The "Core" of the Comeback

By Dr. Allison Feldt, PT, DPT 
 
I’m so excited to share with you that I just had my first work out where I could really push my core and didn’t feel like I was hurting myself. I finally feel like I am getting back some of the innate stability my joints should have. Meaning that my joints aren’t as hypermobile or “loose” like they were during my pregnancy and during postpartum so far. Initially that hypermobility is from relaxin and even though relaxin leaves within 4 days of delivery, the joints take a lot longer to return to normal. [...]

In general I have always been stiff/ less flexible in my joints. So someone who originally has more flexibility could have a harder time getting back to that state of stability in the joints.
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Next week I will officially be 2 years postpartum. I stopped breastfeeding in early January 2019. So I am about 5 months post breastfeeding. And it truly can take 15-18 months after you stop breastfeeding to find hormonal balance. There is research that is lacking reenjoy garding the effects of joints getting their innate stability back. But there is a study that shows that women who sustain breastfeeding longer than 6 months do have higher rates of reported low back pain.

I’m sharing this because I am just now starting to feel like I can really push my workouts, running and core routines.

You may be thinking 2 years, that’s a long time, you should have lost the weight and gotten your core all back in shape, for goodness sakes you’re a prenatal and postpartum physical therapist. Yes sometimes I feel that way too. But then I go on to give myself some grace and appreciate my “today body”.

I want to share that we can only force so much. We can crave our body back and we can do all the work to optimize our bodies (this is what we help women do at Body Motion) but there’s not a lot we can do hormonally and to change the stability of the joints. And lets be real for 1 second, we don’t really “get our bodies back.” Our bodies are forever changed but they can still be the healthy powerhouses we want them to be.

I am not saying I haven’t had good workouts up until now, I’m just saying now I finally feel like I can push it, I can safely do some crunch work!

I hope this gives some of you motivation who just had a baby or maybe you did 4 years ago and still don’t feel back to “NORMAL.” Get some guidance so you can optimize your healing journey and live your best healthy life!