Pelvic Floor Therapy Is For Men Too with Dr. Danielle Owens

Summary

Episode Summary: "Pelvic Floor Therapy Is For Men Too with Dr. Danielle Owens"

Release Date: May 13, 2025

In this insightful episode of Laugh Lines with Kim & Penn Holderness, the hosts explore the vital yet often overlooked subject of pelvic floor therapy. Joined by Dr. Danielle Owens, a Pelvic Certified Specialist from San Diego, the conversation delves deep into the benefits of pelvic floor therapy for both women and men, challenging common misconceptions and providing practical guidance for listeners looking to improve their pelvic health as they age.

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1. Introduction to Pelvic Floor Therapy

The episode begins with Kim and Penn setting the stage for a meaningful discussion about pelvic floor health. They stress the importance of understanding pelvic floor therapy beyond its traditional association with women.

Notable Quote:

“Pelvic floor therapy is physical therapy that treats anything involving the pelvis. So it could be weakness, pain, incontinence, which is leaking urine, gas or fecal matter, pelvic organ prolapse, which is when your organs kind of fall down lower than they're supposed to, and any type.”
— Dr. Danielle Owens [16:48]

2. Dispelling Gender Myths

A significant portion of the conversation focuses on debunking the myth that pelvic floor issues are exclusive to women. Dr. Owens emphasizes that men also benefit greatly from pelvic floor therapy, addressing issues like incontinence and erectile dysfunction.

Notable Quote:

“Men can have all of the same bladder issues. Incontinence, urgency, which is where you have to go to the bathroom more frequently... It also helps with erectile dysfunction.”
— Dr. Danielle Owens [27:00]

3. Personal Journeys and Realizations

Kim shares her personal experience with pelvic floor therapy, highlighting how it transformed her quality of life, especially when preparing for The Amazing Race.

Notable Quote:

“I went on pelvic floor therapy so I could go on the Amazing Race. And it was amazing.”
— Kim Holderness [18:44]

4. The Scope of Pelvic Floor Therapy

Dr. Owens elaborates on the wide range of conditions that pelvic floor therapy can address, extending its benefits to children dealing with bedwetting and adults experiencing perimenopausal symptoms.

Notable Quote:

“Perimenopause is when you start to head towards menopause, and that's when your hormones are changing drastically... So that's also another time when women should go to pelvic PT.”
— Dr. Danielle Owens [20:31]

5. Demonstrating Pelvic Floor Exercises

To provide practical value, Dr. Owens guides Penn and Kim through sample pelvic floor exercises, including Kegels and clamshells, illustrating how these can be incorporated into daily routines.

Notable Quote:

“Kegels are a small portion of pelvic floor therapy. If you strengthen everything, like all the supporting structures around it, that's where you get results.”
— Dr. Danielle Owens [21:13]

6. Addressing Common Concerns

The hosts discuss common misconceptions and concerns related to pelvic floor health, such as the belief that only vaginal births cause pelvic floor issues or that pelvic floor therapy is solely for addressing incontinence.

Notable Quote:

“A lot of people think you'll only have pelvic floor issues if you've had a vaginal birth, and that's totally incorrect.”
— Dr. Danielle Owens [29:39]

7. Benefits Beyond Incontinence

Dr. Owens highlights additional benefits of pelvic floor therapy, including improved sexual health, enhanced athletic performance, and better overall core strength.

Notable Quote:

“Pelvic floor therapy helps with erectile dysfunction by strengthening the muscles needed to pump blood to the penis.”
— Dr. Danielle Owens [28:15]

8. Resources and Next Steps

Towards the end of the episode, Dr. Owens provides listeners with resources to learn more about pelvic floor therapy and how to seek professional help.

Notable Quote:

“They can follow me on Instagram at @pelvitone.psychicaltherapy or visit my website at pelvictonfromhome.com.”
— Dr. Danielle Owens [32:43]

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Key Takeaways

• Universality of Pelvic Floor Therapy: Pelvic floor issues are not gender-specific; both men and women can benefit from therapy.

• Broad Spectrum of Benefits: Beyond addressing incontinence, pelvic floor therapy aids in improving sexual health, athletic performance, and managing perimenopausal symptoms.

• Early Intervention Matters: Engaging in pelvic floor therapy post-pregnancy or as one ages can prevent or mitigate more severe pelvic issues.

• Practical Exercises: Incorporating simple exercises like Kegels and clamshells can significantly enhance pelvic health.

Conclusion

This episode serves as a comprehensive guide to understanding pelvic floor therapy's pivotal role in maintaining pelvic health across genders and throughout various life stages. Dr. Danielle Owens' expertise, coupled with the relatable anecdotes from Kim and Penn, provides listeners with both the knowledge and motivation to prioritize their pelvic health, ensuring a better quality of life as they age gracefully.

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For More Information:

• Dr. Danielle Owens’ Instagram: @pelvitone.psychicaltherapy
• Website: pelvictonfromhome.com

Transcript

[Kim Holderness]

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[Penn Holderness]

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[Penn Holderness]

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[Kim Holderness]

Once the temperatures started rising, I realized I was back in the same worn out rotation. Same tank, same shorts, same everything. Ooh.

