Natalie Robertson, PT, DPT is the founder and owner of Empower Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy. She graduated with her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from High Point University in North Carolina, and prior to that attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo for her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology. She is currently operating out of the Diablo and Walnut Creek area of the East Bay in Northern California.

MY STORY (A short NOVEL)

Hi!

I wanted to personally introduce myself as the pelvic floor can clearly be extremely personal! Like many of my patients, I also have had a complicated and frustrating relationship with my health, and I am dedicated to sharing my knowledge and expertise to help others who have struggled similarly.

I discovered my passion for the pelvic floor in PT school, after discovering that it can be used as a lens to identify and treat other contributing factors within the body. For me, the pelvis is like the foundation of a home, as its structure and function will affect how every other body part operates around it. By utilizing this relationship, making one small correction can often have a domino effect, alleviating a variety of symptoms with a minor shift in daily function.

It felt like an “aha” moment to me when I realized that this holistic, full-body approach was the only way that I wanted to assess and treat my patients. Patient success was overwhelming, most notably with feedback that our plan of care was realistic for their lifestyle and limited free time, along with improving more pervasive issues like sleep, brain fog, energy, mood, and digestion.

personal background

Starting in pelvic PT, I quickly resonated with my patients’ stories as they were very similar to my own. I spent my teenage years chasing different symptoms pertaining to anxiety & mental health, gastrointestinal dysfunction, painful periods, cystic acne, chronic headaches, and vertigo just to name a few. I was eventually diagnosed and treated for SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), which improved my quality of life significantly, but I was not aware that it was only one piece of a much more complicated puzzle.

It was not until my first job after PT school that I truly began to understand this intricate connection between the musculoskeletal system and every other system. This is where I really saw astounding progress with some patients and knew that I had found my treatment philosophy.

I eventually made my way back to the Bay Area where I was born and raised. After working in an orthopedic clinic for a few years while continuing to navigate my health journey, I decided I wanted to create something more impactful and beneficial to my pelvic patients while also honoring my own health journey (I’m trying to take my own advice!). This is how Empower Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy started.

empower pelvic floor pt

Clinic-based PT can have its limitations, especially with the majority of my patient population (I see you, mamas), and I decided I wanted to offer my services in patients’ homes to make it easier for them. Finding babysitters, navigating work schedules, and just being exhausted while growing or raising littles can make it difficult for anyone to get to a clinic. Working in your home also provides an extra layer of comfort that aides in the treatment process, simplifies our home program development, and gives us more flexibility with session length. Empower Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy is excited to offer concierge home visits to support our patient’s needs.

I believe strongly in providing holistic, integrative, and patient-centered care to help empower and educate patients on the tools they can utilize to take back control over their symptoms, and more significantly, their lives.

This is a passion project I am so excited to share with you all. Thanks to those who read until the end!

Warmly,
Natalie