Most of you know us through our work in men’s pelvic health. But many of you also treat women, and you’ve been asking for female anatomy in PelvicLens.

It’s here.

Take the nerve pathway below. You can describe its course to a patient, but being able to trace it together gives you a shared picture to work from. The next step is connecting that picture to your assessment and the plan you’re explaining.

Which brings us to this week’s question: when we explain something, are we sure our patient is picturing the same thing?

I. Ask what “weak” means to the patient before asking them to strengthen. A patient who has been told their pelvic floor is weak may hear that as a reason to squeeze whenever symptoms appear. Another may become afraid to lift anything. The same word can leave two people with very different instructions in their heads. Before adding yours, ask: “What did you take that to mean?” Then connect your assessment to the specific task you’re working on. Can they generate a contraction? Release it? Coordinate it with movement? Those questions give the patient a more useful picture of the goal than “make it stronger.”

II. The missing part of an explanation is often the sequence. On a still image, a muscle that needs to contract and a muscle that needs to release can look exactly the same. The clinical meaning comes from the task and the timing. Take defecation: pointing to the pelvic floor tells the patient where it is, but walking through coordinated outlet relaxation helps explain why “try harder” may not be the instruction you want to give. Show one stage, pause, and ask what needs to happen next. That creates an opportunity to uncover a misunderstanding you might never hear when asking, “Does that make sense?”

III. The explanation is unfinished until it connects to something the patient will do. Imagine finishing a detailed explanation of the bladder and pelvic floor, then handing over an exercise. The patient may understand both separately and still wonder how one relates to the other. Make that connection explicit: “This is the part we’re practising, and this is why it matters for the activity you told me about.” Then ask them to describe the connection back to you. If they can name the muscle but can’t explain the purpose of the practice, that tells you where to spend the next minute. More anatomical detail may not answer the question they still have.

I. “Remember, you are checking how well you explained something, not testing the patient.” — Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

When a patient’s explanation differs from ours, we’ve found something useful. We get to address that gap in the room, before they go home and practise a version of the instruction we never intended.

II. “Listen actively and with curiosity. Give patients a chance to tell their story.” — Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Before deciding what to show, ask what they think is happening. Their answer may change which structure you highlight, which movement you demonstrate, or whether you need to open the model at all.

If your patient explained today’s plan to someone at home, would they describe the same goal you had in mind, or simply say, “I need to strengthen my pelvic floor”?

These are the kinds of conversations we’re building PelvicLens to support.

Most of you know us through our work in men’s pelvic health. That remains the foundation of our teaching. But many of you also treat women, and you’ve been asking for tools you can use in those conversations too.

So we’ve added a female model to PelvicLens.

You bring your clinical expertise. The model gives you a shared visual to point to, explore, and connect to the explanation you want to give. Use the available animations to show a change, pause on the part that matters, and check what your patient takes from it.

We’d love to hear which conversations it helps with, and what you still wish you could show.

Explore the female model in PelvicLens

With care,
Team IPC