Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Jeffcoat.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
When I was in physical therapy school at Duke, I was exposed to this field of pelvic health. It was honestly something I had never considered as I had never heard of it before being in that program! After my first course, I knew this was the population I wanted to treat and I was able to make positive gains with women with pregnancy pain and bladder control issues right away. As I completed more and more post-grad training, I was getting better and better results and able to reduce or eliminate pelvic pain, sexual pain and incontinence in women across the lifespan. At the same time, I could document improvements in their quality of life as well as their relationships with their partners and families. The leaps in their self-esteem as result of the care I was providing was beyond gratifying — to provide them with the education and the tools to overcome their dysfunctions continues to be the main motivating factor for me in my business.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
About four or five years into practice, I got into a situation where I had to continually compromise the quality of patient care for the sake of increasing my patient volume. The cases I was seeing were very complex and to only give them 20 minutes or less of care was proving to be a huge disservice to this already vulnerable population. I had decided at that time to go out on my own as I wanted to provide actual care, not just the idea of care.
Please tell us about Femina Physical Therapy.
My practice specializes in Pelvic Floor Physical & Occupational Therapy for women throughout their lifespan (pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, postpartum, menopause and beyond). We see patients one-on-one for 60-120 minute sessions. All of our providers are licensed physical or occupational therapists that have their Doctorate degree and/or advanced training and certifications (including a Certified Lymphedema Therapist, certified Pilates instructor and Registered Yoga Therapist). I’m the author of Sex Without Pain: A Self-Treatment Guide to the Sex Life You Deserve, a book for women with sexual pain disorders including Vaginismus, Vulvodynia, Vestibulodynia, Vestibulitis, Endometriosis and Painful Bladder Syndrome (Interstitial Cystitis). Our patient population is primarily women with sexual pain and dysfunction, incontinence, light bladder leakage, painful bladder syndrome (IC), prolapse, constipation and pain during pregnancy and postpartum. However, we also see men with pelvic floor disorders… as they have pelvic floors, too!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have opened an independent space up right away and not started off with subleasing. Being tied to someone else’s schedule is really limiting as you are trying to build your practice.
Contact Info:
- Address: Sherman Oaks Office:
13425 Ventura Blvd. #302
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423La Canada-Flintridge Office:
1057 Foothill Blvd.
La Canada, CA 91011 - Website: www.FeminaPT.com
- Phone: 818-864-6732
- Instagram: @FeminaPT , @TheLadyPartsPT
- Facebook: facebook.com/feminaphysicaltherapy
- Twitter: @FeminaPT , @TheLadyPartsPT
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/heather-jeffcoat-dpt-fusion-wellness-and-physical-therapy-la-ca%C3%B1ada-flintridge-3?osq=fusion+wellness+pt
- Other: www.FusionWellnessPT.com (Ortho and Male Pelvic Health Services at same locations)
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