Pelvic Potential Physical Therapy

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Aptos, CA
Pelvic Potential Physical Therapy

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Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Specialty Clinic in Santa Cruz, CA focused on improving pelvic floor function integrated with whole body wellness.

Conditions treated include incontinence, pelvic pain, pelvic organ prolapse, pain with s*x, diastasis recti,

10/19/2026

There are no words to describe the horror and heartbreak felt in Oregon last week. I got the news just as my airplane bound for Bend’s doors were closing, and all I wanted to do is run off the plane home to my kids.

I’ve never taught a class 2 miles from where a school shooting occurred the day before. I’ve never taught a class with a participant whose child had to live through a shooting at their school the day before.

I’ve also never taught a class of people committed to making themselves better amidst so much collective grief. At a time when it felt like there was nothing anyone could do, we held the intention of working together that weekend too better develop our skills as clinicians so we could help more people in this world heal.

There were definitely some bright spots as the weekend continued. It was SO great getting to finally see Capacity Performance Therapy in person! Nick and Lindsay (both fellow UCSF/SFSU Doctor of Physical Therapy Program alumi!) have created the most beautiful space with a group of stellar clinicians. If you live in or near Bend, it is worth the trip for some great PT! They even have kombucha on tap😍. Fun fact: Lindsay and I have known each other since middle school! She is an incredible athlete and took me on the most 11/10 pink sunrise-soaked trail run. Nick was an incredible host too!
I also got some quality time with Amy L (no pics because we had too much to talk about)!

I left with a heavy heart, knowing how many people’s lives are forever changed. This is not political. Guns kill kids more than anything else we are trying to protect them from. This needs to be a bipartisan national priority. If my sport of choice was leading to children getting killed, I would find another sport. Responsible gun owners are not the problem and no one is trying to take your guns away. We are simply asking for common sense legislation to prevent this from ever happening again.

09/26/2026

Had a blast teaching PNF for the IPA: Institute of Physical Art last weekend at Kabat & Associates PhysicaKabat & Associates Physical Therapyhe big things we did➡️

First was having an amazing group of PT’s and OT’s. I’m always especially impressed with OT’s that come who haven’t done a lot of lower extremity treatment and end up nailing it! Everyone grew so much in their treatment skills over the course of three days.

We did so many pre-and post tests to evaluate our work. So many amazing changes! One was a participant having a HUUUUUGGGE increase in thoracic range of motion after only being treated with tonic spread in hook lying (shown here). Tonic spread in hooklying is one of my favorite activities to connect the brain back to the abdominals, pelvic floor, multifidi, and more. Vicky Saliba Johnson and IVicky Saliba Johnsono do some research on this because I have never seen another intervention like it. We also had changes in hip range of motion, improved end feel at the ankle joint and decreased neural tension in both the lower and upper extremities after this in different participants.

After having scapula posterior depression performed on them, one participant got up, looking shocked, and just kept saying how much better she could breathe! This is something I see a lot. I think there is so much going on when we move the scapula. We are moving so many muscles that attached directly to the cervical spine and rib cage which then attaches to deeper visceral structures. We can’t just move a scapula. We move everything beneath it. The effects of this are profound. All of the movement of the accessory nerve (as well as likely the vagus, phrenic and more) is something that I believe deeply impacts the nervous system as a result of moving the scapula through any scapular pattern.

Tonic spread in sideline, taking us back to the way we moved when rolling to develop our core muscles is just always an 11 /10 for me!

All of my VallejoPNF real ones know VallejoPNFof working in propels for the Neuro population. It did wonders for people regaining a better sense of their midline orientation, including pusher syndrome and retropulsion. In this course, we get to teach a fun functional mobilization of the thoracic spine th

09/20/2026

When you were a baby playing on your back with your arms and legs in the air, coupled with learning how to roll is what developed your core in the first place. As a physical therapist with a hefty background in proprioceptive, neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), I use these old ways that your body developed its natural core in the first place to make it work better today. You might have seen an exercise like this before, but let me explain to you why it can work so well and feel so good. Your elbow extending and palm turning down as your arm travels from above your head to closer to your belly button is part of our natural pattern of rolling, as is the leg position shown here. Using the arms like this provides something called irradiation, where the work being done by your arms travels down into your core to make it work better. Aka MAGIC✨✨✨

Wanna try? Lay on your back and bring your knees up towards your head with your toes up. Grab some weights and hold them above your shoulders. Bend your elbows and let the weights fall back towards your head, trying to keep your hand in line with your elbow or in a perfect world, a little further out than your elbow (starting from a bit of external rotation, here is part of the pattern of the arm)! Now, straighten your elbow as you turn your thumb slightly down towards your knees. To further challenge yourself, start with your arms closer towards the floor like I showed towards the end of the video. If you still aren’t feeling it in your lower abdominal, think of gently lifting your tailbone off the ground and or bringing your legs towards one another with me slightly apart… And keep those toes up! Ankle dorsiflexion is part of the rolling pattern and is a signal to your brain that your core needs to be on board!

This is an amazing exercise to help the body remember, it’s roots postpartum, and for all of my athletes out there trying to integrate the upper and lower body. And remember, that means you! I really truly believe that everyone is an athlete.

Let me know how it goes!

09/04/2026

Profound experience last week at Barral Institute VM4 last weekend with this incredible instructor, Jean Ann. Over 4 days in New Mexico, we dove into the organs, fascia layers, blood vessels, nerves, ligaments and more of the thoracic cage and neck.

