Jenny Sheppard and Catherine Ross, advanced practice physiotherapists in pelvic health, have been jointly shortlisted for the coveted ‘Public Health Champion Awards,’ part of the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer (CAHPO) awards.
The awards, which are run by The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, will be held virtually on 14 October 2022, recognising the important and varied work of AHPs (Allied Health Professions).
Jenny and Catherine have developed a new Perinatal Pelvic Health Service within Frimley Integrated Care System that tackles the incidence of pelvic floor dysfunction postnatally and in later life.
Through collaboration across the wider multidisciplinary team and service users, this service focuses on the prevention, identification, and treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction following birth, reducing the incidence of pelvic floor dysfunction postnatally and in later life.
In response to the nomination, Catherine says, “It’s lovely to be recognised for our hard work, and to shine a light on this important new service,” while Jenny continues, “I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to carry out this service development and have thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with other passionate colleagues, whilst sharing our knowledge together.”
For anyone wanting to, you can view the livestream of the event on the 14 October 6pm - 8pm.
Pelvic health is for everyone, and is as important as cleaning your teeth is for dental health.
Here are some top tips:
- You should do daily pelvic floor muscle exercises, for life. These videos are great in showing you how to do the exercises properly:
Female: https://youtu.be/eRoQV5DrK_k
Male: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ7EfGu03-0
- Avoid straining on the toilet, and combat constipation by eating a diet filled with plenty of fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and pulses. How to avoid constipation
- Keep yourself hydrated, aim to drink between 1.5 and 2 litres of water each day. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, fizzy, and sweetened drinks.
- Aim to keep your body mass index (BMI) within the healthy weight range. Check your BMI - NHS
- For good physical and mental health, adults should aim to be physically active every day. Any activity is better than none, and more is better still.
Each week, adults should aim for:- at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity (such as brisk walking or cycling)
- or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity (such as running)
- or even shorter durations of very vigorous intensity activity (such as sprinting or stair climbing)
- or a combination of moderate, vigorous and very vigorous intensity activity.