Active Mom Podcast: Pregnancy, Postpartum, Perimenopause, Menopause & Beyond

Carrie
  • 5.0 (31)
  • Medicine
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to the Active Mom Podcast — where real motherhood stories meet real science. Hosted by Dr. Carrie Pagliano, double board-certified physical therapist, runner, mom of two, and internationally recognized expert in pregnancy, postpartum, pelvic floor, and perimenopause performance. Whether you’re a mom navigating running with prolapse or leakage, a clinician supporting active women, or a lifelong athlete trying to stay strong through every hormonal season — this show gives you evidence-based guidance and real life mom stories without the fear, confusion, or shame. Each week, Dr. Carrie brings candid conversations with researchers, clinicians, elite athletes, and everyday moms to explore what it actually takes to run, lift, jump, and live confidently through pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, and beyond. We talk about: • Postpartum return to running & lifting • Pelvic floor symptoms (leakage, prolapse, pain) • Pregnancy exercise myths & safety • Strength training at every age • Perimenopause performance & hormone changes • Mental health, identity shifts & motherhood • The realities of being an active mom in a busy life Real talk. Real science. Real moms. Because you deserve to feel strong and supported — at every stage of your active life.

  1. 9h ago

    Return to Duty After Baby: Pregnancy and Postpartum for Military Women and Tactical Athletes | Dr. Chris Edwards

    Send us Fan Mail What do you do when there’s no evidence to build evidence-based practice? Dr. Chris Edwards has an answer: “We have conversations.” Chris, PhD, clinical exercise physiologist and researcher, works with tactical athletes: military, police, fire and paramedic teams. She once sold her company and her house, packed her car with her dog, and drove across Canada to do this work. Her PhD asked a question almost nobody was asking: does having a baby change injury risk for women whose job is to carry heavy things, fast, under pressure? Spoiler alert, in her words: it does. In this episode we get into:  🔹 How patterns she saw in veterans’ movement sent her across the country  🔹 What her research found about childbirth and repetitive strain injuries  🔹 Why telling your chain of command you’re pregnant still feels risky for a lot of servicewomen  🔹 What return to duty looks like after a baby, and who gets to decide  🔹 Leakage, prolapse and the pelvic floor demands of rucks, fitness tests and parachute jumps  🔹 Why a trauma-informed approach matters with this population  🔹 Where her research goes next, including menopause Whether you wear a uniform, carry a toddler, or treat the women who do both, this one’s for you. Find Chris: Instagram @drchrismedwards | drchrismedwards.com The Active Mom Podcast — a real mom's guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond, for active moms and the professionals who help them get there. Quick-hit conversations with moms, providers, and researchers... because you don't have a lot of free time (you're probably listening at 1.5x right now). Follow so you don't miss an episode. Rate & review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — it's how the next mom searching for these answers actually finds them. Share it with the friend who needs it. Questions or topic requests? DM me 💌

  2. Oct 16

    Leaking Isn’t Just a Bladder Thing. What the Research Says About Heart and Mental Health | Dr. Lisa VanWiel

    Send us Fan Mail Brand new PT. Skilled nursing. Asking her patients what kind of exercise they enjoy. Women there for heart disease, osteoporosis, a broken hip. And over and over, the same answer. They hadn't exercised since they had a baby. That's where Dr. Lisa VanWiel's research started. She's a pelvic health PT and researcher at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, and her work links leaking to a lot more than your bladder. Mental health. How women see themselves. Even heart health. Not to scare you. Because if leaking is a signal, it's also a chance to get in early. What we get into:  🔹 Why Lisa sees leaking as a signal about the whole body, not just the pelvic floor  🔹 What her research found about leaking, postpartum mental health, and how women see themselves  🔹 Whether every mom actually needs pelvic floor PT (my answer might surprise you)  🔹 Why nobody needs permission to move their own body  🔹 20,000 medical records and a surprising link between leaking and heart health  🔹 Association vs causation, in plain English If you've ever wondered whether leaking means you should stop moving, press play. Then tell me: did anyone talk to you about your pelvic floor before you had your baby? Find Lisa on Instagram at @empower_lab. This episode is education, not individualized medical advice. Talk with your own provider or pelvic floor PT about your situation. Chapters: 00:00 Welcome 00:36 Meet Lisa 02:19 Taking PT boards eight months pregnant 03:20 From pediatrics to pelvic health 05:50 Why prevention became the mission 10:04 Reproductive transitions and lifespan health 12:21 Leaking as an alarm signal, not the ending 14:21 Leaking and postpartum mental health 17:32 Leaking and identity 20:57 Active moms, and a system not built for them 22:28 Awareness vs actually getting care 27:01 Does every mom need pelvic floor PT? 28:53 Why gatekeeping activity is paternalistic 33:55 Pelvic floor PT is strength training 36:05 20,000 charts: leaking and heart health 39:12 Association vs causation, explained 41:25 The two competing theories 42:45 What’s next: female athletes and return to exercise 44:39 Teaching our daughters about their bodies 47:53 What it means to be an active mom 49:24 Where to find Lisa The Active Mom Podcast — a real mom's guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond, for active moms and the professionals who help them get there. Quick-hit conversations with moms, providers, and researchers... because you don't have a lot of free time (you're probably listening at 1.5x right now). Follow so you don't miss an episode. Rate & review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — it's how the next mom searching for these answers actually finds them. Share it with the friend who needs it. Questions or topic requests? DM me 💌

