Talking about taboos: pelvic health

Tiffany Sequeira has been speaking out about taboo subjects and calls on you to join her when I graduated back in 2018 it was always clear that I wanted to specialise in pelvic health and helping patients with intimate concerns – and I’ve never looked back.

Whether it’s helping with continence concerns, sexual dysfunctions or prolapse to name a few, I am so privileged to help my patients with something that they’ve often been struggling with for many years. 

As an Indian girl myself I became more aware of the disparity of people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME) accessing pelvic health services. It was often a rare occurrence for me to see a patient from a BAME background in clinic and often that coincided with high DNA rates too. I’ve now made it my mission to make pelvic health physiotherapy accessible to all by posting on social media, and encouraging therapists to provide pelvic floor diagrams using more than white skin. I also work to include information booklets in other languages and run regular information groups in the community to those from BAME backgrounds to make them feel heard.

Recently I‘ve been lucky enough to speak at the Everywoman festival in Cardiff alongside Welsh health minister Eluned Morgan. I came away feeling super empowered.

I created the Instagram page @gynaegirl because it became clear to me that the information and evidence surrounding pelvic health was often only aimed at women post-natally or during the menopause – when really pelvic health is important to every single person at any point during their life.  

I have also attended the House of Commons for International Women’s Day, championing for accessible pelvic health physiotherapy.

Despite it being 2024, talking about things like sex and our genitalia is still such a taboo, but it’s even more of a taboo for those from BAME backgrounds. 

This is why I’m working hard to narrow this gap and normalise these conversations – and I would encourage you all as clinicians to join me. 

Tiffany Sequeira is a specialist pelvic health physiotherapist working in both private practice and the NHS, as a team lead physio at Medway NHS Trust