[Penn Holderness]

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[Kim Holderness]

I've been giving my daily uniform an upgrade with Quince. Their pieces are easy, elevated and somehow make me feel more put together without even trying.

[Penn Holderness]

Like 100% European linen shorts and dresses from $30 Luxe Swimwear, Italian leather platform sandals and so much more.

[Kim Holderness]

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[Penn Holderness]

By working directly with top artisans and cutting out the middlemen, Quint gives you luxury without the markup and Quint's only works with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes.

[Kim Holderness]

I'm absolutely in love with their 100% organic cotton poplin tiered Maxi skirt. I got it in navy, but I'm going to go back and grab it in vermilion red for an upcoming girls brunch. Plus, their prices are hard to beat.

[Penn Holderness]

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[Kim Holderness]

That's Q U I N C E.comholderness to get free shipping and 365 day returns.

[Penn Holderness]

Quince.comholderness I am amazed by all women for what they do in childbirth. I was one of the guys who went south of the equator and watched it. It was beaut. Beautiful. Awesome. Fantastic. It also does explain why I pee a little. That. Yeah, we get older every day. Got more wrinkles. That's okay. Yeah, we're laughing. When we age, life is like a comedy stage. And that's why we got Landflight.

[Kim Holderness]

Hi, everybody. I'm Kim Holderness.

[Penn Holderness]

And I'm Penn Holderness. And welcome to the Laugh Lines Podcast.

[Kim Holderness]

It is a podcast dedicated to finding the fun in this glorious aging process. Listen, not everybody gets to age. We are the lucky ones. We are trying to do it better. If you have made a mixtape for somebody, you're our people. You're welcome here.

[Penn Holderness]

And by mixtape, we don't mean burning it onto a cd. No, we mean listening for it on.

[Kim Holderness]

The radio and going like, once it.

[Penn Holderness]

Starts hitting record and then handing that cassette to someone who you would like to court.

[Kim Holderness]

Pen made me a mixtape early on, but it was on a cd.

[Penn Holderness]

Yeah, that's true. But we. Yeah, that was like right around Napster. Yeah, like, when you could, you could get free, you could steal music. Okay, we got some quick announcements. First of all, even though this is laugh lines, we do plan to keep talking about adhd, neurodiversity, our types of brains in these podcasts. Because this is about us and getting older. And guess what? We're getting older with all that.

[Kim Holderness]

Yep, today's a special day. At the time of recording this podcast, ADHD is awesome. Our book Baby is one year old. Can you believe it?

[Penn Holderness]

No.

[Kim Holderness]

New York Times bestseller. It has been the joy of my life to see everyone and hear the stories of how this book has impacted people. It truly was out of an act of service that we wanted to do this. Our sweet kind publishers were like, it'll be a niche thing. It'll be on the bookshelves in this very niche part of the bookstore. And the fact that so many of you have it just found ways and Found things that were useful out of it has. It just like makes my cold, icy heart just like all tingly.

[Penn Holderness]

You do not have a cold, icy.

[Kim Holderness]

Heart a little bit.

[Penn Holderness]

So the very interesting part about why I cannot believe that it's one year old is that it has been a bit of a whirlwind. The tour that we've gone on, the people that we've connected with, we kind of quickly realized that this was touching a nerve for a community that didn't really understand everything that was going on, particularly the emotional side of it. Right. Like the. The shame that comes with it, the difficult regulating emotions. And the most consistent form of feedback that we got was, this is amazing. Do you. Would you ever consider putting out a version of this for younger children so that they can get a grip on what's going on as well? Because while our book is very readable for I think younger people, it is a lot. And so I cannot believe this announcement we're about to make because it never goes this fast in publishing ever, ever, ever. And I'm so thrilled.

[Kim Holderness]

We have a very special announcement. Actually, People magazine had the exclusive, which makes me feel very fancy. But we are. Our children's book, all youl Can Be with adhd, is coming out in October. There's more information to come about where you can pre order your copy, but we were told that a children's book takes about two years with graphics and just. Just how it just. It goes a lot slower even than a traditional nonfiction book. We found a publisher that we're so thrilled. They are such amazing partners. It's coming out this October. Like, that's never happened. This is so important.

[Penn Holderness]

Not only that, and it just takes a lot of hustle from. From everybody. Right? It's guys. It's basically right now in its final form. We've had it like, you know, we've got the text finalized. There's a back matter part where you're going to learn a little bit more about it.

[Kim Holderness]

Such like a weird. When they're like, we have to firm up the edits of the back matter. I'm like, back matter always makes me think of like zits on somebody's back.

[Penn Holderness]

That's. It's not back me. Back matter is not back me. It's wonderful, useful information for the parents and the kids afterwards when they're reading it. But also we found this, like, amazing illustrator. His name's Vin Vogel. And we're putting up right now on the YouTube side of this, the COVID of the book. And it just. I can't believe that we've gotten here because this was just a nugget of an idea in our head three months ago.

