What if the leaking, the urgency, the butt pain, and the pressure weren't just things you had to live with?
Heather sits down with Mbong Henry, a pelvic floor and orthopedic physical therapist based in Durham, North Carolina, to talk about the pelvic health symptoms that athletes — runners, weightlifters, CrossFitters, gymnasts, and everyone in between — are normalizing when they really don't have to. Mbong specializes in female athletes during the perinatal and perimenopausal stages of life, but as she makes very clear in this episode: you don't have to have had a baby, or ever plan to, for your pelvic floor to need attention.
They talk about what symptoms are actually worth addressing, why leakage isn't always a weakness problem, how low energy availability connects to urinary incontinence, and why establishing care with a pelvic floor PT before something goes wrong is one of the smartest things an athlete can do. Mbong also shares her own postpartum return-to-run story, her journey into Olympic weightlifting, and what she's learned about training, recovery, and capacity at 41.
Chapters
[00:03:00] Mbong's background: from running to CrossFit to Olympic weightlifting
[00:13:00] How she got into pelvic health — and her own postpartum return-to-run story
[00:20:00] What pelvic floor symptoms actually look like: beyond leakage
[00:25:00] Intimacy, perimenopause, and the symptoms athletes are quietly living with
[00:27:00] Pelvic floor issues in the weightlifting and CrossFit world
[00:29:00] If you've never had a baby, this still applies to you
[00:34:00] Why it's never too late — and why you shouldn't wait until something breaks
[00:37:00] Establishing care with a PT before you need one: the dentist analogy
[00:41:00] What Mbong's practice at Radiance looks like and how she works with athletes
Resources mentioned:
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