Dance Culture & Women's Bodies with Alex Thompson

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 04:55:00 -0400

In this episode of TMI Tuesdays, Lauren sits down with pelvic health physiotherapist and former dancer Alex Thompson to unpack what dance culture gets wrong about women’s bodies.

From a young age, many dancers are praised for being disciplined, lean, and flexible, but behind that aesthetic often lies a very different story. Alex shares her experience both inside the dance world and now as a clinician, shedding light on the rates of pelvic floor dysfunction in nulliparous dancers, the impact of cueing and breath patterns on core and pelvic health, and why so many issues go unnoticed for years.

They dive into the bigger picture too: the lack of periodization in training, the evolution from RED-S to RED-D, chronic underfuelling, body image pressures, and the normalization of overuse injuries in dance. This conversation connects the dots between performance culture and long-term health, and challenges some of the narratives that are still deeply ingrained in the industry.

Whether you’re a dancer, a former dancer, or just someone interested in women’s health, this episode offers a fresh, honest look at what’s really going on beneath the surface.

In this episode, we cover:

Why up to 30% of nulliparous dancers experience pelvic floor issues
How common cueing strategies can contribute to dysfunction
The shift from RED-S to RED-D and what it means
Underfuelling, overtraining, and hormonal health
Body image, pressure, and performance culture
Why pain and injuries are often normalized in dance

If you're interested in connecting with Alex you can find her on instagram @tidalmotionphysio or send her an email: Alex@tidalmotionphysio.ca.

Women, Chronic Pain & What the System Gets Wrong with Dasha Maslennikova

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 23:24:27 -0400

Chronic pain is one of the most misunderstood, mismanaged, and frankly underestimated conditions in healthcare — and women bear a disproportionate burden of that gap. This week on TMI Tuesdays, we're joined by Dasha Maslennikova, Kinesiologist and owner of Symmetrix Kinesiology (Greater Vancouver), who knows this world from both sides of the treatment table.

At the height of her athletic life, an MVA turned everything upside down — launching a 13-year journey through chronic pain that eventually shaped her entire clinical practice. Dasha is deeply passionate about chronic pain in women's health and brings a refreshingly honest lens to why the system still gets it wrong, what makes women's pain unique, and the approaches she uses that actually move the needle.