Pelvic Floor / Pelvic Girdle

Instructors - Abbate - Lyons

Lila Abbate, PT, DPT, MS, OCS, WCS, PRPC

Lila Abbate, PT, DPT, MS, OCS, PRPC

Lila Abbate, PT, DPT, MS, OCS, WCS, PRPC (she/her) is the Director/Owner of New Dimensions Physical Therapy with locations Roslyn, Long Island, and the Noho Section of New York City. Dr. Abbate graduated from Touro College in Dix Hills, NY with a Bachelors of Science (BS) in Health Sciences and a Masters of Arts (MA) in Physical Therapy in 1997. She completed her Advanced Masters in Manual Orthopedic Physical Therapy (MS) at Touro College, Bayshore, NY in 2003 and continued to pursue her Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) at Touro in 2005. Dr. Abbate is a Board-Certified Specialist by the American Physical Therapy Association in Orthopedics (OCS) 2004 and Women’s Health (WCS) 2011. She has obtained the Certified Pelvic Rehabilitation Practitioner (PRPC) by Herman & Wallace Institute, 2014. She is a Diane Lee/LJ Lee, Integrated Systems Model (ISM) graduate and completed the New York series in 2012.

Dr. Abbate has been an educator for most of her physical therapy career. She has experience as full-time faculty at Touro College, Manhattan Campus from 2002 to 2006 teaching the biomechanical approach to orthopedic dysfunction and therapeutic exercise as well as massage/soft tissue work that highlighted trigger point work, scar management, and myofascial release.

She is currently on faculty as a Lecturer at Columbia University teaching the private practice section Business & Management course (since 2016) along with the Pelvic Health elective (since 2012). She teaches nationally and internationally with the Herman & Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute teaching advanced courses of her own intellectual property: Orthopedic Assessment for the Pelvic Health Therapist, Bowel Pathology Function, Dysfunction and the Pelvic Floor, Coccydynia & Painful Sitting: Orthopedic Implications. She was a co-writer for the Pudendal Neuralgia course and teaches the Pelvic Floor Series of Pelvic Floor 1, 2A and 2B and Pregnancy, Postpartum. She has written two book chapters in 2016: Pelvic Pain Management by Valvoska and Healing in Urology: Clinical Guidebook to Herbal and Alternative Therapies by Chughtai.

She is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association, the National Vulvodynia Association, the American Urogynecology Association, and the International Pelvic Pain Society. Dr. Abbate is also a Senior Physical Therapy consultant for SI Bone, a sacroiliac joint instrumentation company.


Michelle Lyons, PT, MISCP

Michelle Lyons

Michelle Lyons, MISCP PT, has over twenty years of experience as a chartered physiotherapist. She has recently returned to live in Ireland after a number of years in the US.

As well as developing numerous speciality courses for Herman & Wallace (Oncology and the Female Pelvic Floor, Oncology and the Male Pelvic Floor, The Athlete & the Pelvic Floor, Menopause Rehabilitation and Symptom Management, and Special Topics: Endometriosis, Infertility & Hysterectomy), she is also a tutor on the Pelvic Floor Series and the Pregnancy/Post-partum Series. Michelle was also proud to be an item writer for the PRPC certification exam.

With additional training in nutrition therapy, herbal medicine, pilates and yoga as well as her clinical training and experience in pelvic health and oncology rehab, Michelle is a firm believer in integrative medicine and a whole body approach to health and wellness.

She is also a lecturer for the Pelvic Obstetric & Gynaecological Physiotherapy Association in the U.K. on their pregnancy/MSK courses and will be Clinical Lead on their new advanced pelvic floor course and their male pelvic health coursework. She blogs and teaches online (available late 2015) for Medbridge Education and has collaborated with the Integrative Women's Health Institute and Burrell Education on a number of live and online women’s health educational programs.

As a social media advocate, in 2013 she co-founded the Women’s Health Physiotherapy Facebook group, which now has over 3000 members from all over the world. A poster presentation looking at the role of the group/social media in promoting women’s health was presented at WCPT in 2015.

She also offers consulting/ mentoring service to clinicians internationally who wish to develop pelvic rehab, integrative health or oncology rehab programs. With a busy international teaching schedule, she also finds time to indulge her passion for reading, shopping for more books and reading some more!