Innovative Pelvic Health Hub

06/09/2026

🌸 JEAN HAILES WOMEN’S HEALTH WEEK 2026 🌸
7–11 September

This week, I’m delighted to acknowledge the wonderful work of Jean Hailes for Women’s Health and the thoughtfully created program for Women’s Health Week.

This year’s theme is “Do it anyway”—an invitation for women to take small, achievable steps towards better health, on their own terms.

It isn’t about pushing through pain or placing more pressure on ourselves. It might mean asking another question, seeking support, making time to rest or taking one small step that feels manageable.

Across five days, Jean Hailes is exploring five important and interconnected areas of women’s health:

🥗 To fuel
Understanding good nutrition, everyday food habits and how much protein our bodies need.

🏃‍♀️ To move
Reframing movement and exploring strength training, staying active as we age, and the experiences of women participating in sport through perimenopause and beyond.

😴 To rest
Recognising sleep and recovery as essential parts of our health—not luxuries we need to earn.

🌿 To breathe
Making space for mental wellbeing and acknowledging the many physical, emotional and life experiences that can affect how women feel.

🤝 To connect
Recognising the health benefits of friendship, community, conversation and asking for support.

I love that this program considers the whole woman. Our nutrition, movement, sleep, mental wellbeing, relationships and pelvic health do not exist separately—they continually influence one another.

Pelvic health deserves to be part of these conversations too. Bladder leakage, pelvic organ prolapse symptoms, pelvic pain and changes through pregnancy, postpartum recovery and menopause are common—but women should never feel they simply have to put up with them.

Sometimes the first step is simply starting the conversation.

Congratulations to Jean Hailes for Women’s Health for once again creating an accessible, compassionate and evidence-informed week that helps women feel seen, supported and empowered. 💜

You can explore the week and its excellent free resources here:
https://www.womenshealthweek.com.au/

Which of this year’s five themes speaks most strongly to you—fuel, move, rest, breathe or connect?

03/09/2026

🌸 HOW LONG BEFORE PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLE TRAINING STARTS REDUCING BLADDER LEAKAGE?

One of the most common questions women ask me is:

“How long will it take before I notice a difference?”

Encouraging new research offers a much clearer answer.

In a study of older women with stress or mixed urinary incontinence completing a structured 12-week pelvic floor muscle training program:

🌸 The median time to achieve a 50% reduction in weekly leakage episodes was four weeks.

🌸 The median time to achieve a 70% reduction was six weeks.

🌸 Improvement continued throughout the full 12-week program.

These are median outcomes—not guarantees for every woman. Some women will improve sooner, while others may need longer.

However, this research gives women an encouraging and realistic first milestone: don’t give up after a few days or weeks because you haven’t noticed a major change.

Pelvic floor muscles are skeletal muscles. Like other muscles, they require an accurate contraction, appropriate challenge, progressive strengthening and consistency.

During the early weeks, the nervous system is also learning to recruit the muscles more effectively. With continued training, strength, endurance, coordination and structural muscle adaptation develop further.

But before you can strengthen your pelvic floor muscles effectively, you need to know that you are contracting the correct muscles in the correct direction.

That is why the Innovative Pelvic Health Hub begins with:

💜 Step 1: Find & Feel
Learn how to identify and correctly activate your pelvic floor muscles.

💜 Step 2: Isolated Strength Training
Build strength and endurance through progressive pelvic floor muscle training.

Inside the Hub, I use detailed animations developed from my own pelvic floor muscle contraction captured in an MRI machine. These allow women to actually see what happens internally when the pelvic floor muscles contract correctly—something that can otherwise be very difficult to understand or visualise.

Pelvic floor rehabilitation is not about doing an occasional squeeze and hoping for the best. It is a progressive process of learning, strengthening and then using the muscles effectively during coughing, lifting, exercise and everyday movement.

If you would like an affordable and supported way to begin understanding and training your pelvic floor muscles, you’re warmly invited to explore the Innovative Pelvic Health Hub with a seven-day free trial. 🌸

👉 https://www.skool.com/innovativepelvichealthhub/about

Early improvement creates hope. Continued progression builds capacity. 💜

Reference: Cacciari LP, Morin M, Mayrand MH, Dumoulin C, et al. Incontinence in Older Women: When to Expect Meaningful Leakage Reduction from Pelvic Floor Muscle Training. International Urogynecology Journal. 2026;37:1605–1612.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-025-06486-3

Introduction and Hypothesis Perceived benefits are crucial for maintaining adherence to pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT). However, the timeline for expected responses and the factors influencing PFMT effectiveness remain unclear. Our study aimed to (1) determine when older women with urinary inco...

01/09/2026

🌸 PELVIC ORGAN PROLAPSE REHABILITATION SHOULD NOT END WITH KEGELS

We would never rehabilitate a woman after an ACL tear or knee repair with one isolated exercise—and then send her back to running, lifting and everyday life.

So why should pelvic organ prolapse rehabilitation be any different?

Correctly performed pelvic floor muscle training is extremely important. Research shows that it can reduce prolapse symptoms and bother for many women.

But isolated muscle training should be the beginning of rehabilitation—not the end.

The pelvic floor muscles do not work alone. They work with our breathing, abdominal muscles, deep back muscles, bones and supporting tissues to help manage pressure and support the pelvic organs during movement and load.

That is why pelvic floor rehabilitation should gradually progress from:

🌸 Finding and using the pelvic floor muscles correctly
🌸 Building strength and endurance
🌸 Coordinating the pelvic floor with breathing, abdominal and back muscles
🌸 Managing pressure during movement and load
🌸 Applying these skills to lifting, bending, coughing and exercising
🌸 Returning with greater confidence to everyday life

This is the purpose of the six-step Pelvic Floor Pathway inside the Innovative Pelvic Health Hub.

