Dr. Lance Frank is originally from Missouri, and after completing a Bachelor of Health Science in Health Sciences (2013) and a Master of Public Health (2019) from his alma mater, the University of Missouri in Columbia, he obtained his Doctorate of Physical Therapy at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Lance began his clinical orthopedic and pelvic health rehabilitation career after graduation from Emory in 2017. Lance is also certified in trigger point dry needling, has a background in mat Pilates, and is trained in Redcord Neurac. Lance’s clinical experience began in orthopedic physical therapy, with specific interests in the clinical management of the fitness athlete, sports performance, as well as strength and conditioning programming. However, shortly after beginning his clinical practice, Lance quickly learned how little the general population, and arguably the entire medical community at large, knows about pelvic floor dysfunction and the musculoskeletal systems involvement in it. Dr. Frank began taking clinical coursework early in his career to further his training in pelvic floor dysfunction, and has gained extra certifications to treat this population in anyone with a pelvis and genitals (penises, vaginas, trans, intersex, etc.).
Dr. Frank now owns and operates a small private practice, Flex PT ATL, in Midtown, Atlanta where he provides pelvic health physical therapy services to cisgender and transgender folx managing sexual health and intimacy concerns, pelvic pain, and urinary or bowel dysfunction.
Dr. Lance is outwardly and openly gay and practices as a gay male clinician for several reasons. Dr. Frank believes in visibility and creating a space for other LGBTQIA+ members to feel safe disclosing very personal and intimate details about their genitalia. Lance doesn’t take this responsibility lightly and he understands the challenges a lot of other queer folx face in the medical community. Dr. Frank also believes that as someone with a penis, other people with penises may feel more comfortable and may relate more to him clinically because of his anatomy. Having a penis or male identity can often include a significant amount of implicit and explicit biases that can make seeking help difficult.
Dr. Frank is actually one of a very small group of other pelvic PT’s who also identify as men in the entire country that treat pelvic floor dysfunction. For this reason and for access in general, Dr. Frank treats all genders with pelvic floor dysfunction, regardless of genitalia. Although most of the patients he sees in the clinic have penises, Lance believes in allowing patients the option to choose their provider with who they align with best because of who they are as a person and their qualifications, instead of being based solely on their gender or genitalia.
In his practice, Dr. Frank has tried very hard to create a safe space for all bodies and has developed a large network of referral sources of other like-minded medical professionals to reflect that.