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About Kate
Hi, I’m Kate — a mom, a healthcare provider, and a human being who wants to help you.
I’m a pelvic health physiotherapist and the founder of Gravida Physiotherapy. I work to create a shame free space where you feel safe, seen, and heard in sharing some of your most vulnerable concerns when it comes to your pelvic health. I will demystify your concerns and what’s going on for you, then we’ll work together to get you doing the things you want to be doing. Be it things you need to do or things that simply bring you joy. To me, both are equally important.
About me
I’m the owner and founder of Gravida Physiotherapy, and I’m really glad you’re here. As a registered Physiotherapist focused on pelvic health, I treat people of all ages and genders. I have the incredible privilege of working particularly with new and expectant mothers, as well as menopausal and peri menopausal women in addressing pelvic health. I treat issues related to painful sex, bladder concerns, pelvic girdle pain, diastasis recti, birth prep, postpartum recovery, and the genitourinary symptoms of menopause. I also work with athletes and people at all fitness levels to help them recover from acute injuries, optimize their performance, and simply feel better in their day-to-day lives.
I've trained extensively in pelvic floor physiotherapy and pelvic girdle pain with Dayan Physiotherapy, ROST therapy, and Pelvic Health Solutions. I am trained to do pessary fittings, which are intravaginal devices that support pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence. I’m a certified pre and postnatal corrective exercise specialist and I have training in functional dry needling/IMS, and manual therapy. I continue taking courses all the time because I love learning and figuring out ways to help my patients.
I'm here to listen to you, figure out what needs to be changed or tweaked, and then help you do that- and make it feasible in the context of your life. I look at you as a whole person in the context of your whole life. I want to get you doing what you want to be doing, and to not need me in the long run.
LGBTQ clients are welcome and celebrated here. I am certified by Trans Care BC to provide gender affirming care.
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In addition to my Masters in Physiotherapy- here’s a list of the post graduate courses and training that I’ve done:
Pelvic Floor Level 1 Female and Male Pelvic Floor - urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse- Dayan Werner Pelvic Rehab (delivered by Marcy Dayan & Laura Werner)
Pelvic Floor Level 2: Pelvic pain and Dyspareunia- Dayan Werner Pelvic Rehab (delivered by Marcy Dayan & Laura Werner)
Pessaries: Clinical Integration and Management of POP/SUI- Pelvic Health Solutions
Caesarean Birth & Rehabilitation: Pelvic Health Solutions
SUI & POP management review 2023- Pelvic Health Solutions
Evidence based management of pregnancy-related pelvic girdle, sacro-iliac and pubic pain- Rost Therapy
Pregnancy-Related Diastasis Rectus Abdominis: Dr. Sinead Dufour
Prenatal and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist Certification- Core Exercise Solutions
Fitness Theory: InfoFit Educators
Personal Training Basics: Weight room instructor: Infofit Educators
Diploma of Advanced Orthopedic Manual and Manipulative Physiotherapy: Level 1: Canadian Physiotherapy Association
Mobilization with Movement: Mulligan Concept International
Functional Dry Needling Level 1: Kinetacore
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Leaking pee or poop (urinary or fecal incontinence), painful sex (dyspareunia), and/or feeling like something is falling out of your vagina (pelvic organ prolapse) is often scary and embarrassing to talk about- but it doesn’t need to be.
I take an evidence based approach to your care and blend that with personal experience and empathy to inform a treatment plan that works for each individual patient. Not all things work for all people. I know that the treatment plan needs to work in your real life. I know what barriers come up- especially when you have very young children. I don’t only treat mothers to be clear, but that’s a big part of my patient population, which is why I mention it.
I stay up to date on the clinical guidelines and research because it’s my job- and I’m always going to focus on educating you and coming up with a treatment plan as a team. I want you to feel heard and understood and then I want to give you the tools to do what you need to do.
