Why Pelvic Health Needs a Voice: My Conversation on Her Voice Shines

There is a particular kind of full circle moment that catches you off guard.

I was invited onto Her Voice Shines, Chenadra Washington's podcast, a show built from the ground up to amplify the voices of women doing meaningful work in the world. The episode is titled “Dr. Krystal Couture's Mission to Give Pelvic Health a Voice.” I sat with that title for a while. A show about giving women a voice, holding space for me to talk about giving pelvic health a voice. That is the whole mission in one sentence.

So I told Chenadra the story from the beginning.

Nineteen years ago, I opened my practice. People came to me for sports injuries, for the aches and the strains and the things that were easy to name. Then they kept coming back. Not for the original complaint, which had resolved, but for something they did not have language for yet. Pelvic pain. Pelvic floor dysfunction. Pain with sex. These were not topics anyone was talking about out loud back then. My clients did not have the words, and they did not have a safe room to find them in.

So I became the room.

I saw the gap between what people were suffering with and what they were being offered, and I made a choice. I was not interested in short term relief that sent someone back out the door with the same problem in six months. I wanted long term healing. I wanted to reach the source, not the symptom. That commitment is what eventually pulled me out of my own treatment room and into teaching, because one practitioner can only hold so many clients, and the gap is so much bigger than any one of us.

On the episode, Chenadra and I talked about the things I believe down to my bones.

That we do not have to live in a struggle. That we should not live with our suffering. That we are allowed to be big, to be bold and to let our whole hearts shine.

Those are not soft sentiments. For a woman who has been told her pain is just a part of aging, or to have a glass of wine before sex, being told instead that she does not have to live in the struggle is a clinical intervention. It is the beginning of getting her trust in her own body back.

This is why I do what I do. This is why I teach acupuncturists to step into pelvic care. Every acupuncturist who learns this work becomes another safe room. Another voice. Another person closing the gap in their own corner of the world.

I am so grateful to Chenadra Washington for building a platform like Her Voice Shines, and for handing me the microphone with such warmth. Go find her. Go follow her. Go listen to the women she lifts up.

And if you want to hear the full conversation, the full episode is below.

Be big. Be bold. Let your whole heart shine.

Bio: Dr. Krystal Lynn Couture, DPT, LAc, founder of The Pelvic Acu, is an acupuncturist and physical therapist specializing in Pelvic Health. As a pelvic care acupuncturist, she brings to her practice a background steeped in both biomedical, TCM and holistic knowledge. She has an extensive formal background, with a Doctorate in physical therapy from Husson University as well as a Master of Science in acupuncture from the Institute of Taoist Education and Acupuncture. Krystal teaches Pelvic Care to Acupuncturists around the globe!

If you are ready to learn more about our offerings and close the gap in pelvic care please visit: www.thepelvicacu.com.