Happy Pride Month! Fusion Wellness & Physical Therapy is proud to be a supportive and inclusive orthopaedic and pelvic health center. Earlier this month, I attended the first ever PT-specific course for LGBTQ care in the US, with an emphasis on transgender care. The course covered many topics, notably pre-operative, intra-operative and postoperative recovery guidelines. While this is the second course I have taken on transgender care (with a third coming up in a few months), it was the first that was held primarily for the benefit of training physical therapists.
This course was led by Holly Herman, and supported by other PTs, nurses and MDs that I had the opportunity to meet and have some long conversations with even after the course wrapped up each day.
Transgender patients that are prepping for, or have undergone gender confirmation surgery (also termed gender affirmation surgery or gender reassignment surgery), will require the services of compassionate and skilled pelvic health and orthopaedic physical therapists. There are many ways a physical therapist can and should be involved in their integrative treatment plan:
The transgender population needs the support of our community, and from a young age. Gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation as portrayed by society may conflict with how adolescents are perceiving themselves. This can have devastating consequences, including suicide. The transgender population has an alarmingly high suicide rate – 41% at some point in their lives, compared with 4.6% of the general population (from American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Williams Institute from results analyzed from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey). Providers need to educate themselves and be sensitive to these challenges that are faced.
We are an LGBTQIA - ally facility and welcome all.
At Fusion Wellness & Physical Therapy, while focusing on pelvic health, offers chronic pain therapies for the entire body. Our main goal is to create a healing and supportive environment that is welcoming to all. We look forward to seeing you soon.
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