I got to work with Kevin Hartsough and had great TA’s like Linda…

And Jessica…

And Ben! I would give each of these TA’s and Jean Ann 3 Michelin stars (aka I would personally take a trip to NM to get treated by any one of them♥️). I got to benefit from all of their amazing hands during treatments AND had my skills up leveled as they guided me when I was the treating therapist. And their personal stories! My new buddy Ben is a retired ICU and combat nurse who is 80 years young and has become a master healer in his retirement (in addition to teaching ski school in the winter🤯)

This course was filled with BRILLIANT clinicians and I was lucky to have some great colleagues there who are also friends!!! Besides Kevin, my other IPA: Institute of Physical Art CFMT (who was in my CFMT class, Ali was there. Rounding out people from different parts of my professional life was my former VallejoPNF instructor and VallejoPNFayme! Having great conversations bouncing from PT nerd topics to life beyond PT over ALLLLLLL the chilis really made the time special.

I also got some mega nature joy time in the Sandia Mountains…it was SO hard to turn around to make it back to the hotel in time for the course!!

Definitely want to come back here

And running on trails after getting so much restorative bodywork was an 11/10

When they congratulated us for working so hard all weekend, I almost laughed as it was such a privilege to be there. These opportunities are not available to everyone, whether it is cost, opportunity cost of being gone, lack of childcare, etc. I’m so grateful for it all and am already using what I learned to help people♥️

08/17/2026

Are you a or someone who wants to get back into push-ups or yoga postpartum? This is the movement for you!

🏄🏾‍♀️🧘🏻‍♀️💪🏼🏋🏿‍♀️

I am a doctor a physical therapy who helps people get back to the things they love to do on the spectrum of recreational to professional sports. I look at movements that are hard for people to work on postpartum and problem solve ways for you to get back to doing them again!

🏄🏾‍♀️🧘🏻‍♀️💪🏼🏋🏿‍♀️

The transition from being on your stomach to either a push-up, Chaturanga Dandasana in yoga, or in this case, surfing, are all difficult when rebuilding core connections postpartum. A little attention to breaking this movement down here can go a long way. Hope this helps!

06/22/2026

Pelvic floor physical therapy is about so much more than the pelvic floor itself.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that pelvic floor symptoms only come from weak pelvic floor muscles. Our bodies are incredibly interconnected.

If we can’t adequately accept and transfer weight through a leg, those forces often get redirected somewhere else… and the pelvic floor frequently picks up the extra load.

Over time, this can contribute to symptoms like leaking, pelvic pressure/prolapse, and pelvic pain.

This is one of my favorite postpartum movement progressions because it helps the hips and core learn to work together again after pregnancy/childbirth. Rooted in proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) principles, it restores coordination, stability, and efficient load transfer throughout the body…and honestly, it just feels really good😍

For my fellow practitioners, this also makes a wonderful home exercise progression following spine, hip, and pelvic manual therapy and in-clinic PNF work!

The goal isn’t to create a stronger pelvic floor in isolation. It’s to create a body that shares load well so the pelvic floor doesn’t have to do everyone else’s job.

Strong hips. Strong core. A well-supported pelvic floor.

04/19/2026

Leaking with downhill running or walking? There are many things that could cause this, but here are two things you can try:

1.). Lean forward a bit more from your ankles and try to have your feet land under your body (instead of in front of you). This lessens the forces traveling up to your pelvic floor!

2.). Soften your tailbone and butt bones! These three bony structures form a triangle around the back half of your pelvic floor. UNCLENCH YOUR A**S (ready to trademark that phrase and put it on billboards everywhere 😜)!

There are many other things that can contribute, so if this is happening to you, reach out to a pelvic PT near you (or reach out and I can help you find one).

Here’s to this spring and beyond!!

03/30/2026

I am endlessly grateful for the incredible mentorship I have had in PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) and always so happy when I have an opportunity to pass it on. Last weekend was my first PNF class for the and we had a blast!

Some of the magic of this course includes:

✨Teaching our patient’s shoulder blades to move how they truly were designed to move

✨Integrating the upper and lower body to work together for optimal core function and improved spine mechanics

✨Using the power of the hip muscles to bring on better use of the abdominal, back, diaphragm and pelvic floor muscles

✨Making every part of the gait cycle more efficient (aka: helping people walk/run with more power and less dysfunctional stress on their bodies)

✨ Connecting shoulders to shoulder blades to core muscles AND feet to legs to hips to pelvis to core muscles too! And connecting it all together too of course!

✨Seeing how doing the things lead to increases in range of motion in seemingly unrelated body parts (like increased cervical rotation after using the hips to facilitate the core muscles or increased hip internal rotation after normalizing scapula function👀👀), decreasing neural tension, improving joint mobility and increasing strength

I always become a better physical therapist by teaching, and I went back to the clinic this week so fired up. So thankful to all of the incredible physical and occupational therapists who brought so much great energy!

Finally, it becomes more apparent to me every time I teach how valuable this work is in the field of pelvic floor physical therapy. I am dreaming of a 2027 class of all pelvic floor therapists… Can we make this happen?!

Address

6233 Soquel Drive Suite E
Aptos, CA
95003

Telephone

+18312198370

Website

http://www.pelvicpotential.com/

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