The Reconnection Session
Your jaw and pelvic floor are connected. When one clenches, the other tenses. This is a series of three 60-minute co-treatment sessions where Nina Jung, L.Ac. and I work on you at the same time.
Pelvic floor therapy is heavily related to the nervous system. The pelvic floor is dominated by the autonomic nervous system, and if a patient walks in stuck in fight-or-flight, no amount of manual release will hold for long. That's true for chronic pelvic pain, hypertonic pelvic floor, painful intercourse, and a lot of what I see in my practice.
Nina Jung is an acupuncturist I've collaborated with for a while. When we started treating patients together, the pattern showed up right away: as Nina worked the jaw and calmed the nervous system, the tissue I was working on internally responded more quickly and stayed released longer. The changes lasted.
As far as I know, we're the only two providers in San Diego offering this as a single co-treatment session. Most practices ask you to book one appointment for pelvic floor PT and another for acupuncture. We do them at the same time, in the same room, coordinated in real time.
Why jaw and pelvic floor together?
The jaw and the pelvic floor share fascial connections through the front of the body, and both are directly wired to the autonomic nervous system. Someone who clenches their jaw all day is almost always holding tension through the pelvis too, whether they know it or not.
Once you notice the pattern in patients, it's hard to unsee. Chronic jaw clenchers, people with persistent neck tension, and people with a lot of low-grade daily stress tend to walk in with a tight pelvic floor. Working just one end of that chain rarely holds. Working both ends together does.
Acupuncture at the jaw and along the fascial lines that connect to the pelvic floor drops the nervous system into parasympathetic. From there, the internal pelvic floor work I do actually lands. That's the whole reason we built this session. For more on the jaw and pelvic floor connection, see this blog post.
What happens in a session?
Two providers, one appointment. Here is what a typical session includes, roughly in order. The specific modalities vary across the series — for example, Nina's buccal massage is usually part of the second session, not every one.
Posture and pelvis check
I start with a full-body posture exam. Check the pelvis, correct any imbalances, check the back. This is the setup for everything that follows.
Nina begins her acupuncture work
Nina starts on the jaw and neck, often with buccal (intraoral) massage in the second session of the series. This opens the jaw, drops the nervous system into parasympathetic, and gets the body ready for what comes next.
Internal pelvic floor work (with your consent)
I prepare you for internal work, explain what's coming, and go in. I find the tension points, tender points, points that trigger urgency, and painful points. I hover under gentle pressure on whatever I find.
Nina needles the fascial line
Nina places acupuncture needles at the jaw, and then at whatever fascial line connects back to the specific point I'm holding. She's targeting the same connection I'm working, from the outside.
Breath and pelvic drop
Together we cue you into diaphragmatic breathing, pelvic drops, and reverse Kegels so the release actually lands and the nervous system stays in it. You'll leave the session with tools to practice on your own.
What a full series looks like
The Reconnection Session is done as a series of three 60-minute sessions, each $250. We recommend the series because the work is progressive. The first session opens the door. The second session, which often includes Nina's buccal massage, goes deeper. The third session is where the changes lock in.
Sessions are typically spaced a week or two apart, though we work with your schedule. You can book the series one appointment at a time or plan out all three from the start.
Who is this session for?
Honestly, this can help almost anyone who needs pelvic floor work. The nervous system component makes it especially useful for:
Chronic pelvic pain
When the brain has learned a pain circuit, no amount of manual work fully addresses it without also disrupting the signal. The acupuncture side is doing exactly that.
Hypertonic pelvic floor
If your pelvic floor stays contracted even when it shouldn't, more strengthening isn't the answer. This session gets you into parasympathetic so the muscle can actually let go.
Vaginismus and painful intercourse
Two of the most nervous-system-driven pelvic conditions. This session addresses both the tissue and the guarding pattern the tissue is responding to.
Pregnancy and labor prep
For pregnant patients this is especially useful. Not only for the tissue work, but for teaching you how to breathe and how to get out of your body in preparation for active labor, particularly if you're planning an unmedicated birth.
Postpartum recovery
Anywhere from 6 weeks postpartum onward, when things "don't feel right" and the pattern isn't shifting with standard PT alone.
