"When your feet meet the floor” Importance of the connection between your feet and your pelvic floor muscles with Dr. Gail Wetzler, PT, DPT, EBO, BI-D

In this interview, the incredible Gail Wetzler, PT, DPT, EBO, BI-D and I will be exploring the fascinating connections between the pelvic floor and foot engagement—a topic we’ve delved into while treating a mutual patient.

One of our shared clients with significant neuropathy needed help with his ankle strategy and keeping his toes down during sit-to-stand movements. This journey of discovery began when Gail asked, "Have you cued his pelvic floor?" That simple question unlocked a wealth of new insights.

Join us as we dive into how it’s all interconnected—from anatomy to brain function—and uncover the best ways to analyze and cue these movements.

Gail Wetzler, PT, DPT, EBO, BI-D  currently owns an integrative physical therapy practice in Denver, Colorado, where they treat orthopedic, fascial/muscular/soft tissue, neurologic, pain,respiratory, digestive, mTBI and women's and men's health issues. After receiving her initial degree in physical therapy, she pursued her first experience in acute orthopedic care at Hoag Hospital, Newport Beach California. Within 1 year, she became the outpatient clinical supervisor and thus began her journey and desire for continuing education in the science and art of human movement and function. She studied with Travell and Simons, Mennell, Kaltenborn, Maitland, McKenzie, Mitchell, Jones and Greenman in the earlier years of manual therapy education. Inspired by these methods of treatment, she became an assistant teacher to Dr. Janet Travell and later an instructor with the Institute of Physical Art (IPA) developed by Gregg Johnson and Vicky Saliba Johnson.

In a few years, she developed her own private practice, at which time she received a large number of head, neck and TMJ pain patients. This became a driver to learn more about cranial osteopathy, craniosacral therapy and how the fields of physical therapy and dentistry could collaborate to help these patients. As she pursued continuing education classes with Dr. John Upledger, he inspired her to learn more about the different systems in the body and how they all integrated for function. During one of her earlier speaking engagements for the Upledger Institute ( Beyond the Dura), she met Jean Pierre Barral DO, who inspired the importance of anatomy, the ability to listen to the body and the specificity of tissue dialogue in manual therapy techniques. She has listened and followed his mentoring into understanding the body's deeper fascial relationship of the viscera, vascular, neurological and manual articular systems since 1989. Gail has been an instructor for the Barral Institute (BI) since 1991 and became the BI Curriculum Director in 2001.

In her career, she has been invited to speak at multiple professional conferences including National and State levels for the APTA, USC Head, Neck and Facial Pain Clinic, University of California, Irvine (UCI), Beyond the Dura Research Conferences, "Hope" Head Injury Organization, and was the keynote speaker in Italy for the Fascial Manipulation Research Conference presented by Antonio, Carla and Luigi Stecco. She is the Past Director of Physical Therapy for the Integrative Medicine Center at UCI. She is currently part of the Research Team for the Upledger Foundation for their recent studies on Post Concussion Recovery She currently teaches for the Women's Health Section of the APTA "Gynecological Visceral Manipulation". 

Gail earned her Diplomate from the Barral Institute in 2005. She earned her Equine Diplomate in Osteopathy from Vluggen Institute of Equine Osteopathy in 2009 and she earned her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Rosalind Franklin University, Chicago, in 2013.

Gail serves on the Women's Health Task Force for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).
Resources: APTA Academy of Pelvic Health Physical Therapy (aptapelvichealth.org)