People Are Going to Vagina Chiropractors and We Have a Lot of Questions

We're no strangers to the long list of dubious vagina-related health and wellness practices out [...]

By PopCulture.com Staff

massage
(Photo: Shutterstock)

We're no strangers to the long list of dubious vagina-related health and wellness practices out there, but this one is new to us. As one Well+Good writer discovered, women in Southern California are embracing a particular kind of "bodywork" — one that involves manipulating "the vaginal tissue and cervix" to promote wellness and overcome physical traumas.

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Confused? Us too. Though Kimberly Johnson doesn't technically call herself a vagina chiropractor, that's the simplest (though perhaps reductive) way to explain what it is that she does. But before your mind runs wild with that description, it helps to understand how Johnson got into this strange line of work in the first place.

According to Well+Good, Johnson was drawn to sexological bodywork (the technical name for her work) because of her own physical trauma after childbirth. "I started researching [treatment], and all I could find were tens of thousands of entries on postpartum depression... But I was like, 'Of course I'm depressed.' I was pooping in my pants, sex was impossible, my low back was killing me all the time..." she recalls.

When Johnson eventually discovered a sexological bodywork practice, her recovery changed for the better. It was a lightbulb moment: "I was like, 'Everybody has to have this,'" she explains. Her own practice began soon after, as a way to bring the healing experience she had found through sexological bodywork to a wider audience.

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(Photo: Pexels)

Today, Johnson helps moms-to-be and those who have recently given birth have a better physical experience of the process. Though currently sexological bodywork practitioners are only licensed to practice in California, Johnson thinks women nationwide could benefit from this work. Even those who aren't thinking about childbirth may have experienced physical, sexual trauma that can be eased or lessened in these sessions, Johnson explains: "There's not really any woman who hasn't had to defend her boundaries or had uncomfortable [sexual] situations. We don't even have to call it abuse; this is what life is like in a female body in this culture." Though this is an unfortunate truth, Johnson hopes to alleviate some of the suffering associated with sexual trauma through her work — and just bringing this conversation to the forefront helps, too.

So what does a session with Johnson actually look like? Essentially, picture a tension-reducing manipulation of muscle, in an area that doesn't usually get a lot of day-to-day attention. "I release the tight areas and redistribute the tensile forces through the connective tissue matrix, which is what is organizing the whole body," explains Johnson. Women who have had sessions with Johnson describe the process as something between a workout and a physical therapy session — Johnson is extremely sensitive to each client's comfort levels, and caters every session to an individual's personal boundaries. Because of this, her sessions are personal, but completely non-sexual.

While it's still a developing field, we anticipate sexological bodywork becoming more popular in the near future — with so many women struggling to recover and reclaim their bodies after childbirth, and countless others dealing with the aftermath of sexual trauma, it truly seems like this is a practice that could benefit a wide variety of women.

Related:

A Serious Warning for Ladies Who Sleep in Their Underwear
9 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About The Vagina
How To Get Your Body Ready For Giving Birth

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