Imagine you’re snuggled in bed in the midst of a heavy storm, listening to the rain pelt the window, when all of a sudden you feel it: a drop of water on your forehead.

A few seconds pass, then you feel another. And another.

What would you do next? Maybe you’d get up, push the bed over a few feet, and grab a bucket to catch the drips. 

That might be all you’d do before going back to sleep. In the morning, you’d dump the bucket, push the bed back to where it was, and hope it doesn’t storm like that again for a while. 

Wait. What?!

That sounds risky, right? Most of us would agree that the responsible next step would involve examining the roof (or hiring someone qualified to do so), eventually making whatever repairs needed to be done. Few of us would be content with keeping a bucket by the bed and calling it good.

And yet –

That’s often the approach of the traditional medical system. Modern medicine tends to do well with treating an acute problem (like an ear infection), but too often it ends with symptom management and fails to ask why the symptom appeared in the first place.

Chronic diarrhea? Try immodium. Better? Great – let’s move on.

For some issues, that works. But when it comes to your pelvic floor, women deserve better.

Symptom Management vs. Addressing the Root Cause

It’s common for women with literal leaks or other pelvic floor issues to be handed a metaphorical bucket by their practitioner, with no mention of repairing the roof.

That was Jenn’s story, and it’s a big part of why Tighten Your Tinkler exists.

After her third son was born and she underwent surgery to correct a debilitating ab separation, Jenn developed Stage 2 prolapse. In Jenn’s case, that meant bladder issues that left her embarrassed and reluctant to leave her house, much less return to work as an Exercise Physiologist. When she consulted her doctor, she was told her prolapse “wasn’t that bad” and many women “live with much worse.” Jenn had to push to get a referral to a urogynecologist, who would recommend a second major surgery (one with lackluster data support). 

As she sought other solutions, she shared her story with more and more women - and quickly learned that her experience was far from unique. 

This was just the beginning of Jenn’s disillusionment with the medical system. Soon after, her boys were diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder which causes their bodies to produce tumors. Their condition was discovered after one of her sons developed a growth, had it removed, and sent for further testing. As any parent can imagine, it was a terrifying period filled with waiting, appointments, waiting, surgeries, more waiting, recovery, even more waiting, and, finally, results.

Thankfully, the growth wasn’t cancerous – this time. And her son recovered well. The new question on Jenn’s mind, as a mother with multiple kids with the same disorder, became, “What can we do to prevent this from happening?” 

The pediatrician, pediatric geneticist, and pediatric neurologist all gave the same answer, “We don’t know much about this condition, so there’s nothing we can do to prevent more tumors from growing. When they get one, we’ll cut it out. Hopefully, they won’t become cancerous.”

That answer wasn’t acceptable to Jenn as she looked at her three young boys. Waiting for tumors to grow is a dismal approach to life – as is waiting for leaks to get "bad enough” for surgery.

Jenn became more and more open to alternative health options as she explored supports for both her prolapse and her boys’ disorder. Acupuncture appointments appeared on the calendar in between visits to Children’s Hospital, ingredients for herbal remedies showed up on the grocery list. Ten years later, Jenn has an arsenal of tools for supporting her family’s health.

The Limitations of Pelvic Floor Symptom Management

We’ve heard personal stories from hundreds of women dismissed as being “not that bad,” told to use pads or adult diapers.

When Stephanie's doctor first prescribed medicine and kegels for the bladder issues that were messing with her life, she was hopeful that the pee leaks and frequent trips to the bathroom were coming to an end.

A few days in, however, Stephanie felt just as frustrated as she was before – maybe even more so: 

The bladder medicine was drying out her entire body, causing constipation and dry mouth. Her doctor said that was normal, and that she’d need to stick with the medication for at least four weeks to see its full effect. From there, she could try increasing the dose or maybe start over with a different med.

The kegels didn’t seem to be doing much. Later, she’d realize that the kegels were making things worse.

(Curious about kegels + Tighten Your Tinkler's stance on them? Make sure you check out this article explaining how they can contribute to a hypertonic pelvic floor.)

Had Stephanie stuck with the traditional route, her doctor may have tried another prescription or two, which she would have been dependent on indefinitely. Managing the symptoms might have helped her short term, but without addressing their cause, she’d likely need further intervention (more medication, therapy, or even surgery).

Luckily, Stephanie found a more holistic approach to addressing her leaks.

What is holistic health?

What comes to mind when you hear “holistic health?” 

Maybe you picture the woman at the farmer’s market in a flowy skirt with stacks of bracelets, selling crystals and small bundles of sage. Perhaps your yoga friend comes to mind, the one who will drop into a pose mid-conversation. Or maybe it’s that friend who has an essential oil for every ailment (peppermint, anyone?).

