Detroiter finds following educating mothers on rarely discussed pain

A few years ago, Kamaria Washington learned about the racial disparities in maternal health for Black mothers experiencing pain and other complications, so she wanted to help fill those gaps.

Now she owns a practice in Oak Park that specializes in treating the pain, known as pelvic floor therapy, and shares health information on social media.

Washington, 27, of Detroit, who holds a doctor of physical therapy degree, gained a following on Instagram after posting facts about the therapy she provides, and after sharing posts about her journey within the career field. She has 5,271 followers and her Instagram username is @dr.kwashington.

People responded to her posts by asking her for help with the things they were experiencing. 

“People don’t understand that they actually can get help with pain,” said Washington, who mentioned that one such pain is caused by SPD, or symphysis pubis dysfunction. “People think they just have to deal with it and they just go their whole pregnancy, like ugh, I just don’t know what to do about it.”

Her followers on Instagram learn ways to help themselves through the pain. She also gets a lot of attention on social media when she discusses leakage, or incontinence. Pelvic floor muscles control the bladder, bowels and uterus, and pregnancy and other health events can interfere with the muscles.

Washington’s practice, called Pelvic Noire Physical Therapy & Wellness, focuses on pregnancy and postpartum. The 25900 Greenfield Road location opened Oct. 1 in Suite 320 with a grand opening that took place in November.

Washington also is connected to a network of groups for moms, lactation consultants and local doulas, which are women that provide support to pregnant people during and after labor.

“Because I found them on Instagram, and they reshare stuff, I reshare stuff — it's like this web of us, and community on Instagram, which allows people to be able to find different providers,” she said. Washington has also been placed on a directory where people can search in their areas to find women of color who are pelvic floor physical therapists.

This network has led her to have a connection with Birth Detroit, a birth center for maternal and infant care, according to the nonprofit’s website. Washington and the nonprofit organization consistently refer their clients to each other.

Mind and body work

When it comes to her pregnant patients, most make a visit because they are experiencing pain in the hips, lower back and the pelvis. 

“So once we get through that, I lead them into other stuff that they can benefit from,” Washington said. “I do a mind and body birth-prep session with them. And that's talking about birth prep education. What are the stages of labor? What can your partner do? So I always encourage that they bring their partner or whoever a support person would be for them.”

The postpartum visitors meet virtually two weeks after the birth. Then, after six to eight weeks, the visitors come in to do a pelvic floor exam to determine what areas need strengthening.

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Ashley Claxton, 35, of Detroit, had a baby on July 6. At her Pelvic Noire appointment Nov. 6, she filled out forms and learned about what her appointment would consist of, she had a pelvic floor physical therapy exam and was also given a list of exercises that she can do at home. She said there is a lot about postpartum that no one talks about, so she received a lot of surprises during her recovery after giving birth.

“I guess they call it the fourth trimester,” Claxton said. “And some of the physical recovery — all that goes into actually bringing a life into the world, and actually delivering and how taxing it is on our bodies physically — a lot of that isn't mentioned. So it does take, they say six weeks and you feel 100% and be back to normal, and that's not always the case. And that wasn’t the case for me.” 

Her sister-in-law, who is a doula at The Lotus House — a business that provides postpartum care — recommended that she visit Pelvic Noire. After her visit, she was feeling more optimistic about her recovery and said she needs to trust the process. 

“I would say that there's a lot that even the best OB-GYNs don't maybe deal with all the time or it's just not their focus,” Washington said. “So I would tell new mothers and mothers-to-be to trust their body and listen to their body and seek out the resources that are here through pelvic floor therapy if they feel they need it.”

A change in direction

The Michigan native graduated from Cranbrook Schools in 2013. When Washington was attending the University of Michigan, she started as a pre-med student ready to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a pediatrician. But once she took organic chemistry and saw how difficult it was, she decided this wasn’t the way to go. She was already in the School of Kinesiology and chose to continue with this route by going into physical therapy. She graduated in 2017, and started at general physical therapy school a year later, but found that it wasn’t the right path either. 

Then she attended the Harvard Black Health Matters Conference in 2019. 

“In that conference, I learned about the disparities within maternal health care with the racial disparities, and how that affects Black families,” Washington said. “And I was like, this is horrible. And I remember crying in that lecture just learning about this.”

She said the statistic that stood out the most to her is that Black mothers in the U.S. are three times more likely to die from maternal complications than white women, which is a datapoint from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

She talked to the lecturer and they talked their way to figuring out a new career plan within physical therapy training — pelvic physical therapy. She graduated from MGH Institute of Health Professions in 2021.

Just three years later, her practice is growing and she hopes to launch online programs to expand access to education. But her overall goal is to have a one-stop shop for pregnant people to receive massages, acupuncture and other needs. 

Pelvic Noire also hosts in-person workshops, including an upcoming event Jan. 15 called Confronting Gestational Diabetes with Nutrition & Movement. Registration for the event in Pleasant Ridge near Oak Park is available on Eventbrite. 

For more information, go to publicnoire.com.

Contact staff writer Chanel Stitt on Twitter: @ByChanelStitt. Become a subscriber or gift a subscription.