Jaw clenchers with pelvic tension
If you clench at night, wake up with a tight jaw, and also have pelvic floor symptoms, treating one side alone tends to be temporary. Treating both together tends to stick.
Beauty, pleasure, and connection
There's another side to pelvic floor work most patients don't get told about. When the pelvic floor is coordinated, softer where it should be soft and stronger where it should be strong, sexual pleasure and climax often improve as a result. Blood flow, muscle tone, and nervous-system regulation all play into it.
Some patients come in for something else entirely and this piece is a surprise benefit. Others come specifically to work on it. Either is welcome, and the co-treatment lends itself especially well to this angle because the nervous system is such a large part of what governs arousal and response.
A recent session
A pregnant patient came in with what she thought was right hip pain radiating into her posterior glute. I did the internal work and found the point that was referring the pain into her glute. I stayed on it, gentle pressure, until I felt the muscle twitch and pulsate, which is a sign of blood flow returning to the tissue.
At the same time, Nina found the anterior fascial line of the adductors, which connects back to the same point in the pelvic floor. As she placed the needle, I felt the muscle completely release under my hand. The patient said the pain was gone.
That is not every session. It is the mechanism at its clearest. Most sessions show up as steady shifts over the course of a few appointments rather than one dramatic moment, but this is what the co-treatment is capable of when the timing lines up.
What I consider before we begin
Every patient is different. Before we begin, I ask about a few things that shape how carefully I introduce the internal work, and whether we start with the full co-treatment or with one modality first. None of the below are automatic reasons we can't work together, but each one changes how I scope the exam and the treatment.
Pregnancy considerations
If your OB has flagged insufficient cervix, low amniotic fluid, placenta previa, or another condition that affects internal work, I want to know about it up front. Most of these situations can still be worked with, but they change how I scope the internal exam and what we do in the first session.
History of sexual trauma
This session can be exactly the right work for trauma-affected patients, but not always as the first entry point. Internal manual work plus needles from two providers at the same time can be too much too soon. We often start with just one modality, then move into the full co-treatment when your system is ready.
Who we are together
Ashlee Gendron, PT, DPT, PCES
Pelvic floor and orthopedic physical therapist. Focus areas: postpartum recovery, prenatal care, chronic pelvic pain, hypertonic pelvic floor, orthopedic conditions with a pelvic-health lens. More about me →
Nina Jung, L.Ac.
Licensed acupuncturist at JungWay Acupuncture & Integrative Wellness in Poway, San Diego. Focus areas: fertility, perimenopause, nervous system regulation, buccal massage. Read Nina's side of the Reconnection Session →
How do I book?
A series of 3 sessions · 60 minutes each · $250 per session
Sessions take place at my clinic in San Diego. Because two providers coordinate one appointment, booking is by text so we can confirm times that work for both of our schedules.
Text (760) 874-3309 to BookReconnection Session FAQ
No. Nina is a licensed acupuncturist doing acupuncture at external points on the jaw and body. I am a pelvic floor physical therapist doing internal manual release. I do not needle.
Each session is 60 minutes and $250. The work is done as a series of three sessions because the results are progressive: the first session opens the door, the second session (which often includes buccal massage) goes deeper, and the third session is where the changes lock in. Sessions are usually spaced a week or two apart.
Text (760) 874-3309. Because two providers coordinate one appointment, booking is by text so we can confirm a time that works for both of our schedules.
At my clinic at 16885 Via Del Campo Ct, Suite 110, San Diego. Nina travels to the clinic for these sessions so the internal pelvic floor work can happen in a setting set up for it.
No. If you have never seen a pelvic floor PT or had acupuncture before, we walk you through what to expect at the start of the session.
Both of us are out-of-network. Nina's acupuncture side is cash-pay. My pelvic floor PT side provides superbills for PPO insurance reimbursement, which you submit at your own discretion.
The Reconnection Session is for patients where the two together move the needle further than either alone. If you only need pelvic floor PT, book a regular session with me. If you only need acupuncture, book with Nina at JungWay.
See the printed flyer
If you want to share the Reconnection Session with someone, this is the printed flyer we hand out at the clinic.
Ready to book?
Text me and we'll get you on the calendar for a Reconnection Session with Nina and me.