PelviHeal Academy

From Her Desk....

Pelvic Health Rehab has always been a topic which interested me ever since my rural posting in graduate school. The problems were so commonly present in women, but even talking about them was considered a taboo, let alone treatment for them. I was empathetic towards this situation and always wanted to do something to change this scenario. This made me take up postpartum physical therapy along with the sociocultural aspects towards its practice in India, as my doctoral study.

I have been striving hard to change the perspective and outlook of women and their pelvic health. The postpartum cultures, traditions, attitudes, and beliefs are so strongly rooted in Indian women. Moreover, exercise is considered a taboo in the puerperal period which made this a herculean task. The toughest challenge was to persuade the caregiver (mother-in-law, husband, dai) the importance of postpartum physical therapy as the postpartum mothers were not allowed to decide for themselves. Going to a grassroot level and bringing out such positive changes among the women gave me immense satisfaction. My passion for working in this field grew even more. As a mother of two, and experiencing these problems myself made me even more optimistic about the need for practice in this clinical arena. Ever since, I have been trying to make women identify, speak out and seek treatment for their pelvic problems, as they would for any other body problems. It had become a habit of women to consider these problems a part and parcel of life.

To be CAPP certified was a dream for me ever since I had developed a passion for women’s health when I was a PT student, as this was the highest quality certification in the field of pelvic health. It wasn’t easy for me to pursue this course being an overseas candidate. Receiving this scholarship was a dream come true. The Academy of Pelvic Health Physical Therapy has provided me the opportunity for the best education possible in this field and to serve the community in an even better way. Now, there’s no turning back. Serving the community and taking pelvic health to a newer level in India and especially among those for whom these services are far to be known is what I am aiming for.

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About Her....

Dr.Ashwini Kale is working as a Professor in MGM’s Institute of Physiotherapy, Aurangabad. She has completed her PhD in Physiotherapy with Pelvic Floor rehabilitation as her area of research. She is the Head of MGM’s Department of Neuro Physiotherapy. She has a special interest in treating various urogynaecological dysfunctions including urinary/faecal incontinence, prolapse, hyperactive pelvic floor conditions, pelvic pain, etc. She is a certified advanced pelvic practitioner and a certified Antenatal Postnatal Exercise Specialist. She treatswomen for pregnancy related problems like low back pain, stress urinary incontinence, sciatica and pelvic girdle dysfunctions.

She involved in many reputed institutions, award committees and panels. Some of her achievements are,

• Editorial board member of many prestigious journals and reviewer of pubmed indexed journals.
• Has to her name many national and international publications, book chapters and copyrights.
• She strongly advocates to bring pelvic floor rehabilitation to grassroot level in India by bringing awareness and overcoming cultural taboos.
• She is the only Indian member of a consensus project on ‘urinary tract affected by gynaecological pathology’ of the International Continence Society(ICS).
• Member of Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI) and works in educating and promoting breastfeeding among mothers.
• Recipient of “Significant Contribution Award” (2016) by Indian Association of Physiotherapists, “Mary McMillian Award” (2021) in Goa Conference and “Significant Achievement Award” (2022) in IAP, Kolkata Conference.
• Delivered an oration at Neuraxis 2022, new delhi on “Urodynamics in Spinal Cord Injury” and has received an ‘Oration Award” for the same.
• She is the first Indian to receive the prestigious “Diversity Initiative Award” from American Physical Therapy Association, USA and has received her award at the APTA CSM San Diego, Feb 2023.
• Recipient of international scholarship for pursuing the prestigious Advanced Certification in Pelvic Rehabilitation by American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), USA and has her blog published in APTA section on women’s health.
• She is the first Indian Physiotherapist to receive scholarship (5000 USD) from Pfizer to pursue her fellowship in Urodynamics at University Medical centre Utretch, Netherlands and has completed her fellowship at Netherlands in October 2022.
• Selected as an abstract reviewer for World Congress 2023, WCPT.
• Recently been granted a bursary (scholarship) from World congress of Physiotherapy to join the world congress conference to be held in June at Dubai.
• She is among the very few physiotherapists to have been working in this novel and noble branch of physiotherapy.