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CLS Physiotherapy & Nutrition, St Lawrence Clinic, Spitfire Ground Street Lawrence, Canterbury (2026)

17/06/2026

I’m increasingly seeing content from fitness influencers and coaches with clickbait hooks such as:

“Training for birth”

“The exercises that made my birth easier”

“These workouts meant I had no pelvic floor issues after birth”

Whilst I’m fully supportive of encouraging exercise during pregnancy and sharing positive birth experiences, I think we need to be much more mindful of the language we use.

Pregnancy, birth, and postpartum recovery are influenced by multiple factors, many of which are completely outside of our control. Exercise can absolutely be beneficial, but when we suggest that a particular workout, training programme, or set of behaviours caused a low-risk pregnancy, straightforward birth, or symptom-free recovery, we’re oversimplifying an incredibly complex process.

These narratives often attribute positive outcomes solely to individual behaviours, whilst overlooking the roles of genetics, physiology, healthcare access, socioeconomic factors, environment, and, sometimes, simple luck.

The unintended consequence is that women who exercised, prepared, followed the advice, and still experienced complications can be left feeling as though they somehow failed or didn’t do enough.

We can promote exercise in pregnancy without suggesting it guarantees a particular outcome.

If you’re looking for more balanced and nuanced conversations around pregnancy, birth, and exercise, I’d highly recommend listening to on the podcast. It’s an excellent discussion that acknowledges both the benefits of exercise and the complexity of pregnancy and birth outcome.

15/06/2026

The reality is that there is no single right answer. Factors such as your symptoms, recovery, investigations, previous birth circumstances, and future plans all play a role. But above all, the deciding factor should be informed maternal choice.

Women should have access to balanced information, appropriate investigations where indicated, and support from healthcare professionals who can help them understand their options and make the decision that feels right for them.

If you have experienced a severe perineal tear, one organisation I highly recommend is I’ve had the privilege of working alongside MASIC and they provide invaluable support, education, and advocacy for women recovering from birth injuries.

And if you have a question you’d like me to answer, keep an eye out for my anonymous question boxes. I try to pop one up at least once a week, and they often inspire posts like this one. Chances are if you’re wondering it, someone else is too.

If you’re a pelvic health physiotherapist, obstetrician, midwife, or another professional supporting women after OASI, I’d love to hear your perspective.

👇 What factors do you think are most important when counselling women about birth choices after a 3rd or 4th degree tear?

12/05/2026

Apparently the Price of Women’s Health Advocacy Is £4,000.

And I regret to inform you that my NHS salary combined with my PhD stipend won’t stretch that far.

06/05/2026

🎓 Thousands graduate. Only a handful get jobs.

Inspired by a post from and speaking in parliament about physiotherapy, I tried to investigate the state of physiotherapy for new graduates.

The only figure I could obtain was that there are around 3,000 new graduates per year. Although this is not from an official source, it aligns with statistics showing there are around 85–90 courses across the UK, each with about 30–35 students per intake.

When I checked NHS Jobs on 5th May, I counted six Band 5 jobs (new graduate level) advertised.

Despite soaring demand in the NHS and record numbers of new healthcare graduates, entry-level roles are vanishing. Recruitment freezes, delayed hiring, and unfilled vacancies are leaving skilled clinicians on the sidelines—while patients wait longer for care and overworked staff shoulder the blame for system-wide issues.

This isn’t just a physio problem. Midwifery, nursing, medicine, and paramedicine are all feeling the strain. The real shortage isn’t talent or willingness to work—it’s funded posts, sustainable workforce planning, and long-term investment in our healthcare system.

We can’t fix the NHS by training more professionals alone. The system needs to employ and retain them, too.

30/04/2026

Last week, M Powered and I recorded a podcast about pelvic floor dysfunction and exercise (out next week). It reminded me how often women share stories of misguided advice from healthcare providers when managing prolapse, prompting me to revisit the findings of the narrative review I wrote for my MSc dissertation.

Too many women are told to avoid lifting and impact, or to “just do pelvic floor exercise.” But the evidence doesn’t support these blanket restrictions. There’s no consistent proof that resistance training or high-impact movement worsens prolapse—or that it doesn’t. That means recommendations should be individualised. The best approach is to collaborate with each woman, testing different exercises and adjusting based on her symptoms—modifying, not banning, movement.

Current research doesn’t support blanket restrictions. Instead, symptom-guided exposure is key: gradually increase strength and tolerance over time. Avoidance actually reduces capacity and does not protect women long term.

Pelvic floor muscle training is important, with gold-standard evidence supporting its effectiveness—even if the anti-Kegel movement disagrees. But pelvic floor exercises shouldn’t happen in isolation. Clinicians should integrate pelvic floor function into whole-body movement, because the pelvic floor doesn’t work alone in real life, and rehab shouldn’t either.

Another issue is generic, unsupervised advice. Too many women are given leaflets or told to “do their exercises” with no plan for progression. But like any muscle, the pelvic floor needs overload, progression, and individualisation to actually improve.

