Integrative Spine & Pelvic Health

Camping constipation? Your pelvic floor has entered the chat. 🏕️💩

Before your next camping trip:
✔️ Stay hydrated
✔️ Eat enough fiber
✔️ Consider magnesium if it’s appropriate for you
✔️ When it’s time to go, hold onto a sturdy tree and settle into a deep squat.

That deep squat helps your pelvic floor relax and puts your body in a position that’s often more favorable for passing stool.

Bonus tip: Pack a small trowel, toilet paper (or wipes that you’ll pack out if needed), hand sanitizer, and always follow Leave No Trace principles by disposing of waste properly according to local guidelines.

And remember…

🌳 The trees aren’t judging you. They have seen much, much worse.

Everyone tells you to stretch more when your back, hips, or pelvic girdle start hurting during pregnancy…

But what if that’s not actually what’s missing?

Pregnancy hormones are designed to make your ligaments more flexible to prepare for birth. While massage and stretching can absolutely provide temporary relief (and I use both in my clinic!), they often don’t address why the pain keeps coming back.

Research suggests that exercise—particularly strengthening and stabilization exercises—can reduce pregnancy-related low back and pelvic girdle pain more effectively than passive treatments alone.

✨ The goal isn’t to make your body looser.
✨ The goal is to make your body feel more supported.

When the muscles around your pelvis, hips, core, and deep abdominal system learn to work together, they help create the stability your changing body is craving.

That doesn’t mean:
❌ Stretch everything.
❌ Push through pain.
❌ Stop moving.

It means finding the right exercises for your body at your stage of pregnancy.

If your pelvic girdle pain or low back pain keeps returning despite massages and stretching, it may be time to stop asking, “What needs to be released?” and start asking, “What needs to be strengthened?”

Your body isn’t failing you—it may just be asking for more support.

💛 Save this for a mama who keeps hearing, “Just stretch,” and follow for evidence-based pregnancy and pelvic floor tips.

Research consistently supports exercise therapy and individualized stabilization programs as first-line treatment for pregnancy-related pelvic girdle and low back pain, while passive treatments like massage are best used as complementary—not stand-alone—interventions.

Kristin Cavallari couldn’t have said it better. Building something that’s yours is equal parts terrifying and incredibly rewarding.

Social media still scares me. Being the captain of my own business? Even scarier.

But I’d choose this path every single time.

I still remember waiting for insurance authorization before I could continue treating women recovering from traumatic births or living with chronic pelvic pain. I remember seeing patients surprised by unexpected bills after believing their insurance would cover their care. And I remember feeling rushed trying to fit complex cases into 30–45 minute appointments while certain treatments weren’t covered or reimbursed in a way that supported the care I wanted to provide.

That’s a big part of why I built a cash-based practice.

Not because it’s the easy road—it definitely isn’t—but because it gives me the freedom to spend the time my patients need, use the treatments I believe are appropriate, and make decisions based on what’s best for the person in front of me rather than what a payer will approve.

It’s scary. It’s risky. And it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Unfortunately… I do love talking about things most people avoid. 🤍

Peeing when you laugh.
Pain with s*x.
Constipation.
Tailbone pain.
Pregnancy aches.
Menopause.
Pelvic floor tension.

Because those conversations help women realize they’re not alone—and that so many of these symptoms are treatable.

If asking about your bladder, bowels, breathing, and pelvic floor helps you get back to living your life with confidence, then yes… it’s one of my favorite parts of my job. 💛

Comment with your favorite emoji if you feel you’ve normalized leaking. 😬

Rouge’s