ADVOCACY It’s been a taboo topic for far too long but the time is right to address physical birth trauma, argues the APA’s Policy and Government Relations team.

TAS EVENT Hanny Allston has many pursuits and she’s thriving on the challenge of balancing them to maximise her potential.

AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF PHYSIOTHERAPISTS A passion for gender equality led Alexandra Diggles first to physiotherapy, then to titling and specialisation.

Recently published research by Dr Udari Colombage has highlighted the need to help people with breast cancer overcome pelvic floor dysfunction during and after their cancer treatment. 

I became an aunt in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. My sister’s first baby was a wanted, welcomed new addition to the family.

Four APA physiotherapists were awarded Australia Day Honours in January 2023 for services to community health.

Chantale Dumoulin is a Canadian physiotherapist who published the GROUP Trial, which compared standard individual (one-on-one) with group-based pelvic floor muscle training (one physiotherapist for eight patients) for the treatment of stress and mixed urinary incontinence in older women. Dr Licia Cacciari is a postdoctoral student at the University of Montreal under the supervision of Chantale Dumoulin. She was the lead author on an economic evaluation of the GROUP trial in Journal of Physiotherapy.

Pelvic health and continence physiotherapist Dr Margaret Sherburn APAM FACP reflects on a long and fulfilling career, the changing status of physiotherapy over that time and the many opportunities that have come her way ‘because of this wonderful profession’. 

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2021, Lauren Neill, Georgia Feben, Tarryn Lawrence, Alexandra Diggles and Brooke Dobo present five discussion points about the role of physiotherapy in assisting women to address and improve their pelvic health so that it isn’t a barrier to them moving toward gender parity.

Cath Willis is the chair of the APA’s National Advisory Council and a past chair of the Women’s, Men’s and Pelvic Health national group. For International Women’s Day, we talked to her about leadership, her inspirations and mentors and advice for those aspiring to leadership positions.