It brings together available evidence, established rehabilitation principles and my clinical experience from more than 35 years as a physiotherapist.

The Pathway provides affordable, accessible education to help women better understand their pelvic floor and progress beyond isolated exercises into coordinated, whole-body movement.

It does not replace an individual assessment, diagnosis or medical care—but it helps close an enormous gap in pelvic organ prolapse education and rehabilitation.

Women deserve more than being told to “just do their Kegels.”

They deserve a progressive rehabilitation pathway that helps their whole body work together to provide the best possible support for their pelvic organs. 💜

🌸 Explore the Innovative Pelvic Health Hub and its 7-day free trial:
https://www.skool.com/innovativepelvichealthhub/about

📰 Read the important ABC News article bringing pelvic organ prolapse into the national conversation:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2026-09-01/pelvic-organ-prolapse-in-australia/107074650

If this message resonates with you, please share it. Another woman may need to know that pelvic organ prolapse is not her fault—and that support is available. 🌸

Vaginal birth is the biggest risk factor for pelvic organ prolapse, but experts say women are not being told about the risks and warning signs prior to birth. It comes as wait times for surgeries continue to grow.

03/08/2026

🌸 Have you ever been told to “just do your Kegels”… but still felt confused about what you were meant to feel?

You are not alone.

So many women are told to squeeze their pelvic floor muscles—but are never properly taught how these muscles need to work in everyday life.

Pelvic floor muscle strengthening is important. Research shows it can help women with bladder leakage and symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse.

💜 But strength is only one part of the story.

Your pelvic floor muscles need to learn how to:

🧠 Be found and felt
💪 Strengthen correctly
🌬️ Coordinate with your breathing and pressure
🚶 Support you during everyday movement
⚡ Respond quickly when you cough, sneeze, laugh, lift or exercise

This is Functional Pelvic Floor Muscle Training.

It is a step-by-step process that teaches your brain, pelvic floor muscles and body to work together—so these muscles can support you when you need them most.

After more than 35 years working in physiotherapy and pelvic health, I have seen how powerful it can be when a woman finally understands what her body is doing.

That is why I created the Pelvic Floor Pathway inside the Innovative Pelvic Health Hub.

Because women deserve more than “just squeeze.”

They deserve clear education, confidence and practical skills for life. 💜

Were you ever told to do Kegels without being shown exactly how? I would love to hear about your experience in the comments.

🌸 Join the 7-Day FREE Trial and begin learning how to find, feel and train your pelvic floor muscles—step by step.

👉 https://www.skool.com/innovativepelvichealthhub/about

20/07/2026

Have you ever been told to “just do your Kegels”? 💜

Pelvic floor muscle training can be very important—but it is only one part of pelvic health.

An important new paper, the Pelvic Health Clinical Reasoning Model, explains why two women with the same symptom may need very different support.

Pelvic symptoms may be influenced by:

🧠 The brain and nervous system
🚻 The bladder and bowel
🌸 Pelvic floor muscles and local tissues
🩺 Menopause and other health conditions
🔄 Toileting and lifestyle habits
🚶‍♀️ Strength, balance and movement

Your symptoms are real. But the reason behind them may involve much more than one weak or tight muscle.

That is why one exercise cannot be right for every woman.

The Pelvic Floor Pathway expands beyond isolated Kegels. It helps women learn how their pelvic floor muscles work with breathing, pressure, coordination and real-life movement.

You have not failed if Kegels alone have not solved your problem. You may simply need a wider way forward. 🌿

I have created a new classroom inside the Innovative Pelvic Health Hub:

✨ Beyond Kegels—The Whole Pelvic Health Picture

Come and discover a more complete way of understanding your pelvic health:

https://www.skool.com/innovativepelvichealthhub/about

See your Pelvic Floor Muscles work💜MRI-based animations help women find, feel & train pelvic muscles for leaks & pelvic organ prolapse🌸

21/06/2026

Did you know your pelvic floor muscles help support your bladder, uterus and bowel every time you cough, sneeze, laugh, lift or exercise?

I often explain this using a simple analogy:

⛵ Imagine your pelvic organs are a boat.

💧 Your pelvic floor muscles are the water supporting that boat.

When the water level is high, the boat is well supported.

When the water level drops, the boat sits lower and places more strain on the structures supporting it.

This is why learning how to correctly activate and train your pelvic floor muscles is so important throughout pregnancy, postpartum and menopause.

Strong, reactive pelvic floor muscles help support your body during everyday life.

✨ Understanding your body is the first step toward improving pelvic health.

https://www.skool.com/innovativepelvichealthhub/about

20/06/2026

✨ Fascinating video on the vagus nerve! So powerful to understand how connected our body and nervous system really are. Highly recommend watching 👏🧠💜

18/06/2026

👀 Have a look inside the Innovative Pelvic Health Hub!

This infographic gives you a sneak peek into our online community, including:

💜 Evidence-based pelvic health classrooms
📅 Live events and educational sessions
☕ Coffee Chats and Ask Gill Anything
🤝 A supportive community of women
🎯 The Pelvic Floor Pathway
📚 Practical resources you can access anytime

My goal is simple: to help women better understand their bodies, learn how to correctly train their pelvic floor muscles, and build confidence in everyday life.

Take a look inside and see what’s waiting for you! 🤩💜

Feel free to share with a woman who may benefit from pelvic health education and support.

https://www.skool.com/innovativepelvichealthhub/about