[Kim Holderness]

And here it is. I will say as I'm reading this book and I think it's going to be, yes, it's a children's book, but I think it's going to be like an oh, the places you'll go type of thing. So I think if, as so many adults are now being diagnosed with adhd, of course ADHD is awesome as a resource. I can picture if I had an adult friend diagnosed with adhd, I would buy them this, I would send them this children's book because it's a very empowering, positive book. We're going to talk a lot about it. So I won't take up too much of today's episode because today's episode is a really good one.

[Penn Holderness]

Yeah, this is, we thought was going to be predominantly for women. Turns out this is for just about everybody.

[Kim Holderness]

So if there is a way to make pelvic floor fun, I think we did. And I, I have to say, dudes, you will want to listen to this episode. But first, we have a voicemail on the laugh lines and we have a new theme song for the laugh lines. Laugh line.

[Penn Holderness]

Call us up and you tell us what's on your mind. Best part of the song.

[Kim Holderness]

I love that inspire. Amari Tapke came up with that idea.

[Penn Holderness]

She was on vacation last week and she's like, I. It was, it took every ounce of my body not to text you when it came up in my mind because Anne Marie's like me, so something will just pop up.

[Kim Holderness]

Yeah.

[Penn Holderness]

Whether she's on vacation or not. Yeah.

[Kim Holderness]

Yeah. That was a great thank you, Anne Marie. So make sure to call us in the laugh line. Let's hear from Robin, who left a voicemail about our recent bread back episode and maybe there was some confusion. This is Robin from Atlanta, and can I just say, I'm listening to your. I've got bread back now. And with some. I don't even know what the rest of it is because it just started and I thought this whole episode was going to be about some secret now.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

That we're in our older age to.

[Kim Holderness]

Be able to eat bread without gaining weight. And I'm so disappointed that my mouth kind of has to do with pins back. I was like, yay, somebody's finally going to give the secret of how we can still eat carbs and not have to worry about weight gain just by looking at them. Love the show. Oh, sweet Robin. I hear you. That whole episode, if you haven't listened to it, the whole episode is like, tell me there's a magic pill and there's not. It's so annoying.

[Penn Holderness]

Just to give you a little bit of reference, if you didn't listen to that podcast, Breadback was a quote coined by an old 30 Rock episode about the, like, extra stuff that, like, just a layer of, like, fat that randomly has appeared on my back.

[Kim Holderness]

It's like a muffin top. It's just like a different pastry, but for your back.

[Penn Holderness]

By the way, can I just. Like. Robin, you were heard and understood for the first three or four months. I didn't want to tell anybody this because I wasn't really listening to the song completely. I thought the song Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake was about a sexy back, not I'm bringing sexy back because I didn't hear that part. I was like, I'm being sexy back. I'm like, oh, it's about someone sexy back.

[Kim Holderness]

I also thought that Rihanna's song under. When it's like, under my umbrella, I thought she was saying, under my arm forever. Oh, my God. I don't want to be under somebody's arm forever. Anyway, this is not the show for misheard lyrics, but if you have some, we'd love to hear them.

[Penn Holderness]

It's a doggy dog world out there, guys.

[Kim Holderness]

We encourage you to leave a voicemail on the laugh line at 323-364-3929, and also stay tuned for the end of the show when we discuss are we too old for day trips? And some fun Gen Z slang that we translate this week?

[Penn Holderness]

Yeah, but first, let's. Let's start personal here. My amazing wife gave birth twice. I watched it once.

[Kim Holderness]

I know after the first one, he's like, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna go down. I'm gonna watch it.

[Penn Holderness]

No, And I would have done the second one. You were like, not. We're like, just.

[Kim Holderness]

No, it was the second one you watched.

[Penn Holderness]

I watched the first one. I may. You know what? I may have gone. Gone for both, but the first one was the one that I'll always remember. Like, just the actual. Like, the crowning and the actual process. And she's like, I want to feel free to talk about this, because, look, we've already taped this interview, and we talk about vaginas a lot. And. And to me, like, you as a man, you can be interested and curious about this sort of stuff and also amazed and still super attracted to and all this stuff. All this stuff is possible. But if you as a man, if you don't watch a little bit of what's going on during childbirth, you are missing out on one of the like miracles of the universe. I'm talking supernovas, comets, the Big Bang theory. Childbirth is up there with one of the most inspiring things that I've ever seen.

[Kim Holderness]

However, you pee a little afterwards. More on this after these words. Once the temperatures started rising, I realized I was back in the same worn out rotation, the same tank, same short, same everything.

[Penn Holderness]

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[Kim Holderness]

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[Penn Holderness]

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[Kim Holderness]

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[Penn Holderness]

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[Kim Holderness]

I'm absolutely in love with their 100% organic cotton poplin tiered maxi skirt. I got a navy but I'm going to go back and grab it in vermilion red for an upcoming girls brunch. Plus their prices are hard to beat.

[Penn Holderness]

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[Kim Holderness]

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[Penn Holderness]

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[Kim Holderness]

They'll literally pick it up tomorrow morning. Done with the dramatics.

[Penn Holderness]

Car selling in record time.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Save your time.

