Two NI sisters have opened up on how they are helping 'all women' including mums on their pregnancy and postpartum journeys.
Co Derry women Kathy Joyce (37) and Mary Angela Taylor (38) own Pilates & Physio Mid Ulster and have recently opened their new HQ, The Home of Wellbeing, after receiving a massive response over the past few years.
The Moneymore sisters said they realised the need for what they are now doing when they began having babies.
Read more: NI woman diagnosed with glaucoma at 39 on finding positivity again
Within their business, they offer Women's Health Services, branded as The Mummy Physios, alongside their Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Clinic.
The women's health physiotherapists, who started Pilates & Physio Mid Ulster in 2017, offer pilates classes including for beginners, intermediate and advanced, specialised postnatal rehab, pregnancy, back pain, gentle movers, over 50s and core strength and conditioning.
Mum-of-three Kathy, and Mary Angela, who is a mum-of-four, aim to help 'all women', including those who are pregnant, post baby, peri-menopausal/menopausal, those preparing for birth, those experiencing endometriosis symptoms and more.
They also now help mums worldwide online.
Mary Angela told Be: "Once we had our kids, our first children are four months apart, we just realised how much of a gap there was out there for support for mummies in pregnancy and postpartum.
"You are basically just handed a baby and told 'that's you, six weeks, you're good to go' and we just knew it was more than that, so that's when we started to really specialise in it (women's health physiotherapy), we did loads of courses and then we started to offer treatments and clinics to our clients."
Kathy said: "We started Pilates & Physio Mid Ulster in January 2017 and from there we were offering pilates classes to the community and we then were offering pregnancy classes and mum and baby classes. Then we realised these women were sore, they needed more advice, more help so that's when we then started up our clinic to be able to offer treatment to these women.
"The Mummy Physios then developed because we then realised we were specialising in this area so we rebranded last year. It basically says what we do on the tin under the umbrella of Pilates & Physio Mid Ulster."
Mary Angela added: "I worked in the NHS as a women's health physio and I know what that service provides, there's a wait to get in. Sometimes ladies who had pelvic girdle pain, they had been referred by the midwife but they had their baby before we contacted them.
"There was definitely a need for this service to be a lot better so that we could support these ladies. The exact same thing if ladies needed rehab postpartum, they were waiting weeks or months to be seen and their issues were getting worse.
"There is a lack of knowledge, a lot of ladies put up with symptoms because they have been told by family, friends or other health professionals 'well that's normal, you've had a baby' so expect that leakage is normal, to expect that your tummy muscles will never get normal again - so it's not the right information."
The sisters also say it's a great way for ladies to meet other mums and gain support from one another.
Mary Angela continued: "The social side of it is massive.
"Even on our open day, ladies said the service that we provide is much more than physical rehab, it's the mental and emotional wellbeing as well."
Kathy added: "We offer classes that mummies can bring their babies to which is a big thing."
The Moneymore women have been left overwhelmed by the response they have received.
They started up in a community hall in 2017, then moved to another premises and have recently grown to renovate their very own building.
Kathy said: "We were getting overwhelmed with the amount of messages on social media and we couldn't cope with it, we employed a practice manager in 2018."
The business grew even more after going online during lockdown - with now six full-time members of staff and three contractors.
"We were able to connect with mummies who wouldn't have been able to attend us, from down south, England, Dubai, Australia [and more]," she added.
The Home of Wellbeing opened this month.
Mary Angela said: "We opened on Monday and we were completely blown away. I think we are still in shell shock about the amount of people who walk through the doors, the amount of clients who came to support us.
"We are still trying to take it all in. Emotions are all over the place as we are literally blown away.
"The Home of Wellbeing is somewhere where we want to create a space of wellness, not only with rehab and exercising, but bringing it all together."
Kathy added: "Our vision is greater than us here. We just need to get ourselves settled and we are hoping to bring more services to the area."
The sisters have reflected on how much they have achieved.
Kathy continued: "Our parents have their own business too and that's what we've grown up with...
"We just never had time to sit back and reflect at how far we have came.
"We have actually came so far, we are two wee Moneymore girls who just started doing what we loved and it's grown into this.
"We now have purchased and renovated the [former] Dalriada Urgent Care building... This is the building we would have been tutored at whenever we were in primary school as it was a house before Dalriada took it over."
You can find out more about The Mummy Physios on Instagram and Facebook.
READ NEXT:
- Co Down dad hails new counselling service with a difference
- NI mum marks recovery from amputation and mastectomy by training for triathlon
- NI mum opens up about coming out as gay after having her son
- NI couple launch new business to channel grief of baby loss
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
