Meet Katie Moise of ATL Pelvic Health

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Moise.

Hi Katie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After I graduated from Emory’s physical therapy program, I started my career at an orthopedic outpatient clinic in Atlanta. While transitioning from student to full time physical therapist, I also went through a six month training program through Polestar Pilates to become a certified Pilates instructor. This certification allowed me to teach group and private reformer classes in my free time. There is a huge connection between your breathing, pelvic floor muscles and deep core. This is where my interest for the pelvic floor first began as I realized the relationship it had to the Pilates principles and exercises. Around this same time, I had my own firsthand experience with seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist. Initially I saw an orthopedic PT to get treatment for my shoulder and hip; after some ongoing therapy, I found myself needing to seek the services of a pelvic floor PT. I was only 26 at the time and never realized how pelvic floor dysfunction could affect women (and men) across the lifespan. This is when my passion truly began. I started shadowing PTs with similar interests, reading blogs and books and soaking in as much information as I could.

Once I took my first advanced training course I was hooked and there was no turning back. The pelvic floor is such a taboo topic and misunderstood part of the body. I feel strongly about normalizing our conversations around peeing, pooping and sex to change the stigma. I am passionate about providing care to women throughout the pregnancy and postpartum journey. I want to empower them with the knowledge to be prepared for either vaginal or cesarean birth, ease anxieties around the birthing process and give them tools to heal postpartum. No one should settle for peeing a little when they cough or sneeze, at any age! I recently opened my own clinic, ATL Pelvic Health in Decatur, GA. I never imagined I would want to be a business owner but after encouragement and support from my family and friends, it has been an exciting leap of faith. I am thrilled for this next phase of my career and I look forward to creating a community where everyone feels safe talking about their pelvic floor and support throughout all stages of life.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not always been a smooth road and I would say with COVID the bumps have been even more frequent. I am sure most small business owners can relate but there is so much more that goes on behind the scenes other than treating patients, and you don’t always account for it. As a physical therapist, I am used to treating patients and thrive on the interaction and connection I have with my patients. Prior to opening my practice, I did not have much experience with the business or marketing side of running a business so I have been learning a lot on the job. I am excited for these new challenges as we continue to grow.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about ATL Pelvic Health?
I opened ATL Pelvic Health in January 2021. I wanted to open a pelvic health clinic that focuses on empowering women during their pregnancy and postpartum journey. Unfortunately, there is a lot of information on Google or social media and it can either be misleading or overwhelming for someone as they are preparing for birth or recovering after birth. I wanted to open this space to be able to guide women through these exciting life changes. Postpartum is also for life so whether you are ten weeks, ten months postpartum or ten years postpartum, if you are experiencing any problems, it is never too late to get help. In my opinion, pelvic floor PT should be the standard of care for all women after having a baby and I hope to have a small impact on changing the standards in our healthcare system. Our clinic treats all pelvic floor dysfunction related to bladder, bowel or sexual dysfunction. This may include frequent urination, peeing your pants a little when you work out or sneeze, waking multiple times per night to go to the bathroom, difficulty with bowel movements, or any pain in your abdomen, low back, hips or pelvis that may interfere with your ability to participate in sexual activity or day to day activities. At ATL Pelvic Health, I aim to give my patients the best quality of care while treating each person as an individual. My goal is to identify the “why” and root cause of their symptoms so they can return to the activities they love. All patients will receive an hour of one-on-one care. This allows for time to assess movement patterns, check their strength and mobility as well as look at their walking pattern. I also spend a lot of time educating women because these topics have been normalized for so long and no one is talking about their pelvic health! My hope is that by continuing the conversation, women no longer feel like “this is the way it has to be because that’s what people told me will happen after having a baby.” ATL Pelvic Health is also unique in that we offer private Pilates sessions. I am comprehensively certified in Pilates; therefore, I am able to incorporate a lot of Pilates based movements either on the Reformer or mat to improve my patient’s movement patterns, strength and stability. I usually include these within my treatments but also offer the option for someone to come in for an hour Pilates private session to focus more on core control and strength.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I think having great mentors is crucial to growing personally and professionally in any field. I also think networking is very important to meet like-minded individuals who can be a resource for your patients. I would suggest starting early in finding a great mentor and you can definitely have more than one as they will all bring unique ideas and experiences to the table. As far as networking goes, I have had a lot of success connecting with others through social media. Networking can be hard these days with decreased in-person meetings but I have still been able to have great conversations through socially distanced outdoor meetups or via Zoom. The bigger network you build, the more support and community you have as a small business owner!

Contact Info:

• Email: katie@atlpelvichealth.com
• Website: www.atlpelvichealth.com
• Instagram: @atlpelvichealth
• Facebook: facebook.com/atlpelvichealth

Image Credits
Colleen Walter XXIII Photo Studio