Dismissive language has real consequences. Women often describe feeling dismissed, fearful, or limited by the advice they receive, which leads to reduced activity and confidence.

What women really need is specialist, supportive care, care that builds confidence in movement and recognises that strength training and impact can be part of the solution, not the problem.

Effective prolapse management keeps women active and confident.

28/04/2026

A large BMJ study of over 800,000 women has found that menopausal hormone therapy is not associated with increased mortality. This is important, because for many women, decisions around HRT are still shaped by fear originating from early interpretations of the Women’s Health Initiative. What this study adds is large-scale, real-world data with over 14 years of follow-up, showing no clear increase in all-cause, cardiovascular, or cancer-related mortality in women using HRT . There were even signals of reduced mortality in specific groups, such as women who had undergone bilateral oophorectomy.

But the response to this kind of evidence is becoming just as problematic. There is a growing amount of noise in the menopause space, with some so-called experts claiming that HRT dramatically reduces heart disease, prevents chronic illness, and is broadly protective for long-term health. That is not what this study shows. Cause-specific mortality differences were small, inconsistent, and should be interpreted with caution .

We’ve moved from a narrative of fear to, in some spaces, a narrative of overcorrection. From “HRT is dangerous” to “HRT protects against everything.” Neither reflects the reality of the evidence.

HRT is an effective treatment for menopausal symptoms and is safe for many women when appropriately prescribed. It may also have benefits in specific contexts. But it is not a replacement for other key components of long-term health, including strength training, cardiovascular fitness, and broader lifestyle and environmental factors.

If you want more information about the latest research into HRT we will cover this in our upcoming Menopause Masterclass.

This will take place online on 11th May at 7pm. All you need to do is comment below Masterclass or hit the link in bio to purchase a ticket.

Mikkelsen AP, Bergholt T, Lidegaard Ø, Scheller NM. Menopausal hormone therapy and long term mortality: nationwide, register based cohort study. BMJ. 2026 Feb 18;392:e085998. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2025-085998. PMID: 41708152; PMCID: PMC12915068.

26/04/2026

It doesn’t get more wholesome than this.

💕🍦🎭🐥

Nothing women’s health here, just my fav bits of my weekend x

23/04/2026

Most coaches would probably laugh if they walked into my NHS menopause strength class. A few kettlebells, some chairs, and a corner of a GP waiting room. But what they wouldn’t laugh at is the consistency, the participation rates, the enjoyment, and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from the women who attend. And one of the biggest reasons they keep coming back? They feel safe to lift there.

Resistance training is often framed as an individual behaviour, something driven by motivation, discipline, or knowledge. But participation is far more complex than that. It is shaped by a dynamic interaction of biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors. For women, particularly in midlife, engagement with strength training cannot be separated from this wider context.

Experiences of gym environments, perceptions of safety, and the historical positioning of exercise all influence whether women feel able to participate. It’s not just about what we prescribe, it’s about where it happens, how it feels, and whether someone feels safe enough to even begin.

If participation is influenced by environment, then the focus cannot remain solely on the individual. It has to extend to the spaces we create, the messages we communicate, and the way we support behaviour change.

On 11th May at 7pm, and I will be hosting a Menopause Masterclass where we’ll be covering many of the often overlooked areas of menopause, including body image, disordered eating, evidence-based exercise prescription, and what is actually required for long-term consistency with exercise.

Comment MASTERCLASS below or head to the link in my bio to book your place.

20/04/2026

We’ve had a women’s health strategy since 2022… so before we get excited about the 2026 update, it’s worth asking: what actually changed?

There have been some wins cheaper HRT, a few women’s health hubs, and more awareness around menopause. But scratch beneath the surface and the bigger issues are still there: long gynaecology waiting lists, fragmented care, understaffed services and persistent inequalities.

There isn’t a strategy problem, there’s an implementation and funding problem.

Because you can write all the glossy strategies and policies you like but if services aren’t properly resourced, nothing really changes for women.

14/04/2026

🚨 Want to help shape the future of menopause & exercise research?

I’m currently recruiting women for my PhD study exploring menopause and resistance training — and I’d love to hear from you.

This isn’t about how “fit” you are or whether you lift weights already.
 It’s about your experiences, thoughts, and perceptionsaround strength-based exercise during the menopause transition.
Because right now?
 We don’t have enough real-world insight from women themselves — and that’s exactly what needs to change.

🧠 The goal: build better, more realistic, evidence-based support for women navigating exercise in midlife.  ✅ You can take part if you: • Are aged 40–60 • Are in perimenopause or early post-menopause • Identify as female • Speak English • You do not need to be currently strength training 
📩 If that’s you (or someone you know), I’d love you to get involved. Link is in my bio to read more and register your interest.

And if this isn’t you, sharing this post genuinely helps research like this reach the women who need to be heard.

CLS Physiotherapy & Nutrition

17/06/2026

15/06/2026

12/05/2026

06/05/2026

30/04/2026

28/04/2026

26/04/2026

23/04/2026

20/04/2026

14/04/2026

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