They’re G (spot) wizzes
Meet the licensed ‘vaginapractors’ who massage female patients to improve their health and sex lives
Isa Herrera wants to help New York women find their inner “goddess-ness.”
“I am the secret to a better sex life,” says the 55-year-old.
Herrera is a pelvic therapist — a licensed physical therapist who works to fix overactive and underactive pelvic floors via internal vaginal massages.
“I put my finger into the vagina and press along the walls . . . to find where the issue is and treat it,” she said. Sounds personal? It is. Elizabeth Haag said that when she is brave enough to tell male friends about receiving pelvic therapy, they ask whether or not she gets turned on during treatment.
“It’s always the first question I get,” said Haag, a 30-something Park Slope resident who owns an events company. She was prescribed pelvic therapy seven years ago.
“I couldn’t walk or exercise or sit or wear pants,” said Haag, who suffered from tightness. “I was dating someone and we just stopped having sex because it was so painful.”
Although she admits she found her first few appointments “strange” due to the intimate nature, Haag has never been aroused during therapy. “It’s so antiseptic. It’s not sexy at all,” she said.
According to a Duke University study, the number of women in the US suffering from a pelvicfloor disorder will jump from 28.1 million in 2010 to 43.8 million in 2050. (That number is based on Americans’ increased longevity, as pelvic-floor disorders are more common with advanced age.) Earlier this year, “Girls” actress Lena Dunham wrote in an essay for Vogue that she had tried pelvic-floor therapy to alleviate the extreme pain caused by endometriosis.
An overactive pelvic floor can lead to tightness, while underactivity can cause incontinence and prolapse, a condition where organs slip out of place. “They run a freaking marathon and their organs fall out of their vagina!” said Herrera — who charges $590 to $750 per session — of some patients.
When Herrera founded her Midtown practice, Renew Physical Therapy, in 2005, there were only four or five other pelvic therapists in the city, she said. Now, Amy Stein, founder of Beyond Basics Physical Therapy in Manhattan, estimates that there are around 30 of them. (Herrera sees about 20 pelvic-therapy patients a month; Stein approximately 15 a week.)
(Therapists interviewed for this article also treat male patients — rectally — for incontinence and erectile dysfunction.)
I am the secret to a better sex life. — Isa Herrera, pelvic therapist
Pelvic therapists must have a physical-therapy license, and certification classes are available. In California it is legal for “sexological bodyworkers,” like Kimberly Johnson, who calls herself a “vaginapractor,” to touch patients’ genitals without a physical-therapy license.
Johnson, who is based in San Diego, maintains that she has never had an issue with a client becoming aroused during treatment.
Herrera agreed, adding that while patients may feel “sensations,” the real effects happen later. “It wakes them up a little bit so they can feel more when [they’re] with partners, not during treatment sessions,” she said.
Dr. Elizabeth Poynor, a Manhattan gynecologic oncologist, says that despite initial skepticism of the treatment many years ago, she now regularly refers patients to pelvic therapists. “It’s a bit more of a proactive approach to women’s pelvic health,” she said.
Herrera — whose calendar is booked into May — blames the growing popularity on urban life. “People in New York, their vaginas are too tight,” she said. “Everyone is so stressed out in this town.”