[Kim Holderness]

Go to Carvana.com and sell your car today. Pickup fees may apply. A few weeks ago in our not sponsored segment, I was raving about pelvic floor therapy. We got a lot of questions and comments, as we always do, and I've talked around it for some time. I wrote a blog post about it several years ago, and every time the reaction is people are so curious because I think I was raised like, oh, that's just something that happens. That's something that happens. Today I learned even more. I learned that men, especially if there's trouble down south, could really benefit from pelvic floor therapy. I had no idea. And the person who brought us all this information is our guest today. She was wonderful. Dr. Danielle Owens, KEP Pelvic Certified Specialist in San Diego, California. At her first job as a pelvic specialist, she realized the barriers for women to receive treatment for their pelvic discipline dysfunctions, such as lack of access, discomfort in discussing personal or sensitive issues, and insurance barriers.

[Penn Holderness]

As a result, Dr. Owens provides virtual treatment options that are accessible to women everywhere outside of the office. She enjoys all things outdoors, including hiking, running, and taking her dogs to the beach.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay. Welcome to the show. Dr. Daniel Owens. We're so excited to have you.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Thank you for having me.

[Kim Holderness]

First of all, what is pelvic floor.

[Penn Holderness]

Therapy asking for me mostly so.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Pelvic floor therapy is physical therapy that treats anything involving the pelvis. So it could be weakness, pain, incontinence, which is leaking urine, gas or fecal matter, pelvic organ prolapse, which is when your organs kind of fall down lower than they're supposed to, and any type.

[Kim Holderness]

Of pain is it Just for women?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

No. So pelvic floor therapies for anyone with a pelvis. So it could be women, men, even children, like bedwetting and constipation. That's all under the umbrella of pelvic floor pt.

[Penn Holderness]

Yeah, I want to get to all that. Particularly, I'm curious about the men, because I researched and heard a little bit about that as well. So I am amazed by all women for what they do in childbirth. I'm just going to start with this. Like, I was one of the guys who went south of the equator and watched it. And I listen. I'm not. Everyone was like, oh, no, it was beautiful, awesome, fantastic. I don't remember. I was crying. I was like, I can't believe you just did that. It was unbelievable. It also does explain why I pee a little. That tell us about kind of like your work and how often it does come from people who have given childbirth.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

So, yeah, childbirth and just being pregnant in general is crazy. So I would say probably the majority of my patients are postpartum women. There's a lot of things that obviously happen postpartum. So being pregnant, it puts a lot of weight on the pelvic floor muscles, which weakens them, and that can lead to incontinence. So peeing just at any time, especially peeing when you're sneezing, coughing, laughing, jumping pelvic organ prolapse, which is when your pelvic organs kind of fall down lower into the vaginal canal. Pain from the tearing of childbirth, or if you've had a C section, that's like a huge kind of barbaric abdominal surgery. So that has a lot of issues as well.

[Kim Holderness]

I went through some pelvic floor therapy because, first of all, I never heard of it. So when my kids were babies, I was like, oh, I just pee a little. And I thought it was normal. It wasn't until probably like, five or six years ago. And I was about to go on a game show called the Amazing Race, and I was like, I can't be running on this national TV show and be like, ooh, I have to stop and pee. So I literally went on. I did pelvic floor therapy so I could go on the Amazing Race. And it was. It was amazing. So can you talk to us as we age? Like, it's not too late, right?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

No, it's never too late. So peeing after pregnancy is common, but it's not normal. But our mothers and grandmothers didn't have pelvic floor pt, and no one really knew what it was. So they, you know, they just thought it was normal, and then they tell you that it's normal. But now that pelvic floor therapy has kind of gained a lot of traction, people know that there's an option for it. So everyone after birth should go see a pelvic PT and kind of get ahead of the. Get ahead of the game and fix everything. Because as you age, your muscles atrophy, just naturally, hormonal changes and all of that. So things will definitely get worse if you don't fix them. But it's. It's never too late.

[Kim Holderness]

We are the the Laugh Lines podcast, where we focus on all the fun things that happen as we age. After I went to pelvic floor therapy, I was like, oh, I'm good. I could run and not pee. But in perimenopause now, I used to pee all the time. I didn't realize that that was a perimenopausal symptom. I didn't realize that my muscles down there would continue to weaken. So I had to, like, dig out those exercises again. Nobody warned me about that. What's up with that?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

So perimenopause is kind of a untalked about area of life, I found. So perimenopause is when you start to head towards menopause, and that's when your hormones are changing drastically. So those hormones are all, you know, the female hormones are in the vaginal area and around all of that. So with them changing, it changes the muscles and everything going on there. So you. That's also another time when women should go to pelvic pt and then the exercises you learn, you kind of have to keep up with throughout life. Not quite to the same intensity as you were when you were having issues, but it's kind of something that you hold on to.

[Kim Holderness]

Can you do something about needing to pee all the time?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Yes, you can strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and everything around it.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay.

[Penn Holderness]

Okay. This has been great. We've been talking about this in the abstract, right? You keep mentioning pelvic floor therapy. You keep talking about how it's helpful. I still. I'm trying to imagine exactly what it is. The name doesn't fully explain what's going on. I think at first I thought it was like. Do you remember Sex in the City when Samantha was talking about Kegels?

