Lebanon Physical Therapist Receives National Award February 12, 2019 Susan Giglio, PT, of Samaritan Rehabilitation Specialties – Lebanon received the Elizabeth Noble Award from the Section on Women’s Health of the American Physical Therapy Association. The award is the highest honor and is given for providing extraordinary and exemplary service in the field of physical therapy for women. As a member of the Section on Women’s Health, Giglio works to educate both patients and the medical community about pelvic health and therapy for pregnancy, postpartum, incontinence and pelvic pain. She was nominated by a fellow physical therapist for her longtime commitment to pelvic rehabilitation. She is currently involved in writing and presenting an educational program to therapists who are interested in pelvic health. Giglio, became a sports physical therapist in the 80s and it wasn’t until she gave birth to her first child that she became interested in physical therapy for the pelvic floor. “When I asked my doctor about exercise after having a cesarean birth, he told me I would be too tired to exercise,” said Giglio. “I realized that there was not enough information for postpartum women on how to care for themselves. That’s when I found a physical therapist doing pelvic floor therapy and mentored with her.” Giglio has traveled around the U.S. and internationally to present pregnancy, postpartum and pelvic workshops to others. “The workshops really help to get the next generation of physical therapists excited.” Giglio usually presents six to eight workshops a year and currently has plans to present in Portland, OR; Salt Lake City, UT; Orlando, FL; and Detroit, MI. Putting her work in to practice, Giglio and others at Samaritan Rehabilitation Specialties – Lebanon have also started seeing maternity patients who have had difficult deliveries. She is hopeful that in the future she can use her skills as a physical therapist to assist in births. She has been trained and is training other physical therapists how to work with mothers during labor to help relieve pain and find the optimal positions to decrease stress to the pelvic floor muscles. Giglio says one of her favorite things about her career is educating people about a part of the body they don’t know much about. “It’s really something that needs to be talked about more,” said Giglio about the pelvic floor. “It is just another muscle that can be trained.”
