Pelvic Health, Female Athletes & Performance: What If Our Model Is Wrong?

Rethinking Pelvic Health for Female Athletes: Are We Getting It Wrong?

Are you ever frustrated that you should be able to help your female clients achieve their goals, yet their progress stalls? You apply your pelvic health knowledge, their symptoms improve a little… but they still can’t run, jump, lift, or return to the activities they love.

They may be ante-natal, post-natal, or have never been pregnant. They may be experiencing incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, diastasis, or pelvic pain. And maybe you were taught that high-impact or heavy-load exercise is “bad,” unsafe, or something they should never return to.

But what if the evidence doesn’t actually support that?

What if the problem wasn’t your treatment skills — but the model we were taught to use?

Rethinking Pelvic Health: What the Evidence Actually Shows

It took major rethinking of my entire physiotherapy framework before I could help clients meet their dream goals — not in weeks, but sometimes in minutes.

I challenged the assumptions I was taught, dug into the research, and most importantly, listened to my clients. I realized that the “rules” we learned simply aren’t backed by evidence.

Here’s what the literature tells us:

• Systematic reviews show that many interventions we believed were helpful do not work for the reasons we thought they did.

• Modalities for back pain don’t outperform one another — most are only better than doing nothing.

• Intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) research shows the opposite of what many of us were taught.
  For example: Crunches often produce less pressure on the pelvic floor than standing up from a chair.

Nearly half of women who exercise experience incontinence, 40% will develop pelvic organ prolapse, and up to one-third will experience pelvic pain during their lifetime.

These women deserve the chance to move, lift, and live their lives fully.

A Story of Possibility: Meet Vicki

Vicki is a fitness professional and attendee of The Female Athlete Course. She had pelvic organ prolapse and was unable to lift 16kg (35 lbs) without symptoms. Exercise — her outlet and passion — had become something she feared she would lose forever.

During our session, she shared her story. She needed to be heard.

Within one minute, she lifted 16kg without symptoms.
By the end of the course, she deadlifted 70kg (155 lbs) symptom-free.

It sounds impossible — but this happens again and again. I receive messages every month from course participants applying these ideas and changing lives.

You Already Have the Skills — You Just Need a Better Model

You’re already a skilled health or fitness professional. You already change lives. That deserves acknowledgement.

But you want to do better. You want to help more women return to the activities they love, without fear or restriction. You want to understand why symptoms happen and how to help women overcome them.

That’s exactly what this Antony Lo's Female Athlete course is about.

Check Out Antony's Course Here

Preview Antony’s Key Messages

Watch this short video for a glimpse into the approach that transforms female athlete care.

Antony’s Courses on Embodia

1. The Female Athlete Course - Online Edition (V2)
2. The Female Athlete - LITE
3. How to Do Better For Your Female Clients