On a mission to empower and educate women about their bodies, pelvic health physiotherapist and Mum of the Year finalist Aoife Harvey is breaking taboos.

Treating everything from sexual dysfunction to bladder and bowel leaks, prolapses and painful sex, there’s no pelvic health issue Aoife Harvey hasn’t seen. She doesn’t get embarrassed easily, but sees first-hand the level of stigma and shame many women carry around their own anatomy. “I have women every day coming into me apologising for not waxing,” she

laughs. “They say, 'I’m sorry you have to do this,' but I tell them I love my job. I love helping women. I had three women crying with happiness and hugging me before they left recently, and there’s not many jobs in the world where you get that.”

This busy Mum of the Year finalist is mum to Maisie, two, and Sonny, five. She is a passionate advocate for helping women overcome problems with their pelvic health that often get dismissed as small complaints.

However, they can have a huge knock- on effect for a woman’s life. “As soon as my patients walk in the door, I’m asking the most intimate questions ever,” she says. “Questions no one asks them. Sometimes they cry because they didn’t understand why something was happening and me asking them these questions has made them feel seen.” In many ways, Aoife is part-physiotherapist, part-therapist as she delves into topics most of us just aren’t used to or encouraged to talk about.

“Just being acknowledged, being heard, feeling like what’s happening to them is normal, is huge,” she says. “These are intimate problems, and they are not seen as life or death, so even when women are trying to seek help, they put other things first like their mum duties.” However, the issues Aoife treats have life-changing consequences on her patients’ lives. Many who suffer with bladder urge, for example, might quit taking exercise, gain weight and lose confidence, and the effect on relationships and mental health can be devastating.

Painful sex is another debilitating issue many of Aoife’s patients have been suffering with in silence. “I would even see women

in my clinic in their 30s or 40s who have never had sex, due to pain,” she says. “They may be married and want to have kids and have to go down the IVF route, but they can’t even tolerate a vaginal ultrasound due to pain.” This condition, known as vaginismus, is more common than many would think.

"The rates are hard to say because it's underreported. People don’t want to talk about it. Sometimes if a woman does report it to a GP, they

might be fobbed off with something like, ‘Oh, have a glass of wine and relax,’ When they find a women’s health physio clinic, they’ve had to seek us out on their own.

“We treat it successfully,” she stresses. “This can be a condition that affects women in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and, of course, after menopause, there are issues with painful sex due to lack of oestrogen.”

Aoife has been a vocal advocate for women’s pelvic health since becoming a mum herself in 2017.

Soon after, she set up an Instagram page (@womenshealthdublin) where she talked openly about these issues and realised there was a very real knowledge gap in terms of women’s bodies.

“More and more women in their 40s are coming into me,” she says. “No one has ever checked them, and they want to know how their pelvic health is; do they have a prolapse, etc. In other countries there’s more gynaes in primary care and women go once a year.”

No topic is off limits for Aoife and so far she’s helped thousands of women through the power of social media. “I get women sending me messages saying, 'I’m trying to poo and this is happening,' or, 'Every time I wee, I get a pain in my vulva and no one can tell me what it is - can you help?'” she laughs. “Often, I share them anonymously, because it helps other women who are going through the same thing. Knowledge is power.”

She’s taken her mission one step further and set up an app called MoCo.Health to guide women through their postnatal journey, again breaking down topics such as haemorrhoids, constipation, bladder leaks, flatulence, mental health and more.

“I think past generations were made to feel like they had to put up and shut up. They had babies and these same issues, but they didn’t really report it. But now it’s the women demanding better services, rather than it being some big shift from the top down.”

When she’s not helping women in her clinic or coming up with hilarious takes on Instagram, Aoife is doing the busy mum juggle many will be familiar with. However, she tries not to put too much pressure on herself. “I’ve learned to lower my expectations,” she says. “I love to exercise but if I make it twice a week, I’m happy.”

Two babies into motherhood, Aoife also understands the value of keeping her own identity and not losing herself. “I love my kids and my family and I absolutely prioritise them, but I love my job so much," she says. "It’s important to me. I think I’m a better person for it and I think I’m a better mum, and it's important that I come out the other end, still happy with myself and my own life.” WW

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