Women's Health Division News

Clinical Pilates with a Pelvic Health Perspective

The Women’s Health Division is pleased to announce their course that they will be offering at Congress 2020 on Sunday, May 31, 2020.

Pilates is a functional form of exercise that integrates breathing principles, spine alignment, postural strength, and pelvic floor function. It can be strategically used to build body awareness, motor control, and kinesthesia. Pilates can be a sage form of prenatal exercise and pelvic floor rehabilitation when positional cues and modifications are integrated. Additional populations that can benefit from pilates practice are athletes, individuals with persistent pain, post-abdominal surgery, and men’s health.

This practical course will teach the foundations of clinical pilates, pelvic floor cueing, prenatal techniques, and modifications for specific post-partum considerations, such as pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence, and diastasis recti. The course will provide ample practical sessions with instructor feedback. The concepts and techniques can be applied directly into clinical practice to improve patient care in individual or group physiotherapy treatment sessions. Resources, including a course manual, will be provided to registrants with template functional assessments and class designs for clinical pilates. Prior experience in pilates and pelvic health is not required. This course is intended for physiotherapists (physiotherapy students/assistants and allied health professionals are also welcome to attend). Participants are requested to bring athletic clothes and an exercise mat.

Instructor Bio: Jessica Bergevin has over 10 years of experience teaching pilates and evidence-formed exercise. She currently practices as a pelvic health physiotherapist and physiopilates instructor in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Jessica serves as a board member for the Nova Scotia Physiotherapy Association and Chair of the Advocacy Committee. At he national level, she assumes the roles of Communications Chair for the Women’s Health Division of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association. As a mother of two young girls, Jessica strives to be a valuable resource in the pre- and post-natal community. She is passionate about advancing the standards of care for women’s health in Canada and promoting competence in all physiotherapists working with perinatal populations. CPA Member since 2011.

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