[Kim Holderness]

Yes.

[Penn Holderness]

And she was, like, doing them under the table. Like, is it. Is. Is that what it is? Can we. Doctor, can we. Can we do, like, a sample pelvic floor exercise real quick? That you can guide us through, just so people can understand, like, especially men, like, what it is that. That this is.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

So Kegels are a small portion of pelvic floor therapy. It's kind of like. I like to use the stroke analogy. So if you had a stroke and your whole right arm doesn't work, if you just focus on doing bicep curls over and over and over again, functionally, that doesn't do a whole lot for you. So kind of the same thing with Kegels. So if you strengthen everything, like, all the supporting structures around it, that's where you get results. So we can run through a Kegel so people kind of know how that works.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay. And by the way, I've been Kegeling this whole time.

[Penn Holderness]

She's just been.

[Kim Holderness]

I'm just like, this whole podcast. Yeah, just like, roll up there.

[Penn Holderness]

It's amazing how calm and collected you are while doing that.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay, Go ahead, doctor. Sorry.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

For women, I like to use the cue to. Well, for. For either sex, act like you're trying to stop a stream of urine. So men. That usually works pretty easily. Women sometimes need an additional cue. So this is kind of a strange cue that they teach us in all of our classes. But if you act like there's a straw in your vaginal opening and try to suck a blueberry up through the straw. So bring all your muscles up towards your head and then release.

[Kim Holderness]

It really just intensified for me there.

[Penn Holderness]

I'm sorry, is that something that a vagina can do? Can it suck a blueberry up a straw? Un. Freaking believable.

[Kim Holderness]

It's amazing.

[Penn Holderness]

Okay, sorry.

[Kim Holderness]

My body is a wonderland.

[Penn Holderness]

It is. All right, so here we go. We're sucking blueberry. I know. I get it. Like, it's like, that's more. I don't have a vagina, but, like, that's more intense. Like, it's harder to hold on to.

[Kim Holderness]

But do. Do you feel things?

[Penn Holderness]

I'm feel. You know what I'm feeling A feeling that I don't normally feel. And it's not. I'm not sore. It's not hard, but it's, like, definitely uncomfortable. And I don't know that I would want to stay like this for a long period of time.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

No. And it's not meant to hold for a long period of time. It's like a contract and then release.

[Penn Holderness]

Okay, Sorry. So just for a few seconds. I got you. Okay.

[Kim Holderness]

He was. The whole time, he's, like, holding his breath. What other sort of exercises do you do in an appointment?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

So your glute Your glutes and your hip rotators are directly tied into the pelvic floor. So I give people like bridging clam shells, which is where you lay on your side with a band, like a resistance band right above your knees. You keep your feet together and then you raise the top leg up slowly real quick.

[Penn Holderness]

Should we have a model for this?

[Kim Holderness]

Do you want to do it?

[Penn Holderness]

Yes. Should I be doing this real quick? Because I've done clamshells before.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay, Sam, I'm just like that.

[Penn Holderness]

We may need some camera work here, but I'm gonna. Yeah. Okay, here we go. So I think clamshells are just this. Yeah, I've got a band here, and it's just all about. And you're gonna feel it right here in your glute.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay, so where should he be feeling it, doc?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

In the glute. The side glute.

[Kim Holderness]

And the side glute here in my glute.

[Penn Holderness]

Like the inner low, like the mid butt kind of thing. Right here. And you're in the. And the pressure is right here. And this really helped me when I was running. Just like.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

And you're right. That's a. That's a great exercise for runners to do because you depend on that glute medius muscle a lot during running.

[Penn Holderness]

The band goes right here and the pressure is right down, like right there.

[Kim Holderness]

O.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

What's next exercise would be a reverse clamshell where you keep your knees together and lift your foot up. So that's going to work. The internal hip rotators still on my side? Yes.

[Penn Holderness]

Okay.

[Kim Holderness]

Sorry.

[Penn Holderness]

Okay, Okay, I got it. So here. And I'm going like that.

[Kim Holderness]

Yeah. Would you still have a band on?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

No, you can keep the band on, but you, to start out, wouldn't use it. It's kind of a weird muscle group that you don't use very often. So you can start with just now.

[Penn Holderness]

I'm feeling this in my groin more.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Yeah, more so your groin and kind of like towards your hip flexor is probably where you. Where you would feel it most.

[Kim Holderness]

And for our listeners, the people are just listening to this. Pen is on the floor in clamshell position. And he is just working it. Okay, next one.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

The next one would just be like a deep breathing exercise. So a lot of people, especially these days, are very tense and hold a lot of stress or anxiety. So if you're stressed out all the time, your pelvic floor is almost certainly tight, which, like I said, can lead to constipation and stress incontinence.

[Kim Holderness]

Right.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

So just knowing how to calm down, take deep breaths and relax everything that will relax your jaw, your traps, and your pelvic floor.

