How to Collaborate with Pelvic PTs
Without Losing Your Ground
Last week I wrote about why pelvic acupuncture is an asset to this profession and to the clients we serve. (Read that first if you haven't.) Now let's talk about what it looks like to actually walk into your community and build referral relationships with pelvic PTs without shrinking yourself in the process.
This is the question I hear from acupuncturists more than almost any other. How do I work alongside the pelvic PTs in my area without stepping on their toes? How do I get on their radar without underselling what I do?
Here is how I think about it.
Lead with what is uniquely yours!
When you walk into a pelvic PT's office, do not lead with what you have in common. Lead with what only you bring. The three pillars. Acupuncture's evidence base in pelvic conditions - the biomedicine and the tissues that make up the pelvic floor, the TCM pattern lens, the spiritual emotional dimension of pelvic care. The PT in front of you already knows pelvic floor muscle training. She does not need you to repeat her work. She needs to understand what you do that she does not.
Know the scope difference.
Pelvic PT and pelvic acupuncture are not the same medicine. Be able to name the difference in one sentence.
Pelvic PT specializes in neuromuscular retraining, manual therapy, and behavioral interventions for pelvic floor dysfunction.
Pelvic acupuncture works with the muscles of the pelvic floor, the organ systems, and the nervous system to regulate pain, inflammation, blood flow and emotional patterning in the pelvic bowl.
Both work with the tissues of the pelvic floor and the concomitant structures.
These are complementary, not competing. Say it that way.
A real referral relationship moves in both directions. When you refer a client to a pelvic PT for biofeedback or specific muscle retraining, write a clinical note. Make it easy for her to receive your client well. Then ask her, in plain language, when she would consider sending a client to you.
Conditions where the answer is often yes:
Endometriosis pain that PT alone is not resolving
Chronic pelvic pain with a strong nervous system or emotional component
Pudendal neuralgia
Fertility cases requiring pelvic blood flow support
Postpartum scar care
Perimenopausal pelvic changes
Oncology survivorship pelvic symptoms
Releasing specific muscle tissues with needle precision
Be specific. Specificity builds trust.
Have one document ready: When you meet a pelvic PT, leave her with a one page document. Your name, your clinic, your scope, the conditions you treat, two or three pieces of research she can read on her own time. Please, no fluff. No "spiritual journey" language with a colleague who does not share that vocabulary. Earn the conversation by being clinically credible first.
Do not perform smallness: This is the part I have to say plainly. Acupuncturists have a habit of walking into rooms with other healthcare professionals and shrinking. Speaking softly. Adding "just" before our scope of practice. Underselling the depth of our training.
Stop.
You are a primary care provider in many states. You hold a four year doctoral level education. You practice a medicine that has been refining its understanding of the pelvic bowl since before modern anatomy existed. Walk into the room as a colleague, not a supplicant.
When collaboration is not the right answer: Sometimes the pelvic PT in your area is not interested. Sometimes she is competitive, dismissive, or simply too busy to engage. (we’ve all been there right?) That’s okay. Move on. Build relationships with the ones who are curious. Build referral pipelines with OB/GYNs, urogynecologists, REIs, midwives, doulas and pelvic chiropractors instead. Your community is bigger than one office.
From personal experience, I can tell you that as both a PT and an Acu, having a collaborative network is vital. I refer to a a couple pelvic PTs on the regular and they refer right back to me. We’re not competing, we’re doing what we each love to do and helping more clients collectively. That’s a win.
Collaboration is not about asking permission to occupy the space we have occupied for thousands of years. It is about offering our medicine clearly enough that other professionals can see where we fit. We are not knocking on the door. We are already at the table.
We started this conversation. (Remember why.)
Be the acu who knows how.
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!