Business
BY KAREN CHANEY
Patients meet the therapists in a calming environment.
Physical therapist Aleesia Isom demonstrates a half kneeling overhead press, an exercise used for core strengthening.
PHOTOS BY KAREN CHANEY COMMUNITY IMPACT
The Fit Pelvis aims to improve patients’ quality of life When Katy Girlinghouse opened The Fit Pelvis in 2020, and a location in Prosper in 2022, she did so to ll a void as well as provide healing to others like what she experienced herself.
one in Sherman in May. Services provided relate to pelvic health such as bladder problems, leakage, di culty emptying bladder, constipation, bowel leakage, pain with sex, abdominal, pelvic and hip pain, and anything pregnancy related. The speci cs Although most of their patients are women, Girlinghouse said they also treat men. “I see men for pain—pain with sitting, pain with standing,” she said. “They have pain in their groin, sometimes testicular pain, or rectal pain.” Girlinghouse employees two physical therapists, a yoga coach and health coach. Most of their patients are residents whose ages range from 24 to 40 years old. “They are parents who want to feel good and be active with their families,” she said. “They’re tired of missing out on things like jumping on the trampoline or running because of the leaking or pain they are having.” She said she feels successful when her physical therapists tell her about a breakthrough their patient experienced. “They are surprised at how quickly they get better,” Girlinghouse said. “People expect it to take weeks and weeks to feel better, but a lot of our patients in the rst one to two weeks start seeing changes and notice how much better they feel that fast.”
“I was diagnosed with endometriosis and had two surgeries for it, and the pain was not getting better,” she said. “I started working on some physi- cal therapy things for it, and my pain went away. That was helpful for me. I have two kids, so I saw the leaking piece, the pain in pregnancy piece—I’ve experienced all those things.” While working as a physical therapist for ve years, she repeatedly saw women who had back and hip pain but were not getting better with normal physical therapy treatments. “I found there was a need where women could get help with leaking, pain during pregnancy and postpartum,” Girlinghouse said. “Too many women are told pelvic pain is normal and you should just deal with it or take some medication. There are other options out there for them.” The backstory Although she opened her practice in April 2020, she didn’t open her McKinney o ce until May 2021. “I started with home visits,” she said. “As I grew and got busier, I didn’t have as much time to travel to see as many people—you can only drive so far in one day—so I opened this o ce.” She chose to launch her practice in McKinney because she lives a mile away. She opened a second location in Prosper in 2022 and another
Katy Girlinghouse earned her doctoral of physical therapy in 2013 from Texas Women’s University.
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704 E. First St., Prosper www.the tpelvis.com
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101 W. Louisiana St., Ste. 207, McKinney www.the tpelvis.com
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