Participants who register for this course have the option to attend the course live and/or watch the recorded sessions later. The recording will be available to all registrants for a 2-week period after the course/each session. This allows participants who may not be able to attend the live sessions to still benefit from the course content.

To facilitate attendance tracking, please indicate on your registration form if you won't be attending live.

Course Description:

Patients who have pelvic floor disorders are often dealing with a variety of sexual dysfunctions. We as pelvic floor physiotherapists are asked to counsel our patients on returning to sexual intercourse or practices, but we do not often get education on the physiology and psychology of sex and sexuality in basic pelvic floor courses.  During this course, physiotherapists will learn the development of sexuality through the lifespan and how it is affected by aging.  They will also learn the psychology of sex and sexuality and how to deal with pre-existing beliefs and attitudes about sex when treating pelvic floor disorders. Discussions on sex with illness and disability will be highlighted, including sexual aids to help patients return to sexual functioning after major neurologic or oncologic illnesses. Counselling patients’ sexual practices to protect and heal their pelvic floor will also be explored.  Participants will leave with a better understanding of the science behind sex and how to help your patients safely and effectively with pelvic floor disorders return to sex and intimacy. This course will also briefly discuss helping patients return to sexual functioning after gender affirming surgeries including a treatment progression.

This course is presented in a hybrid format with some material being provided prior to the course in video format to be completed as pre-course work. The online course portion will discuss specific patient populations and how to treat sexual dysfunction.

Objectives:

• Participants will be able to describe the development of sex and sexuality through the lifespan.
• Participants will be able to illustrate the role of the pelvic floor in sexual practices.
• Participants will be able to design an education program for their patients how to return to intimacy and intercourse after chronic illness.
• Participants will be able to prescribe sex aides that may help participants participate in intercourse with chronic pain or disability.
• Participants will be able to design an appropriate pelvic floor treatment program for their patients by focusing on specific anatomy and physiology.

Audience: This course is open to physiotherapists, naturopathic doctors, registered nurses, and medical doctors.

Prerequisite: Level 1 is recommended but not mandatory. Information & skills taught must be used within scope of practice.

Registration Form

PF Therapy & Sex November 2024

Schedule

Date/Time: November 25 & December 2, 2024, from 5:30pm-9:30pm ET (Toronto). Please convert to your local time zone.

Delivery Format

Live attendance is not mandatory for this online course. Enjoy a 2-week window to access and review the course recording, which is sent out on the next business day. We understand that life can be busy, which is why we offer you the freedom to access the course recording(s) during the time-limited viewing period.

Instructor

Carina Siracusa, PT, DPT, WCS

Dr. Carina Siracusa graduated from physical therapy school at Ohio University in 2005 with her Doctorate in Physical Therapy.  She went on to work as a pediatric physical therapist at Genesis Outpatient Rehabilitation in Zanesville, Ohio where she treated a variety of congenital and acquired conditions in children from ages birth to 18.  Her primary caseload at this time consisted of mostly neurologic conditions.  In 2009 she completed her coursework in both Obstetric and Pelvic Physical Therapy from the APTA Section on Women’s Health.  In 2010 she began teaching the CAPP Pelvic courses for the Section on Women’s Health around the United States. 

In 2012 she became the committee chair for the CAPP Pelvic Committee and helped to re-write all three levels of the Certification courses.  In 2014 she began working for OhioHealth in Columbus Ohio as one of the primary therapists in the neuroincontinence program as well as the wheelchair clinic supervisor.  In 2015 she became board certified in women’s health physical therapy.  In 2019 she became one of the first people in the united states to become board certified in oncology physical therapy.

In 2015, Carina authored and began teaching the course “Bowel and Bladder Treatment of the Pediatric Client: Birth to 18”.  She has taught this course both nationally and internationally.  She has also authored and taught the course” Bowel and Bladder Treatment of the Client with Neurologic Dysfunction.

She has presented at multiple national and international conferences on the topic of bowel and bladder treatment including the International Continence Society, The International Urogynecologic Association meeting, the World Confederation of Physical Therapy, and the International Seating Symposium.  She continues to promote the need for pelvic floor treatment for clients with neurologic dysfunction throughout the world.