Health awareness rewarded

NATIONAL AWARD FOR WICK HOSPITAL PHYSIO'S LEAFLET

A North Highland physiotherapist has helped to create an award winning leaflet on pelvic floor health awareness for teenagers and young people.
Sylvia Craine, who is Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist for Continence based at Caithness General Hospital in Wick, has been working on the leaflet with healthcare staff from other Health Boards.
They also worked with high school students to ensure it was right for young people.
And, thanks to the success of their partnership working, the leaflet has now been awarded the Association for Continence Advice “Pelvic Floor Special Interest” award at its annual awards ceremony.
Mrs Craine said: “The leaflet is unique in that its design and format has been developed by teenagers for teenagers.
“It provides them with simple advice and exercises to strengthen and promote the health of the pelvic floor for young women.”
She added that everyone involved was delighted to receive the award as a lot of hard work went into developing the leaflet that will be used across the UK.
Mrs Craine said: “By getting teenage girls involved, we were able to ensure that the leaflet really meets the needs of teenagers and is tailored to what they want.
“One in four adult women suffers with bladder weakness and leakage at some point in their lives, so we felt that by targeting girls at a younger age we could equip them with the skills to keep their pelvic floors strong for the future.”
The leaflet is now being distributed via the Association for Continence Advice, which can be contacted at www.aca.uk.com. It is also planned to distribute the leaflets through school nurses, health promotion departments and GP surgeries in the near future.
Along with the students, Mrs Craine worked on the leaflet with Liz Howard-Thornton of NHS North Lancashire, Clare Holden of NHS Central Lancashire and Gill Pearl from PromoCon, a Manchester-based charity working with people with bladder and bowel problems.
Ends
Notes for editors:-
The pelvic floor is a bowl shaped group of muscles that sits at the base of the pelvis.
The students involved in this work attend a High School in Lancashire.