Endometriosis is one of the most common and most misunderstood conditions in pelvic health. It can drive chronic pelvic pain, painful periods, bowel and bladder symptoms, fatigue, and pain with intimacy, and on average it takes years for a patient to receive an accurate diagnosis. For the clinicians who treat them, the question is rarely whether to help, but how to help more completely.

Medical management, surgery, and pelvic rehabilitation are all important parts of care. Alongside them, a growing body of attention is turning toward the daily habits that shape how a person living with endometriosis actually feels day to day.

Why Lifestyle Matters in Endometriosis

Endometriosis is an inflammatory condition, and many of the factors that influence inflammation, pain sensitivity, and overall wellbeing are tied to lifestyle. Nutrition, movement, sleep, stress regulation, and nervous system care all interact with how symptoms are experienced. None of these replace medical treatment, but used thoughtfully and individualized to each patient, they can become meaningful supports within a comprehensive plan of care.

For clinicians, the opportunity is to move beyond treating symptoms in isolation and instead help patients understand the levers they can influence themselves, building agency and self-efficacy along the way.

What This Free Webinar Covers

In this session, Allison will walk clinicians through the lifestyle factors most relevant to patients living with endometriosis and how to introduce them in a way that is practical, evidence-informed, and patient-centered. Whether you specialize in pelvic health or simply want to support these patients more effectively, you will leave with strategies you can share right away. Bring your questions for the live discussion.

Last month I was invited to give a talk at the Michigan APTA Student Conclave, and I gave myself a challenge before I walked into that lecture hall.

Pelvic health is my jam. Talk to me about it at a dinner party, at a conference, on a podcast, and I will not stop. But education has changed since I was in school. My version of learning was lecture, test, repeat. My college daughters describe classrooms that look almost nothing like that, and frankly, theirs sound more interesting. So I did not want to lecture these students. I wanted to give them an experience with their own pelvic floors. Could I pull that off in a way that was both fun and meaningful? That was the assignment I gave myself.

The talk was called “Explore Your Floor: What You May Not Have Learned in School About the Land Down Under.”

Walking Into the Room

The first thing that struck me was the diversity. Pelvic health desperately needs practitioners of every gender and orientation to meet the needs of the patients who depend on us, and seeing that room felt like a real preview of where the profession is heading.

I told the group up front what I wanted the next hour to feel like: safe, inclusive, humble, educational, fun, and a little inspiring. Because we need more people in this field. Participation was voluntary throughout. Questions were welcome.

A Tour of the Layers

We started with a tour of the layers of the pelvic floor. Students stood up and used their bodies to act out the individual muscles and feel their unique functions. From there, we moved into biofeedback work where each student could discover the range of motion of their own pelvic floor.

Breath, Pressure, and the Body’s Truth

Next came pressure regulation. I wanted them to experience the relationship between breath, abdominal wall tension, and pelvic floor function, so we did it with a balloon. Everyone blew one up and we watched several different patterns emerge in how people accomplished that simple task. The lesson was right there in the room.

For the last physical activity, everyone stood up and tried to push each other over under three conditions: relaxed bodies, holding breath and bracing, exhaling and bracing. Most students felt most stable holding their breath. That gave us a really meaningful conversation about internal pressure and the way it finds its path to the places of least resistance. Hernia. Prolapse. Diastasis. Disc herniation. The body always tells the truth about where the load is going.

The Detective Work of Pelvic Health

The rest of our hour explored the relationships between the pelvic floor and the visceral, musculoskeletal, endocrine, and nervous systems, and how a pelvic floor physical therapist uses those relationships to shape the rehab experience for every patient.

I talked about the role and responsibility of the pelvic health specialist and shared snippets from real case studies. Two patients can show up with the same complaint, whether stress urinary incontinence, constipation, or pelvic pain, and have completely different reasons behind it. Our job is to be detectives. The presentation is never the diagnosis. The patient is.

I had a blast. The mission felt accomplished. And the students seemed to have a great time learning.

A Message That Stayed With Me

A few days later, a student sent me a note that I have not stopped thinking about:

“I am one of the many male students inspired by your pelvic floor presentation at the APTA Student Conclave. After walking out of your conference, I felt a responsibility to advocate for pelvic floor health for everyone. I find pelvic floor therapy truly fascinating.”

I could not agree more.

If you are a student reading this, or a clinician on the fence about pursuing pelvic health, I want you to know that this field needs you. All of you. Every background, every identity, every clinical curiosity. There has never been a better time to bring your full self to this work.

