Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you Dr. Anjelica Yoder. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Dr. Anjelica, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.
I am passionate about serving women and the beautiful motherhood community. So many of women’s stories of pelvic issues and pelvic pain go unheard or get dismissed. They think they are in this journey alone and they need to suffer in silence with anything related to the vulva and anus. This is so not true. I can’t tell you how many women have come to my office thinking they had to deal with pain with intercourse or leakage with sneezing and exercising because it was deemed “normal” postpartum or postmenopausal. When I bring to light that this is NOT normal, this is NOT something you have to deal with, and this is NOT something you definitely need surgery for, the client is shocked and responds, “Why did no one tell me this before?” And that is because society didn’t talk or educate about pelvic health before. It was something that was embarrassing to share with friends or went dismissed at the doctor’s office. So when I share that this is all I talk about, it brings a sigh of release and even healing to the women I serve. I laugh thinking about the funny faces I get when I ask so many questions about pee and poop patterns. They had no idea that it could all mean something haha I specifically remember seeing a 63 year-old woman who came to see me for pelvic organ prolapse as she did not want to have surgery. When I shared the anatomy and function of the pelvic floor muscles and what we can do to help, she was in complete shock. She said, “No one ever talked about this back in my day. This was not what we talked about with friends or anyone. But I can see your generation is changing that.” This was such a beautiful statement because it is true. The conversation has been started and so many women are sharing their stories from their pelvic PT journey. Many colleagues are doing so amazing with educating over social media and making it normal to have these conversations. Our profession has seen so much growth over the last 5 years and the future is bright!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Anjelica Yoder. I am a new mama to a cutie baby boy and a pelvic floor physical therapist. My husband and I are co-owners of Yoder Physical Therapy & Wellness, a small personal clinic we started in 2021 in Sarasota, Florida. It is just my husband and I that treat patients so it gives a family feel where we truly know each of our clients. We spend one-on-one with our clients and directly communicate and check-in with them throughout the week. It is something we truly value at YPTW.
I specifically only treat women’s health and pelvic floor dysfunction at our clinic. Pelvic floor PT is for everyone and at any stage of life! Whether you are a young female, pregnant or postpartum, or pre/ post menopausal. This also includes males because they have pelvic floors too. It is never too late to start Pelvic floor PT. You can be 5 years postpartum or have struggled with leakage for years and are now in your 70s.
I got into the pelvic floor speciality after working a few years doing travel physical therapy in California with my husband. After treating many patients an hour at an outpatient clinic 5 days a week, we were feeling burnt out. We returned home to Florida and I was thinking about taking a break from physical therapy. I was hanging out with my sister-in-law who is now a mother of 4 and she shared with me her postpartum journey after having her first baby. She shared her story that I hear from almost every postpartum mom that comes into my clinic.
My sister-in-law went into her 6 week postpartum doctor’s visit and was told everything was fine and she could return to life as normal. There was no guidance on returning to exercise or returning to intercourse. So she went back to surfing and working out without restraint which resulted in some injuries from her lack of core muscles (what we call diastasis recti). Her best friend told her she should do pelvic floor PT and it changed everything for her.
I was immediately interested and took the courses for the post graduate certification. Since then, I haven’t turned back.
I recently gave birth to a precious baby boy 10 months ago so I can relate with how the body takes a hit during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. The recovery and healing process can be tough so it is helpful to know you don’t have to do it alone and how pelvic PT can help tremendously along the way with emotional and physical support.
At our clinic, I provide a space where women can feel seen and heard. They have often been told, “Your pain is in your head. It is normal to leak with jumping after having a baby. Just drink wine and intercourse won’t hurt. Birth control will solve your problems.” It is enlightening when I can share the research of how beneficial pelvic floor physical therapy is for these issues, that there is hope and what they are struggling with is not something that needs to be dealt with for the rest of their life. My goal is for clients to feel empowered by their bodies and to know how everything is connected.
During the last 3 years of having this business, I am most proud of the relationships that were built with my clients. I really get to know my clients, the ups and downs, the personal. So when they make gains, I feel like I am winning myself. When a client excitedly tells you she had intercourse without pain for the first time in years, you can’t help but cry happy tears and jump along with them.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
In 2020, when Covid hit, the physical therapy clinic my husband was managing was going to shut down. He was provided the opportunity to buy out the clinic. We had a big decision to make. Do we buy a clinic that was already established or do we take the risk to start our own business? We decided on the later. It was one of those decisions that we jumped into without really thinking about it because if we thought about it too long, we might have let fear stop us from taking the leap to becoming business owners. We initially weren’t thinking about starting our own business until another 10 years or so down the road. But the timing just seemed to present itself at that moment and we took it. If we waited for the “perfect” time to start a business, we might be waiting forever haha. We just needed to start acting and make one decision at a time learning as we go.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
With any new business start-up, I was working a side hustle in home health physical therapy until our business gained traction. It became a comfortable clutch. I wasn’t worried if I didn’t have a lot of new clients from our business because I could just rely on my other job to support us financially. I became so comfortable that I wasn’t putting in that much time or effort to growing my clientele. It was easier to just treat my home health patients and if I was slow from my business clients, then I would just pick up more home health patients. It wasn’t until I was recovering from shoulder surgery and needed to take time off from treating that I needed to decide if I was going to go back to do home health. I remember listening to a business podcast that said, “Sometimes you just need to go all in with a business start-up to put some fire under your butt and grind it out so you know you really tried and gave it your all.” With a nervous reply, I gave my notice to my home health boss that I would not be returning after I was done recovering from surgery. From that day on, I was fully committed to our business with my husband and there has been a beautiful outcome. Was it scary, yes. Was it hard, definitely yes. But was it worth it, absolutely!
Contact Info:
- Website: Yoderptw.com
- Instagram: @pelvicPTsrq
Image Credits
Alyssa Shrock Photography for the business professional photos.