9 Uncommon Questions that Make a Huge Impact on Our Client’s Healing

• OT Elevate: The Biopsychosocial Approach to Colorectal Conditions
• OT Pioneers: An Intro to Pelvic Floor Therapy for Occupational Therapists
• Bristol Stool Scale
• Lindsey's Favorite Laminated Portable Pelvis (use code "OTPIONEER" for 10% off)

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Let’s discuss 9 uncommon questions that make a huge impact on healing. Why are they uncommon? Because they aren’t typical, you won’t find them in most intake questionnaires and well because….. they are all about bowel habits.

Here’s why this matters….The majority of our clients who come to see us, they are often coming due to urinary issues, painful intimacy, pelvic stability issues, prolapse, abdominal wall concerns…..often not directly concerning their bowel habits. 

But most of these issues often come back to a healthy relationship with bowel movements. Even if it wasn’t the primary reason they came to see us. In fact, it may not even be something that they flagged on their intake forms. So how does this affect our session with our clients? How does this affect their outcomes?

Let’s focus on our ability to ask quality questions and develop the rapport we have with our clients. These two powerful things enable us to see if there is a relationship there between the symptoms they are coming to see us for and what's really driving it. Very often it comes back to bowel issues.

As Jane Kauffman said, my mentor from biofeedback training and incontinence solutions, the poop drives the pee.

We just mentioned that the majority of our clients come to see us for anything other than bowel movement issues  so I have learned to be a bit of a detective to find out what's really going on.  I have learned to ask better subjective questions, even if the intake didn’t direct me there. and maybe even especially when the intake doesn’t bring me there.

I am going to tell you what I have learned to do…

I use the Australian pelvic floor questionnaire as one of my evaluation forms that our clients fill out. There are sections devoted to urinary fx, sexuality, bowel function. Many of us, including myself, will kinda glaze over asking more in-depth questions about bowel function if there are no red flags on the form. Notice I said I used to do this. 

So much of pelvic floor function is not discussed in everyday life so our client

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