[Penn Holderness]

What kind of breathing? You want to take us through it?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Yeah, Diaphragmatic breathing, it's called. So you can. You can do it sitting or laying down. Put your hand on your stomach.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Take a deep breath in and make sure your hand is moving out more than your chest. So filling your belly up with air slowly and then blowing it out slowly. Imagine if you do for like a minute or so. You'll notice your body start to relax.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay. Love this. And I know there's a lot of stuff online, and my appointments were covered by insurance, so I think it's pretty accessible these days. Talk. I had. I had no idea that this was something. I mean, duh, men have a pelvis. But I had no idea this is something that men could also need and use.

[Penn Holderness]

So here's just what I'm thinking, right? Because I. All I saw was, it can help men. And I'm just gonna guess, and I'm sure I'm gonna be wrong, but I'm think, like, getting up in the middle of the night to pee, maybe. No, I don't know. Or like. Or like, maybe like. It's like. Remember when Sting could hold out for, like, eight hours?

[Kim Holderness]

Like tantric sex.

[Penn Holderness]

Am I even close on either of these?

[Kim Holderness]

If so, you have a customer.

[Penn Holderness]

Yeah, exactly.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

So, yeah, so men can have all of the same bladder issues.

[Penn Holderness]

So they.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Incontinence, urgency, which is where you have to go to the bathroom more, more frequently. And that a lot of that is due to something called bph. So that's benign prostatic hyperplasia where the prostate just grows. And I think it's something like 80 to 85% of men will eventually get that. So you can help to. Along with medications to shrink the prostate back down, help to strengthen their muscles so that they're not running to the bathroom all the time. It also helps with erectile dysfunction. Any type of, like, penile or pelvic pain that they're experiencing. It helps with that, too. And constipation for everybody.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay, back up. I have two questions. How does that help with erectile dysfunction?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

So erectile dysfunction can be. A lot of times it's from an underlying heart condition. So like any cardiac thing where you're not getting enough blood flow, that's one of the first places that the body's going to cut it off from. So you'll. If that's the cause, you'll need Some sort of cardiac medication, along with strengthening the pelvic floor muscles to be able to pump the blood to the penis to get an erection.

[Penn Holderness]

Okay.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay. I feel like this is a whole separate podcast. I probably need a better anatomy lesson.

[Penn Holderness]

Okay, and so how does this help a cardiac issue? I guess. Does it help the circulation? Is that what it's doing?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

So the cardiac issue needs to be treated on its own, but a lot. Sometimes there's weak muscles. So the pelvic floor muscles have to get enough blood flow to have an erection. The muscles have to help pump the blood through that area. So if they're super weak, then it's not. You either won't happen or won't have an orgasm or it'll be really weak.

[Penn Holderness]

Do people know about this? I've seen like 12 million commercials about pills that you can take.

[Kim Holderness]

Oh my gosh.

[Penn Holderness]

You have a.

[Kim Holderness]

You cannot watch like a football game.

[Penn Holderness]

I haven't seen a lot of ads about pelvic therapy to help this out.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Well, I'm sure big pharma would like to keep.

[Penn Holderness]

Yeah, right. Like, is that what it is?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Probably part of it.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay, so talk about constipation. Also had no idea that pelvic floor, like your pelvis area had to. I thought it was just. I ate too much cheese.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

So, yeah, constipation, it could be definitely a gut issue, for sure. You know, any. Any GI thing going on. But also, in order for you to have a successful bowel movement, you have to be able to relax your pelvic floor muscles. And the muscles around the rectum are also pelvic floor muscles. It's like the. The back side of it. So if you have pelvic floor muscles that are too tight or you just can't relax them, then it's going to cause some constipation.

[Penn Holderness]

Is there like one particular thing that if you have a chance to tell this audience that's a misconception about their body or about the process of being a mom or getting older, that you would like to set them straight on, what would that be?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Yes. So a lot of people think that you'll only have pelvic floor issues if you've had. If you've been pregnant and had a vaginal birth. And that's totally incorrect. I see patients who are teenagers that come in and have pelvic floor issues or women later on that have never had children just from all the age related changes. And C sections also need. Also have a lot of issues just from being pregnant. So anyone could have a pelvic floor dysfunction. You don't have to just have given a vaginal birth.

[Kim Holderness]

I will say pen women. I. I grew up just hearing, like, oh, this is what happens. So, like, my great great grandmother had, like, 11 kids or something. And, I mean, a lot of kids to the point where it. Like, everybody just knew that, like, her. Her organs were literally falling out of her body and she like it. I. I mean, I guess HIPAA doesn't. She's been long gone. But, like, famously, though, like, kids there would be, like, it's. It's bad. What she would do to treat it, like, very unsanitary. But, like, oh, everybody does that. And I was like, well, hell, I'm never gonna have kids if that's what happens. But, like, I grew up thinking, like, oh, that's just what happens. But it does not have to be that way. I mean, it used to be, like, barbaric.

[Penn Holderness]

Like, what do you mean? What kind of treatment she would.

[Kim Holderness]

Like there was like. Like a potato or something like that potato. Like, old times that, like, people would.

