Written by Patricia Siegel, Pelvic Health Expert
Photo by Michael Moriatis
A series dedicated to helping women strengthen their pelvic floor to live a healthier, happier life.
Born and raised in Germany, Patricia Siegel, was a very active person since childhood. “I raced BMX bikes, street danced, played volleyball, and was an avid street skater,” says Patricia. “At the age of 17, I took on running and a few years later became a semi-professional middle distance runner.” During her running career, Patricia graduated from the University in Potsdam, Germany with a Master of Science in Sports Therapy with a focus on rehabilitation and prevention. Shortly after, she was recruited by an American university and continued running track and XC in New York, and later became a National Age Group competitor in the sport of triathlon. “Running, combined with swimming and biking, was a wonderful sport for me,” says Patricia, who viewed the experience as a way of life. That it, until she encountered a serious hurdle that abruptly set her on a new course.
“I had been going through a few challenges during my athletic career dealing with a severe eating disorder. That cost me my running career, and created a serious health condition that I fought for two years straight,” explains Patricia. “Thankfully, I found a way out of the misery and back into a healthier place in life.”
"I was deeply depressed, thinking motherhood robbed me of the hobby I loved the most."
At 39, Patricia became pregnant. “I had a great and easy pregnancy. I swam every day up to my due date, and was excited to welcome a healthy baby. Everyone around me was praising my fitness level and assumed my baby’s birth would be a ‘walk in the park’ because of it,” shares Patricia. “Unfortunately, though, my labor took 57 hours and created a lot of trauma—physically and emotionally.”
She had started labor in a birth center and after 38 hours without progress, and contractions lasting three minutes with only 60 seconds in between, Patricia was transferred to the hospital where she had a 10 percent chance to give birth vaginally. “The blood pressure and heart rate of my baby decreased with every minute and at one point, it became an almost life and death situation,” she recalls. “I was given multiple catheters and internal heart rate monitors to keep track of the baby’s vitals. The doctors tried to manually turn my baby inside my belly with their arms reaching inwards.” Miraculously, Patricia’s baby was born vaginally—sunny side up with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck multiple times. “In addition, my pelvis was so narrow that my baby girl’s head had a hard time getting through, which explained the lack of progress in the birth center,” says Patricia.
As a result of the challenging birth, Patricia’s pelvic floor rehabilitation was extremely challenging. “A lot of damage had happened internally,” she says. “As soon as I started even just shuffling, I peed myself. And I still failed the postpartum ‘get back to running test’ at nine months postpartum. I went to various pelvic floor therapists and followed the prescribed exercises. Still, the bladder leakage did not stop.”
At 20 months postpartum. Patricia still ran with incontinence pads. “I was deeply depressed, thinking motherhood robbed me of the hobby I loved the most,” she admits. “But I did not give up. I kept studying, digging, and applying my knowledge from university and professional sports and came up with a holistic program to fight bladder leakage postpartum,” says Patricia. “Then, one day, I stopped leaking during my run. My pad was barely soaked. I was ecstatic!”
It was this mind-opening experience, and reflection on her entire journey, which prompted Patricia to share her knowledge through her course and extend her expertise in as many ways as she can—including through this new column throughout 2025. “I know how awful it can feel to not have control of your pelvic floor and I want to help anyone who is struggling with the kind of issues I faced,” she says. “I’m looking forward to connecting with the STRONG community to try to turn things around for women who feel frustrated, defeated, or confused about their pelvic floor health.”
