Paediatric Bowel and Bladder Therapy for Physical Therapists and Occupational Therapists

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Dawn Sandalcidi

PT, RCMT, BCB-PMD

Physical Therapist specializing in Constipation and incontinence in kids

It is possible to have been a therapists for 30+ years, worked with hundreds, if not thousands of kids and have completely missed a glaring piece of the puzzle that was hidden in plane sight. That’s how I felt dipping into Dawn Sandalcidis’ world of children's bowel and bladder issues. Guilty that I hadn’t paid enough attention to the conversation with parents about their kids constipation, fascinated about how much there was to know about this most basic human function and excited about what we could do as therapists to make significant impacts in the lives and well-being of the kids who cross out paths if we just pay attention and ask the right questions.

Dawn Sandalcadi is known as a trail blazer in this areas of kids bowel and bladder. She is that and so much more. I think we squeezed more into this interview than any other interview I’ve done. More questions, more diagnoses, more practical tips, insights and inspiration - Dawn seems to make the impossibly complex simple and doable. I know you are going to gain so much from listening to this interview!

Enjoy!

For handy links to things we've discussed in this interview,  scroll down to the Resources Section at the bottom of the page.

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Podcast Highlights

Time Stamps in green

• 03:50 minutes- Getting into pelvic floor therapy

• 8:07 minutes- Going back to basics

• 08:47 minutes- Finding the pelvic floor

• 10:05 minutes- Constipation

• 11:51 minutes- Constipation Tips

• 13:14 minutes- Constipation Red flags

  • Frequent urination

  • Stomach aches

  • DRA above the belly button

  • Wide rib angle

  • Loose clothing

• 15:43 minutes- Developing continence

• 17:17 minutes- Quick test for rib flaring

• 18:13 minutes- Alignment and it's importance in constipation and bed wetting

• 20:47 minutes- CP and spina bifida basics

• 24:45 minutes- Bed wetting

• 31:09 minutes- The psychological impact of urinary and fecal leakage

• 35:13 minutes- Shame and blame

• 36:10 minutes- Parent Guilt

• Questions

• 38:30 minutes- Supplements

• 39:28 minutes- Losing continence in CP

• 39:58 minutes- Constipation and CP

• 43:24 minutes- Bladder and Bowel control in CP

• 44:24 minutes- When are children expected to be continent?

• 44:59 minutes- Autism

• 47:21 minutes- Toe-walking and tethered cord

• 48:00 minutes- ADHD and sitting on the toilet

• 51:04 minutes- Suppositories and Enemas

• 52:10 minutes- Constipation Carousel

• 53:05 minutes- Top Down, Bottom Up

• 54:44 minutes- NEC

• 59:22 minutes- Rectal prolapses

• 1:01:33 minutes- Toileting and wearable garments

• 1:04:04 minutes- Elastic Therapeutic Tape

• Wrap UP

• 1:05:05 minutes- Biggest Mistake

• 1:05:28 minutes- Biggest frustration

• 1:09:13 minutes- Best advice for new therapists in paeds

• 1:10:13 minutes- Extras

• 1:11:00 minutes- Time management secrets

• 1:12:36 minutes- Courses

• 1:15:26 minutes- FB group

USEFUL LINKS

WEBSITE > > https://kidsbowelbladder.com/

FACEBOOK GROUP >> Paediatric Pelvic Health Physiotherapy Facebook Group

Dawn’s courses

• https://kidsbowelbladder.com/professional-courses/

• https://hermanwallace.com/faculty/dawn-sandalcidi

• https://dawn-sandalcidi-on-line.teachable.com/courses

• https://www.medbridgeeducation.com/a/sandalcidi/

VIDEOS

Cupping in scar tissue - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fUYzDxHDF8

Jessica Drummon - nutrition in children https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4pXHMVnyE&t=11s

RESOURCES

Timmerman et.al. 2018 and 2019 publication on constipation

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327922738_The_problem_of_defecation_disorders_in_children_is_underestimated_and_easily_goes_unrecognized_a_cross-sectional_study

ROME foundation link > https://theromefoundation.org/rome-iv/rome-v

Bristol stool scale https://www.continence.org.au/bristol-stool-chart

What is the Zone of apposition?

https://pritrainer.com/what-is-the-zone-of-apposition/

ROME 4 criteria for infants and toddlers https://pubmed.n cbi.nlm.nih.gov/28401050/

Cupping in constipation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5566148

MENTIONS

• Mary Massery

• Dr Steve Hodges paediatric urologist at wake forest

• https://school.wakehealth.edu/faculty/h/steve-james-hodges

• https://www.bedwettingandaccidents.com/

• MOP programme from Dr Hodges >> https://www.bedwettingandaccidents.com/what-is-m-o-p

• Shirley Sarahman > https://pt.wustl.edu/education/movement-system-impairment-syndromes-courses/where-in-the-world-is-shirley-sahrmann/

• Paul Hodges Feedforward mechanisms in postural control > https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11640950_Changes_in_motor_planning_of_feedforward_postural_responses_of_the_trunk_muscles_in_low_back_pain

• Kelly Mahler - Interoception Online course https://www.kelly-mahler.com/

• Star Centre with Lucy Miller https://sensoryhealth.org/basic/founder-dr-lucy-jane-miller

• International children’s continence society http://i-c-c-s.org/

BOOKS MENTIONED

Christine Stephenson, PT, DPT www.constipationcoach.com

Christine Stevenson - book on Amazon the poo detective I think

www.sixdtape.com