works for. Primarily, she treats in central Pennsylvania, traveling to several clinics in the area to mentor therapists and consult with patients. She is experienced in treating pelvic pain conditions, urinary and fecal incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, post-operative gender-affirmation conditions, constipation, pediatric pelvic floor conditions, and prenatal and postpartum conditions. She is passionate about the multidisciplinary care of persistent pain conditions, and eager to work with experts in all fields of study to better help her patients have pain-free and fulfilling lives.
Resources:
Find a Pelvic Rehab Practioner: pelvicrehab.com/
Follow Ashlie on Tiktok: / ashliecthepelvicpt
Follow Ashlie on Instagram: ashlie.crew...
Follow Julia on TikTok: / julia_schuller
Time Stamps:
01:11 What is Pelvic PT?
03:33 The difference between physical therapy and pelvic PT
04:33 What to expect in a pelvic PT session
09:50 How to Find a Great Pelvic PT
13:45 Whats happening in the body when you have endometriosis
20:18 How does pelvic PT help endometriosis?
25:43 How does pain work in the body?
39:18 Answering the most commonly asked question: Why is my pain bad TODAY?
58:41 How to calm the central nervous system to decrease pain
01:02:40 Grounding Exercise to Decrease Pain
01:05:36 Your Pain is real but...
01:06:29 Is it all in my head?
01:09:20 What does the vagus nerve have to do with endo pain?