[Penn Holderness]

Stick up there and that was.

[Kim Holderness]

And it would help your uterus from, like, falling out of your hoohah.

[Penn Holderness]

Okay, I'm going to bring it back to Dr. Owens now and say, is that something that you've been taught in medical school or have you heard of this before?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Yeah, especially women who had a lot of kids, and she probably had them in, like, a pretty short span of years.

[Kim Holderness]

I'm guessing that's a lot of trauma.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

To the pelvic floor.

[Penn Holderness]

Yeah.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Like your bladder, your rectum, even your uterus can actually come out of your body. So that's.

[Kim Holderness]

We have a producer, Sam, here, who just went like, okay, yeah, it's not.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Something you want to happen to you, but now it's totally avoidable. But the potato, it sounds. So now there's something called a pessary.

[Penn Holderness]

Better than a potato.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Much better than a potato.

[Penn Holderness]

Okay. Yeah.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

So if you're at that point where your organs are falling out, you'll either need to use a pessary, which is like a silicone structure that you insert into the vaginal opening, and that acts as, like, a net to keep things up. So they were basically using a potato as that, which I would not recommend. Once you're at that point, you would either need to treat it with a pessary or get surgery to surgically put it back up.

[Kim Holderness]

Man, women are amazing.

[Penn Holderness]

Not only that, but I'm just glad we have a mature doctor in the room with us to talk about these things. And to set us straight. I think you've answered literally, we had. Sometimes it takes us an hour to get through these questions. She's so good at answering these questions.

[Kim Holderness]

You got it. You got it.

[Penn Holderness]

Yeah.

[Kim Holderness]

I've learned a lot. This is why I love doing this podcast. Totally selfishly, I learn a lot. So where can people find you if they'd like to work with you or learn more?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

So they can follow me on Instagram, it's pelvitone.psychical. therapy. Or at my website is pelvitonefromhome.com okay, great.

[Kim Holderness]

And we will link all of that into the show notes as well. Thank you so much. This was great. This is great. And everybody I hope has been listening is just like kegling their pelvises off.

[Penn Holderness]

All right, so we were watching the zoom interview with Dr. Owens. She's lovely. Very good at. She knows what she's doing. But also just off to the side.

[Kim Holderness]

Is Sam and Sam's sweet face. Sam has not had the joy of going through childbirth, but maybe one day or.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

No, not after this.

[Kim Holderness]

When I told the story of like my great great grandmother's organs falling out, Sam's like.

[Penn Holderness]

And then there was the potato.

[Kim Holderness]

Sorry, was that too much?

[Penn Holderness]

No, like, listen, I. There's. I guarantee you there's going to be a lot of other people who have either heard this story or maybe some of them have even and had it advised.

[Kim Holderness]

We love the Laugh Lions community that we're building here. I really want you guys to call in with comments and questions and we have a segment. I love asking the question, are we too old for?

[Penn Holderness]

Yeah, we're finding that we're getting too old for some things. And we're.

[Kim Holderness]

We're still very young.

[Penn Holderness]

Yes.

[Kim Holderness]

Still very young.

[Penn Holderness]

No, no. But this is, this is an empowerment segment. This is not a complaint segment. Because there is nothing more empowering and liberating in life than. And saying, I'm not doing this anymore.

[Kim Holderness]

Not doing it.

[Penn Holderness]

It just feels like it started with late, you know, like late dinner, stuff like that.

[Kim Holderness]

I'm not going out to dinner at nine.

[Penn Holderness]

And yeah, so, but we've gotten some creative ideas from our callers and so Pam actually bringing us an Are we too old for. Pam, take it away.

[Kim Holderness]

Hi, this is Pam Novak from Hatfield, Massachusetts. I just wanted to add an option to your Are we getting too old for List. Are we getting too old for 15 hour day trips. I used to be able to say, okay, let's go visit this location.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

We'll leave at six in the morning.

[Kim Holderness]

We'll get there, you know, middle of.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

The day, we'll spend the day and.

[Kim Holderness]

Then we'll be home by 9, 10.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

11 o' clock at night. And now it's no way we're going to get a room, stay overnight either.

[Kim Holderness]

The day before or the day after. There's no more 15 hour road trips just to get one day of fun in someplace. Listen, going kicking and screaming into this aging process. I want to age better, I want to live better. But there are some things I think that we can just check off our list and I think day trips is one of them.

[Penn Holderness]

Oh my gosh. Like, because for the most part it sounds like we're a. We're driving and my gosh, my back, my hips, my knees, just anything getting out of a car. I used to. So my. Listen, my dad used to drive me two hours to Tarboro to see my granddad and he would have to stop after an hour to stretch his legs. And I always thought it was because he wanted to go smoke cigarettes because he did that too. But no, you like I need to stretch my legs every hour now when I'm driving. So how are we going to get anywhere?

[Kim Holderness]

I think, I think we're too old for it. You know, there is somebody who I've loved following on TikTok, Kevin Droniac. He's become famous for taking these wild day trips. Okay, Pen, I'm talking he wakes up in New York City, he flies out to Colorado, skis for the day and then flies back. Okay, I'm a hard no for me, but I love his journey.

