Why I Do What I Do
I started physical therapy school in 2002, driven by a real passion to help people. I soaked up everything I could during those four years and was excited to get out and start healing the world.
Just before one of my clinical internships, I had an accident and fractured my tailbone. I was told to wait it out, that there wasn’t much to be done. Months passed, but the pain never really went away. Sitting became uncomfortable. I was given a steroid shot in the tailbone, which didn’t help. Eventually, I was told I might just have to live with it.
In 2009, I began practicing as a physical therapist. Like most new grads, I focused on treating back pain, neck pain, and knee injuries. I was helping patients every day, but I couldn’t help myself. That same tailbone pain stuck around and slowly turned into vaginal pain and urinary issues. I was 26, in daily pain, and still no one had answers. I was never referred to a pelvic floor physical therapist. The only options offered were more injections or surgery to remove my tailbone entirely.
I sat on a cushion everywhere: at school, in the car, at restaurants. I asked different providers for help, but no one had a real answer.
I went to orthopedic physical therapy and was told I had poor posture.
I saw a spine specialist and was told to try Pilates.
I was told I was too young, too flexible, or maybe just too focused on the problem.
But none of that helped. My pain was real, and no one could explain it in a way that made sense.
And here’s what still shocks me.
I went through years of physical therapy education and never once heard the words “pelvic floor therapy.”
I only learned about it by chance when I met another physical therapist at a continuing education course. She told me what she did, and for the first time, it felt like someone understood what I was going through.
I started pelvic floor therapy that same week. It changed everything. Not just my tailbone pain, but my urinary symptoms too. It all improved. That experience shifted my entire career. I signed up for my first pelvic floor training course right away and kept going. I learned from experts, found mentors, and built my skills through hands-on practice. The more I learned about how the pelvis connects to the rest of the body, the more I knew I had found my calling.
Later, I became pregnant and had a traumatic delivery due to my medical history. But I was able to recover. Not because it was easy, but because I had the tools. Everything I had learned as a pelvic floor PT helped me heal from significant injuries after birth. Looking back, all those years of struggling were not for nothing. They gave me exactly what I needed when it mattered most.
In 2017, I started my Instagram page to raise awareness about pelvic health. Because if I, a licensed physical therapist, had no idea this specialty existed, how would anyone else? The average patient with pelvic pain takes eight to ten years just to get a diagnosis. Most of the women I see with prolapse, urinary concerns, or sexual pain have been searching for answers for years.
Pelvic health is understudied, misunderstood, and often dismissed. I’m here to change that.
Written by Nidhi Sharma, PT, OCS, WCS, founder of Pelvic Harmony Physical Therapy in Mamaroneck, NY. I help women reconnect with their bodies after birth so they can get back to doing things they love.