Elaine Miller

Elaine Miller aka Gussie Grippers is a Scottish physiotherapist who is a comedian and women's health campaigner. Gussie has won awards at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Fringe World, Australia. Miller is a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Both her physiotherapy and her comedy feature a specialism in pelvic floor dysfunction.

Career

While working as a physiotherapist in Scotland Miller developed a comedy show designed to engage audiences in understanding how physiotherapy can be used to tackle and prevent urinary incontinence. She began her career in the field of sports physiotherapy, but after her own experience of becoming incontinent after having delivered three children, she began to focus on exercises for the pelvic floor. She has been invited as a contributing expert on women's health topics in UK media, including BBC Women's Hour

Her show won 'Weirdest Show at the Fringe' at the Edinburgh festivals in 2013 and Comedy Award at Fringe World, Australia in 2020. Attendance is offered as continuing professional development (CPD) for a range of health professionals who hope to gain a better understanding of these issues, including GPs, midwives, nurses, urologists, gynaecologists, health visitors and fitness professionals. Her public engagement activities aim to use laughter as an essential health promotion tool, and are in the tradition of 'clown care' . Her comedy highlights the fact that laughing is one of the things which causes many women bladder leakage and the impact (and novelty) of her work is reflected in a range of health and comedy-related media coverage.

She works to highlight a gap in women's health support and get government funding for the provision of physiotherapy to improve women’s health. She performs under the stage name Gussie Grippers. Her act often includes eyecatching costumes such as dressing up as a vulva and songs such as 'does your cervix hang low?'.

Activism

Miller works to highlight issues in women's health. Stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse are experienced by many women. Estimates suggest one in three women experience urinary incontinence, and that it is more prevalent in older women and women who have had babies. Invasive operations to tackle incontinence involve the insertion of synthetic mesh. Urinary incontinence can be embarrassing and may impact your daily, family and social life. Miller believes the barriers which deter women from seeking help need to be explored and that raising awareness of the simple, repetitive, non-invasive pelvic floor exercises which can improve the condition, can have a significant impact on the day to day lives of many.

Controversy

In 2022 she attracted mainstream media coverage when she wore, and flashed a merkin in the Scottish Parliament during debate on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, to express opposition to the bill. After an initial police investigation she was found not to have committed any crime.

Politics

In 2023 she became an independent candidate for election in Edinburgh Corstorphine and Murrayfield and used her campaign in part to highlight issues of women's health provision in Edinburgh.

Performances

• Gusset Grippers
• Viva your Vulva