[Penn Holderness]

He doesn't sound too old for this.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay. And Sam, she found another one where he's going to Paris. Can we, can we play that?

[Penn Holderness]

You're gonna have a conniption at what I'm doing right now. I'm going to Paris for the day. So I land in Paris at 6:30 in the morning and my flight back to New York is at 8:30pm Light being only seven hours. Bonjour from Paris. I can't believe I'm here right now. It is 8:30, so I have about 10 hours before I have to go back to the airport. And that's more than enough time to.

[Kim Holderness]

Have a fun day.

[Penn Holderness]

Lovely young man.

[Kim Holderness]

You know what we should do? So I love a challenge. I don't like being told I can't.

[Penn Holderness]

Do something that is the truth, sister.

[Kim Holderness]

So I. And I know you were like, oh, we're so old and curmudgeony. I should we try a day trip to Paris?

[Penn Holderness]

No, you do not do well without sleep. I love, love your determination here. And this is your type 1 enneagram coming out where you do not want to be told you can't do something, but you cannot do that.

[Kim Holderness]

I don't have fomo. I don't have a fear of missing out. I do have FOMs, which is the fear of missing.

[Penn Holderness]

Yes, more than anyone I know, but.

[Kim Holderness]

I just don't want. I don't want to be too old for things.

[Penn Holderness]

Well, that's the name of the segment.

[Kim Holderness]

Guys, in the comments. Let's vote. Should Kim take a day trip to Paris?

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Hear me out live podcast.

[Penn Holderness]

I'm available that day.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

You're gone. I'm available.

[Penn Holderness]

You want to do it?

[Kim Holderness]

I was young. Sam is young, so she's fine.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

We could podcast the whole.

[Kim Holderness]

We could pot the whole thing.

[Penn Holderness]

This just became the most expensive maybe we've ever. We're gonna send two people to Paris.

[Kim Holderness]

Maybe we get a sponsor for. Not sponsored. It's not sponsored. But sponsored by not sponsored.

[Dr. Danielle Owens]

Sponsors.

[Kim Holderness]

Sponsors. Send us Paris for a day. And just if. And if I can't do it and I regret it, then that's.

[Penn Holderness]

Oh, you're gonna regret it. But like you're not gonna. You're just gonna. Because you don't want to be told that you can't do something. But. Kim, what time do you normally go to sleep? I love you. What time do you normally go to sleep?

[Kim Holderness]

Like 9:30.

[Penn Holderness]

And what time are you in bed ready to go to sleep to start your like, turn down procedure?

[Kim Holderness]

Like 8:45. I read.

[Penn Holderness]

Yeah.

[Kim Holderness]

Comments, we're gonna vote. Comments. Vote. Vote. Just vote.

[Penn Holderness]

Everyone's gonna say you should go to Paris because they don't have to pay for the trip.

[Kim Holderness]

Okay, next we have what Gen Z is saying.

[Penn Holderness]

Okay, what Gen Z is saying has been a very useful tool for some of our listeners as well as us. It's essentially us overhearing our daughter and son talking, looking it up, and translating it for our fellow Gen X millennial viewing audience.

[Kim Holderness]

So really this is like the more you know, if you just pictured a star going across the screen, you're our age, your home. The word of the day is Dardy. It is defined as a daytime party often associated with college students and held outdoors.

[Penn Holderness]

It is a noun.

[Kim Holderness]

We were touring a college campus. So, like, where my daughter's going to go, she had to go for an orientation. And we were sitting there and a pack parade, a parade of gorgeous girls in bikini tops and jean skirts and cowboy boots were on their way to a Darty, one of the other dads that was on the tour and orientation was like, where are you going? And they're like, a dirty sir. And what's that? Why you in the bikini? Because these frat guys are genius. They had like two, three thousand girls there in bikinis and like one hose and water slide and they're like, it's a water party. I'm like, they had literally their dad's sprinkler out there, but it got girls to show up in bikinis. Genius. Yeah, but yeah, and the girls are great, but we learned Darty and Lola's like, yeah, a Darty. Okay, if you are laugh lines listener, have any suggestions for Gen Z slang? Already too old for what are our other segments? We do.

[Penn Holderness]

We've got top five.

[Kim Holderness]

If you have a top five topic you want us to hit or just general comments and feedback, we'd love to hear them.

[Penn Holderness]

So thanks so much for listening. Thank you again so much for Dr. Danielle Owens for coming in and talking to us about pelvic floor therapy and how it can help seemingly everybody, which is great. Laugh Lines is written and produced by Kim Holderness, Pen Holderness and Anne Marie Tappy.

[Kim Holderness]

We have yet to get one of these right. No, she is Anne Marie with original.

[Penn Holderness]

Music by Pen Holderness. It's also weird me saying my own name, but I understand this. It is filmed, edited and live produced by Sam Allen and hosted by Acast.

[Kim Holderness]

We did it guys.

[Penn Holderness]

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[Kim Holderness]

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[Penn Holderness]

6 to 12 plus months.

[Kim Holderness]

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[Penn Holderness]

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