Experience It for Yourself: Free Live Webinar

Curious what it feels like to truly explore your floor? Jenna is bringing this same session to a free live webinar open to clinicians and students everywhere. Come ready to participate, bring your questions, and discover what you may not have learned in school about the land down under.

Low back pain is one of the most common reasons patients walk into a physical therapy clinic. It is also one of the most under-treated when clinicians focus only on the lumbar spine. For a growing body of patients, the lumbar spine is the symptom. The pelvic floor is the source.

If you are an orthopedic, sports, or general outpatient clinician treating low back pain and feel your patients are not making the progress you would expect, the pelvic floor may be the missing piece. Herman & Wallace is offering two free live webinars this May with senior faculty member and Director of Education Allison Ariail, PT, DPT, CLT-LANA, BCB-PMD, PRPC. The first session unpacks the clinical connection between the pelvic floor and low back pain. The second is an open Ask Me Anything session for clinicians considering the Pelvic Rehabilitation Practitioner Certification (PRPC).

What does the pelvic floor have to do with low back pain?

The pelvic floor does not work in isolation. It works as part of the deep stabilization system of the trunk, alongside the transverse abdominis, the lumbar multifidus, and the diaphragm. These muscles co-contract to create intra-abdominal pressure and provide segmental stability through the lumbar spine and pelvic ring.

When one piece of that system is dysfunctional, the others compensate. A pelvic floor that is overactive, underactive, or poorly coordinated can drive instability at the sacroiliac joint, alter lumbopelvic control, and present clinically as nonspecific low back pain. Research has consistently demonstrated that women with chronic low back pain have measurable differences in pelvic floor activation and timing compared to controls. The same patterns have been identified in men with persistent lumbar pain and a history of pelvic pain or urinary symptoms.

For clinicians without pelvic floor training, this connection can be easy to miss. Patients rarely volunteer urinary, bowel, or sexual health symptoms. They come in describing back pain. They may have already failed two or three previous courses of physical therapy that focused exclusively on the lumbar spine and core.

Free Webinar 1: The Pelvic Floor and Low Back Pain

In this live session, Allison will walk clinicians through the clinical and anatomical connections between the pelvic floor and low back pain, share the symptom patterns that suggest pelvic floor involvement, and outline what assessment and referral pathways can look like in everyday practice. This webinar is designed for clinicians who do not specialize in pelvic health but who want to recognize when the pelvic floor is part of the picture.

Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2026   |   Time: 1:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM MT
Cost: Free   |   Presenter: Allison Ariail, PT, DPT, CLT-LANA, BCB-PMD, PRPC
Register: Register for Webinar

Free Webinar 2: PRPC Ask Me Anything

For clinicians who already work in pelvic health and are ready to formalize their expertise, the Pelvic Rehabilitation Practitioner Certification (PRPC) is the credential that signals advanced clinical mastery. The second webinar in this series is a live open Ask Me Anything session where Allison answers your questions about the certification, the exam, eligibility, and how to prepare.

Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2026   |   Time: 1:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM MT
Cost: Free   |   Presenter: Allison Ariail, PT, DPT, CLT-LANA, BCB-PMD, PRPC
Register: Register for Webinar

What is the PRPC, and why earn it through Herman & Wallace?

The Pelvic Rehabilitation Practitioner Certification is a board certification developed by Herman & Wallace that recognizes clinicians who have demonstrated advanced clinical knowledge across the full scope of pelvic rehabilitation. The exam covers male and female pelvic health, pediatric and geriatric considerations, oncology, pregnancy and postpartum care, bowel and bladder dysfunction, sexual health, and chronic pelvic pain.

Unlike credentials limited to one population or one diagnostic area, the PRPC reflects breadth across the lifespan and across the full pelvic health caseload. Clinicians who hold the PRPC use it to communicate their expertise to referring providers, patients, employers, and the broader rehabilitation community.

Herman & Wallace is the institute that developed and administers the PRPC, and the only place to learn directly from the faculty who write and teach the foundational coursework. Allison Ariail is one of those faculty members, having served as senior faculty and Director of Education at Herman & Wallace for many years.

To learn more about the PRPC requirements, eligibility, and exam content, visit hermanwallace.com/prpc.

Why these two webinars belong on your calendar

Whether you are an orthopedic clinician who wants to recognize when the pelvic floor is contributing to your low back pain caseload, or a pelvic health specialist who wants to formalize your expertise with a board certification, these two free webinars deliver high-value clinical content from one of the most respected voices in pelvic rehabilitation.

Register for one or both. Bring your clinical questions. Both sessions are free and live.