Stability Before Mobility, an Interview with Stacey Futterman Tauriello

In today's interview, Holly Tanner sits down with Stacey Futterman Tauriello, PT, MPT, WCS, BCB-PMD to discuss her approach to pelvic rehabilitation. Stacey received her Master’s Degree in Physical Therapy from Nova Southeastern University in South Florida in 1996. After graduation, she relocated to Chicago where she began specializing in women’s health issues including the treatment of incontinence, pelvic pain, and prenatal/postpartum musculoskeletal issues. She returned to the east coast in 2003 and is now the owner of 5 Point Physical Therapy, a specialty physical therapy clinic for male and female pelvic dysfunction in New York City.

Stacey will be instructing Pelvic Floor Level 2A on December 11-12, 2021 and Pelvic Floor Level 1 on January 22-23, 2022.

What clinical pearls do you have for practitioners working with labral tears?

Return to sport has to be discussed on day one. Figuring out what that path is. It's ok that it is slow, but the patient needs to understand that they are going to progress in a fashion to get them stronger and more stable.

You always have to have stability before you have mobility.

You need that background knowledge of getting them stronger without flaring up their pelvic floor symptoms. You have to release and restore, release and restore, release and restore. You got to understand the "why" component. Why are they having so much pain? What can you do to strengthen without flaring? I think that is huge.

What excites you about exercise approaches?

The first thing that got me excited was that I saw that I was doing a lot of things right. One of the biggest takeaways...was the neuromuscular reeducation portion of the exercise...That really task-specific brain reeducation with every exercise...I often think of neuro as Parkinson's. So a Parkinson's patient if you want them to walk and lift their leg (because they're shuffling), you would put something in front of them and say step over it.

Your daughter is 3 and a half years old now. How has going through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum changed your approach with pregnant and postpartum patients?

I did an interview in 2019 with the Today Show on postpartum motherhood and the pelvic floor, both from the patient and the practitioner's standpoint.

It's changed my perspective completely. From the process of getting pregnant, I was in my 40s, so I was an older mom, to being pregnant, having some issues during pregnancy. And then the actual delivery was...it's not great being a pelvic floor physical therapist trying to push a baby out of your vagina...but you have to go through it. Then you realize too that your postpartum experience is all about healing. As much as it's easy for somebody that's 21 to give birth and bounce back. A lot of the women who are having babies right now are in their 30s and 40s. Their bodies don't respond the same, especially not during covid. 

It's a game-changer right now, things are different. Yeah, I had incontinence after I gave birth, I still struggle. My body, within covid from not exercising and going to the gym and everything still takes a toll. I feel like it made me more empathetic to some of my pregnant patients.

Is there a clinical pearl or fun phrase that comes to mind that you use?

One of the big phrases that I use comes from Pam Downey, and it is "healthy tissue doesn't hurt."