Crunchy, natural, alternative – these words are thrown around as holistic synonyms, and while there are overlaps, holistic health has a much simpler foundation:

“The belief that the parts of something are interconnected and can be explained only by reference to the whole.”

Interestingly enough, the word “health” comes from an old English word, “hale”, which means “wholeness, being whole or sound.” Put together, holistic health could be interpreted as “whole wholeness.”

Does that definition surprise you? Often we see health as the absence of illness or pain, appreciating it more in retrospect or after it’s restored. Maybe you’ve suffered through a cold for days, and when it’s finally gone, you feel grateful and extra energized (and overcommit to new projects).  

For a long time, health focused solely on physical wellbeing; as mental health has been brought into the larger sphere, more and more people are recognizing its impact as well. Recent research points to the impact of mindset on healing, on the body-mind connection. As practitioners, it’s something we’ve witnessed countless times over the course of our careers.

How does Tighten Your Tinkler interpret holistic health?

The Tighten Your Tinkler team often discusses how we’re triplanar beings: body, mind, and spirit. To tend to one is to tend to the others – and neglect in one area will limit overall progress. 

We like this robust definition by St. Catherine University:

“Holistic health is an approach to wellness that simultaneously addresses the physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual components of health. As a field of practice, holistic medicine draws from many disciplines, religions, and cultures to heal people, communities, and even the environment.”  (“What is Holistic Health” article by St. Catherine University)

What about the “woo”?

Certain holistic health practices can be considered “woo woo” by some, and Tighten Your Tinkler is often asked about its stance. Our team members fall on different points of both the crunchy and “woo” spectrums. As a company, however, Tighten Your Tinkler is committed to promoting evidence-based practices.

Why is Tighten Your Tinkler committed to a holistic perspective?

The short answer: because it’s effective.

The more complete response comes from our individual stories, as well as those of the women we’ve helped.

Our Mission

We don’t just want women to be pain-free or leak free – we want them to feel like themselves, to feel good in their skin. We want women to experience a state of wholeness that allows them to show up, fully present, for their lives.

The Other Guys

We’ve seen some positive changes in women’s health since Jenn’s prolapse diagnosis a decade ago. There’s an increased awareness surrounding pelvic floor wellness, and pelvic floor physical therapy is gaining popularity and traction. It’s a big improvement for a system that has downplayed (or even ignored) pelvic floor issues until they progressed to a point requiring surgery.

But there’s a long way to go.

For many years, Tighten Your Tinkler’s vision included changing the healthcare system from the inside – changing the protocols and making pelvic floor care more efficient, effective, and accessible. While we still hold that vision, our approach has shifted. 

It’s not 'just a leak.'

One of our most engaged-with posts in our members-only community last year read “Spoiler alert: It’s almost never just about the leak” and explored WHY women had come to Tighten Your Tinkler. Most women found us because they were dealing with some kind of incontinence or pain; they tried our Signature Program because of the impact those symptoms were having on other parts of their life. Mothers (and in some cases, grandmothers) were frustrated that they couldn't lift their toddlers without pain, that they didn't feel comfortable joining their kiddos on the trampoline.

Women were struggling with intimacy, the physical discomfort/pain stopping them from connecting physically with their partners the way they wanted to. The one phrase we hear over and over? I feel broken. If you're dealing with pelvic floor issues and you feel betrayed by your body, we hear you. We've been there. Those feelings are valid, and they'll play an important role on your own healing journey.

Pelvic floor problems don't stay in your pelvis.

The truth is that every single pelvic floor-related symptom listed on our homepage can have an untold number of consequences: on our confidence, within our relationships, and on our overall quality of life. That can feel frustrating if you're stuck in a negative spiral: a hypertonic pelvic floor leads to neck pain, which shifts your posture, which makes you self conscious looking at yourself in your cousin's wedding photos, etc.

It can also be positive. 

Committing to a holistic healing journey might feel overwhelming ("I have to work on my emotions AND my relationships? I just want these physical symptoms to stop!"). Thankfully, it's not as complicated as it may seem. We've found that old saying, "A rising tide lifts all boats" applies here.

By focusing on one or two small issues at a time, there's usually a positive ripple effect. Addressing that hypertonic pelvic floor by using a decompression position, like the 90/90, can help your pelvic muscles to relax. As they relax, your nervous system regulates better – making you feel calmer and able to make decisions with better clarity, leading to healthier relationships.

Treating only the pelvic floor symptoms is shortsighted.

Failing to address problems at their source is shortsighted and much more expensive in the long run. Going back to the leaky roof example in our introduction, keeping a bucket by your bed and failing to patch the hole will set you up for much more expensive repairs in the future. To learn more about the costs for both approaches when it comes to your pelvic floor, be sure to check out our post "What is Your Pelvic Floor Costing You?"