Yoga for Athletes by Ryanne Cunningham. Human Kinetics; 2017, 241 pages. ISBN 9781492522614. Available in paperback $21.95.
Yoga for Athletes was written by Ryanne Cunningham, a yoga studio owner and instructor from Green Bay, Wisconsin. For the past several years, she has been training professional athletes including Green Bay Packers football players; Randall Cobb, Tramon Williams, B. J. Raji, Mike Neal, and Andy Mulumba. Cunningham's book brings her yogic mind-body exercises to recreational, amateur, and professional athletes alike, offering easy-to-understand descriptions of common yoga poses.
The material presented is a great guide for active patients looking to improve balance, flexibility, and connection with the mental aspect of their sport. The book offers programming specific to both body parts and sport type and includes a full warm-up and cool-down. The chapters are organized in a manner to provide a beginner with a basic understanding of yoga in an approachable manner. There are individual chapters dedicated to yoga programs for the hips, legs, upper extremities, balance, and meditation. The second half of the book is broken down into chapters by sport type including football, running, soccer, cycling, baseball and softball, swimming, tennis, basketball, golf, and high-intensity training.
The general readability of the book is such that a patient of any education level could easily understand the poses. In addition, each pose is demonstrated in large color photographs depicting athletes of a multitude of body types, race, and gender. The use of Sanscrit yoga terms is minimal and those that are used are translated for easy understanding.
While basic anatomy is covered in the book, there is inaccurate description of the cause of such biomechanical features as anterior pelvic tilt (listing tight hamstrings as the cause) and the origin of the quadriceps muscle is inaccurately described. An unfortunate omission is the pelvic floor muscles. There is no mention of the musculature and role of the pelvic floor as a key component of core stability. Two pages of the book are dedicated to instruction on breathing; however, the important relationship between the diaphragm and the pelvic floor is omitted. In addition, the book is not referenced.
Two chapters offer a variety of hip and spine stretches. The chapter on hip-opening stretches includes 16 pages of stretches that women's health and pelvic health physical therapists would find useful in the treatment of patients with restricted pelvic floor and hip musculature. There are 14 pages of spine stretches, and 17 pages on the shoulders, which can be useful for improving overall posture in patients and helpful for the post-breast surgical patient.
The mind-body component of the book is woven throughout each chapter, with 6 pages dedicated exclusively to relaxation, meditation, and visualization. This section includes helpful descriptions of guided meditation. These mediations would be useful for any patient looking to achieve a set goal, and for a women's health physical therapist looking to down-train upregulated patients.
Yoga for Athletes offers an overall well-rounded guide to yoga practices for athletes of all ability levels. Each pose is well described and offers modifications for users to adapt the pose to fit their needs. The mind-body and restorative requirements of athletes are well defined and insightful for athletes across most major sports.
Amanda Olson, PT, DPT, PRPC
Reviving Your Sex Life After Childbirth: Your Guide to Pain-Free and Pleasurable Sex After the Baby by Kathe Wallace, PT, BCB-PMD. Kathe Wallace; 2014, 2nd printing. Soft cover, 117 pages. $19.95.
This vital book is written for every postpartum woman who thinks sex will never be the same again after childbirth. Kathe's writing style is clear and concise, resulting in a book bursting with useful information without extraneous material. Illustrations and patient cases help to further explain the concepts presented in the book.
In the introduction, Kathe encourages women to take charge of their postpartum bodies and sexualities. One way this is encouraged is through a glossary of anatomical terms and parts (pp. 9-14) along with clear illustrations to help familiarize the reader with her body and sexual organs. This is followed by an overview of common causes for sexual dysfunction in the postpartum period (pp. 15-24).
The majority of the book focuses on providing 10 tips and guidelines that postpartum women can utilize to aid in the recovery of their perineum and resume having pleasurable sex. The 10 tips and guidelines are actually many more recommendations broken down into 10 themes: vulvovaginal hygiene and care, symptom mapping, lubrication, relaxation, scar tissue mobilization, tool-assisted internal trigger point release, pelvic floor strengthening, what Kathe calls "Pelvic Floor Play," and abdominal wall rehabilitation.
The book addresses many essential aspects of postpartum sexual recovery including changes in physiology, sexual self-image, desire, and arousal as well as the importance of communication with one's partner during the recovery period. No subject is overlooked. She even addresses issues such as vaginal flatulence, "queefing" (p. 23), sex toys (pp. 41-42), and lochia (p. 14). In the section on "Pelvic Floor Play" (pp. 69-77), Kathe describes ways to utilize breathing techniques and timed pelvic floor contractions to enhance sexual arousal and awareness.
This book is a pocket-guide to restoring sexual pleasure in the postpartum period. All postpartum women and women's health physical therapists should own a copy of this book, as it helps to validate and destigmatize the common experience of sexual pain after childbirth, as well as empower women to take charge of their postpartum physical and sexual health.
Jessica Zager, PT, DPT, WCS, CLT
Secret Suffering: How Women's Sexual and Pelvic Pain Affects Their Relationships by Susan Bilheimer and Robert J. Echenberg, MD. Wellington, FL: Susan Bilheimer and Robert J. Echenberg, MD; 2010. Soft cover, 205 pages. Available from The Echenberg Institute for Pelvic and Sexual Pain (http://www.instituteforwomeninpain.com/secret-suffering-book), $19.95.
This book takes a biopsychosocial approach to recount and explain the many faces of chronic pelvic pain (CPP) utilizing the stories of more than 100 woman and 20 partners afflicted by this condition and concomitant sexual pain. Woven together within the 16 chapters are explicit accounts of the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of coping with sexual pain peppered with easy-to-understand pathophysiological concepts that help explain CPP along the way.
The majority of the book focuses on telling the untold stories of those suffering with CPP along with sexual pain and the effect this can have on intimate relationships and quality of life. Through recounting these stories, various multimodal treatment options are discussed including eliminating food triggers (p. 103), portable TENS units (p. 92, 103), pelvic floor physical therapy (p. 42 and chapter 15), vestibulectomy (pp. 20-21, 56-57), pudendal nerve blocks (p. 83, 114), lubrication during sex (p. 146), and mental health counseling (pp. 90-91).
Although specific treatments for sexual pain are not the main focus of this book, Appendix A has 64 tips to help reduce sexual and pelvic pain including tips for building intimacy (p. 161), which is often essential for maintaining healthy relationships, and the need for a sex therapist (p. 160) or counselor on the healing team along with other medical providers. Also, in Appendix E (p. 177), Dr. Echenberg outlines steps medical providers can take to improve the level of care provided to individuals with CPP and sexual pain.
A word of caution regarding some of the stories told in this book. Many of the male partners lack empathy for their female partner experiencing sexual pain. Although many partners we see in clinical practice express compassion and sympathy, we do see this in practice and could be disheartening for some patients who read this book.
Susan Bilheimer is a freelance and technical writer. She uses her own experience striving to find relief from pelvic pain to help validate the experiences of others living with this condition. Dr. Echenberg is an obstetrician/gynecologist and lecturer based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, specializing in the nonsurgical treatment of chronic pelvic and sexual pain. He owns a private practice devoted to helping these individuals. Together, they created a resource to validate the experiences of the millions of people afflicted by sexual and pelvic pain and their loved ones. This book was also created to grab the attention of the medical community serving this population to try to garner a deeper understanding of CPP and the need for a more holistic model of care. Together, they have teamed up to deliver a resource that can be of benefit to both practitioners and patients alike.
Jessica Zager, PT, DPT, WCS, CLT