Women's Health Across the Lifespan: A Sex- and Gender-Focused Perspective.
Jessica L McKinney, Susan C Clinton, Laura E Keyser
PMID 39216103WHAT IT FOUND
Most physical therapy guidelines are not sex or gender specific, while reported health risks, care patterns, and outcomes for women differ from pregnancy through older age.
Key findings
01Most current physical therapist guidelines and protocols are neither sex- nor gender specific.
02Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy affect 8% to 10% of pregnancies, and women with them have lifelong increased cardiac risk, even when normotensive after birth.
03Level I evidence supports physical therapist-directed treatment of female urinary incontinence, but it remains treated as a specialty or niche practice.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
This is a narrative review, not a systematic review or original study, so it does not test a physical therapy intervention. Literature selection depended on author judgement about applicability to physical therapy. It used a binary sex and gender frame and excluded intersex people and people who do not identify as cisgender men or women. It selected conditions where adequate research was available, so it cannot cover all women's health needs. It notes that many rehabilitation studies do not disaggregate outcomes by sex or gender, so the review often had to report gaps rather than treatment effects.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this review as evidence that sex- or gender-specific physical therapy treatment improves outcomes. It summarizes reported differences in health risks, care patterns, and research gaps, not tested interventions.