Welcome to our brand-new ‘Meet the Speaker’ newsletter series, where we’ll be interviewing members of our speaker line-up for Therapy Expo 2025. It’s a chance to get to know the experts behind all the real insights, experience, and guidance presented at the show.  

This week, we’re meeting Christien Bird, Pelvic Health Physiotherapist & Co-Founder of Menopause Movement… 

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in menopause research and training? 

After training in the Netherlands, I practiced as a musculoskeletal and pelvic health physio at a teaching hospital in London. I also worked with the clinical research team at Brunel University London after gaining my master’s degree in research methods at King’s College London. I founded the White Hart Clinic in Barnes in 1995, a busy multidisciplinary practice that offers musculoskeletal, pelvic health, psychological and medical services.  

Considering I am a women’s health physio and treat bowel, bladder, and pelvic floor dysfunction, the perimenopause took me by surprise. This was quite a few years ago, before menopause was getting the attention that it is getting now. My personal and shared patient experience prompted me to dive into the research and started presenting to women’s groups and I was hooked, realising the need for sharing quality information to bridge the gaps in knowledge and help women navigate through their menopause journey. 

To address this gap in knowledge and lack of evidence-informed ‘down to earth info’, I founded the Menopause Movement with my expert partners in 2020. It’s an online certified training and community platform for health and fitness professionals. 

The movement has created a community and training platform for the fitness and health world to confidently treat and train women throughout the menopause.  

I love everything about the movement, and I continue to compete as an athlete in my age group in triathlons, representing Britain. Much of my drive comes from supporting women in enjoying movement and staying strong. Completely stepping out of my comfort zone, I have registered for an ironman in August 2025 and will need all the support and advice I can get!  

What’s the focus of your presentation at this year’s conference, and why is this topic important right now? 

With menopause now getting the attention it needs, there are also more opportunistic influencers out there that are sending out fear-based messaging, which is problematic. Menopause can hit like an express train, catching many women off guard with its physical and mental challenges. Some would literally stand on their heads if they thought it would help to ease their symptoms! 

In the UK, around 13 million (about a third of women) are either experiencing or approaching menopause. 

What’s one thing you hope attendees will take away from your session?  

I hope to be able to help listeners to distinguish between some of the fear-based messaging on social media and the good quality data, in terms of loss of lean muscle mass, metabolism, and bone health into the menopause. I also hope to help people understand how we best train and treat women going through the menopause using practical and evidence-based scientific results.  

Another important take away will be how to screen for bladder, bowel and prolapse issues which is currently a huge barrier to exercise for women going through the menopause. My session will also be key to understanding how to train the pelvic floor muscles in an exercise/sport setting, as one of the most important major muscle groups.  

Have there been any recent developments or research in menopause research that you find particularly exciting? 

• The understanding that high, moderate, and low loads can effectively increase bone mineral density and muscle mass, as long as it is challenging.  

• Recent studies show muscle mass declines with age and reduction of physical activity; it’s not just menopause as the culprit. 

• Women have as much potential to grow muscle as men, we just don’t gain as much in total, it is a relative game, and it is never too late. 

What’s one misconception about the menopause that you often encounter — and how do you address it? 

There still is a societal acceptance that ageing translates to weakness and that post-menopausal women will become fragile old ladies. We would like to change this. The mantra is ‘ageing is inevitable, fragility is not’.  

The vision is how we can support women to maintain bouncy and responsive muscles and bones for all major muscle groups, including the pelvic floor, and how we can make every contact count to help women maintain their strength. No matter where they start.  

How do you continue learning and evolving in your practice? Are there any books, courses, or mentors that have influenced you recently? 

The British menopause society has a very helpful patient arm https://www.womens-health-concern.org/ which is a great resource. Another wonderful and trusted resource for all women is https://www.positivepause.co.uk/.  

What do you enjoy most about working in this field? 

How much difference we can make to women out there and how sharing trusted information can improve the quality of live for so many women.  

We have some great data from a collaboration we are doing with Places Leisure. We have helped to train their trainers, who are now delivering their scheme, ‘Move through Menopause’, with impressive outcomes and creating beautiful communities for women to gain confidence to stay active. https://www.placesleisure.org/move-through-menopause/ 

Outside of work, how do you like to unwind or recharge? 

Swimming, running, cycling outdoors, strength training and yoga are my go-to exercises to unwind (and at times ‘wind up’!). But mainly just being with my friends and being outside - that is the recharge.  

Don’t miss Christien’s session at Therapy Expo, 26-27 November at NEC, Birmingham. Register now to secure your free pass.