Depending on what’s going on for you and what you want your treatment plan to look like, it might include:
Education — always and a lot of this
Exercise prescription — almost always and a lot of this
Biofeedback — sometimes this
Pessary fittings — occasionally, when appropriate
IMS — occasionally, when appropriate
Manual therapy — often
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Originally from Vancouver Island, I didn’t always know I would be a physio, and I particularly didn’t think I’d be a pelvic health physiotherapist- I don’t think I even knew what that was when I finished high school. But here we are. I always knew I loved working with people, bodies, movement, and science- and I also knew I loved talking about things most people felt ashamed to talk about. And then a lot of injuries, a lot of education, and a lot of self reflection led me here.
I did my first degree at the University of Victoria and after finishing my Masters in Physiotherapy at UBC in 2016, I very quickly became interested in pelvic health- which is when I started doing a ton of post-graduate training that brought me to where I am today. I am one of those people who is fiercely passionate about their work. It can be annoying. Having two of my own babies along the way also informed a lot of the interest and absolutely influences how I practice today. I had a really challenging first delivery- and honestly I was a mess afterward- it took a lot longer than I thought to recover. So I’ve been there and I know how hard it is.
Okay so what am I really like day-to-day? What do I do with my time when I’m not seeing patients? Mostly at this stage I’m mothering my two boys. It’s intense. They are the absolute loves of my life and challenge me constantly— ( this is also a safe place to bring your multi-faceted feelings on motherhood).
I love exercising and, like most working mothers, I struggle to carve out the time to do that. I do try to make it a priority: lifting weights (not crazy heavy), running (not super-fast or far), yoga (not super bendy), spin (not 1,000 Peloton rides kind of thing), and walking (not the unitard kind). I share a lot about trying to find that balance as a mother, practitioner, and individual on Instagram — humour ensues! I ebb and flow with social media platforms but if you’re interested, I tend not to hold back.
Yes, I spend a ton of time reading the latest pelvic floor research and guidelines, because I honestly love it and find it fascinating. I’m constantly staying up-to-date on how to help my patients best. But, I love a guilty pleasure novel, too. Think: Colleen Hoover, Ruth Ware, and Emily Henry.
I’m a proper coffee snob. Not the standard “I love coffee” kind, but the more rare and legitimate bring-my-own-beans-and-grinder-and-French-press-on-holidays-and-hide-it-from-the-rest-of-the-family kind of coffee snob.
I also secretly wish I had a side gig as an interior designer. And damn do I love clothes. And shoes. I got that from my mom.
Worth noting: I’m a truly terrible dancer, but we do a lot of dancing in my home. I think moving our bodies in unstructured ways is just as valuable as intentional structured movement.
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Gravida is a paramedical term that means pregnant, but the fact that I treat a lot of pregnant and postpartum women isn’t why the practice is named this. I also treat an entire community of people who choose not to or are unable to conceive, and a patient population who isn’t at that stage of life, and I treat men. The truth is, even with my first degree being in commerce, starting my own practice wasn’t on my radar.
Then came one fateful trip to Portugal with my husband.
I had been working in a clinic for a few years — happily — and we’d planned to start trying to conceive on that holiday. While we were away, I got a call from the clinic director who informed me that lease negotiations had gone poorly, the rent for the clinic had skyrocketed, so they were moving us into another clinic space. That new space didn’t have a proper private room for me to continue doing my pelvic health work. At the same time, my husband and I were fortunate enough to conceive our first child on that trip.
The positive pregnancy test I took in Portugal read “gravidas”.
Back at home, I met with my new midwives and we got on the topic of how I was a pelvic floor physio who was recently left without a clinic space. It just so happened they had some extra space and a private room for me.
Hence, Gravida was born.
I pulled together Gravida on my own while pregnant with my first. That whole solopreneur thing: I love it. I’m so grateful for it. It has its challenges but I also love keeping it small. I’ve had thoughts of growth, but I also feel so strongly about the nuance in this practice that I’m not in a place where I want to hire other practitioners. Perhaps I’m a control freak. But that’s where we’re at.