  3. Oct 9

    It Can't Just Be Motivation: New Research on Pelvic Floor Apps and What Actually Helps Moms Stick With It | SÓNIA COELHO CRISTÓVÃO

    Send us Fan Mail She booked the appointment. She showed up. She wants something to change. And she still hasn't done her exercises. Sónia Coelho Cristóvão, physiotherapist and PhD researcher at the University of Gothenburg, kept seeing that in her clinic. So when she started building a digital pelvic floor program for Sweden's public healthcare system, she went to the research first. Her new review pulled together 18 studies to ask two questions: do digital pelvic floor programs actually work in pregnancy and postpartum, and what do women say helps or gets in the way? 🔹 Why pregnancy and postpartum told two different stories in the research  🔹 The surprise: women using digital programs stuck with their training more, and got stronger  🔹 The 5 things women say make or break their pelvic floor training (spoiler: they WANT to do it)  🔹 Why tracking features can turn into one more burden  🔹 Why women still want a real person in their care, not just an app  🔹 Where AI could help programs adapt to YOU, and why she's a little more cautious lately  🔹 Kegels vs no Kegels, and why that's the wrong fight  🔹 What's next: exercise dosing and C-section recovery If your home exercise program lives in a drawer somewhere, press play. And clinicians… when a patient tells you she didn't do her exercises, what do you say next? This episode is education, not medical advice. Talk with your own maternity care team or pelvic floor PT about your situation. The Active Mom Podcast — a real mom's guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond, for active moms and the professionals who help them get there. Quick-hit conversations with moms, providers, and researchers... because you don't have a lot of free time (you're probably listening at 1.5x right now). Follow so you don't miss an episode. Rate & review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — it's how the next mom searching for these answers actually finds them. Share it with the friend who needs it. Questions or topic requests? DM me 💌

  4. Oct 2

    Intra-Abdominal Pressure: Is Running Worse Than a Cough? Are We Even Measuring What We Think We're Measuring? | DR. SABINE VESTING

    Send us Fan Mail Don't jump. Don't lift heavy. Exhale on the way up. Protect your pelvic floor from all that pressure. Funny thing, though. Nobody ever tells you not to cough. So where did the "too much pressure" advice actually come from? Dr. Sabine Vesting, a physio in Gothenburg, Sweden, and researcher with the MFM lab at the University of Ottawa, went back through studies dating to 1978 to find out. More than 4,000 papers screened. 52 that measured it. And not one measured it directly inside the abdomen. She's back on the show (Ep 184 was her first visit), and we get into: 🔹 What a sensor in the vagina, rectum, stomach or bladder is really picking up when you move  🔹 Why the scary jumping numbers don't mean what you've been told  🔹 Coughing vs running, and why how LONG matters as much as how high  🔹 What the pressure data can and can't tell us about leaking on the run  🔹 How urethral support changes after a run, in runners who leak AND runners who don't  🔹 Why passive support may matter more than strength for some runners who leak  🔹 Pessaries for active women, and why "isn't that for old women?" needs to retire  🔹 Over-the-counter devices, sizing kits, and why bigger isn't better If you've ever been told to skip something "because of the pressure," press play before you take that advice. What's one thing you've been told to avoid because of pressure? Find Sabine on Instagram: @BineVesting Research mentioned: -Vesting S, Rodrigues MP, McLean L. Measurement and interpretation of intra-abdominal pressure during physical activity: a scoping review. Int Urogynecol J. 2026. doi:10.1007/s00192-026-06635-2  -Rodrigues MP, Vesting S, Bérubé MÈ, Collins G, McLean L. The posterior urethrovesical angle in continent and incontinent women before and after a treadmill run. Int Urogynecol J. 2025. doi:10.1007/s00192-025-06460-z This episode is education, not medical advice. Talk with your own care team or pelvic floor PT about what's right for you. The Active Mom Podcast — a real mom's guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond, for active moms and the professionals who help them get there. Quick-hit conversations with moms, providers, and researchers... because you don't have a lot of free time (you're probably listening at 1.5x right now). Follow so you don't miss an episode. Rate & review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — it's how the next mom searching for these answers actually finds them. Share it with the friend who needs it. Questions or topic requests? DM me 💌

  5. Sep 25

    My Personal Pessary Search: 5 Miles Downhill in the Dark, Maybe Bears | Solo Episode

    Send us Fan Mail In June, my very first mom friend texted me about a relay for her 50th. I said yes. THEN I asked what I'd signed up for. 3 running legs in less than 24 hours including night running. And I'm a morning runner, because over the years, evenings are exactly when leakage sneaks in for me, even on a walk. So I did what I'd do with any patient. I fit myself for a pessary. It took 4 devices, a lot of frustration, self-talk, and a brain trust of PT friends talking me off the ledge.  This is a solo, fully TMI episode (you've been warned) about the whole process, start to finish line. What we get into:  🔹 Why I stopped blaming "endurance" for leakage that shows up later in the day  🔹 Support pessaries vs space-occupying pessaries, and why that difference ended up mattering for me  🔹 The dish, the ring, the Soma and the cube: what each one did (and didn't do) for MY anatomy  🔹 Why "that didn't work for me" says nothing about what will work for you  🔹 What it was actually like wearing a cube through a relay, including the one gravel stretch where I wondered if I was about to lose it (literally)  🔹 The running research out of Linda McLean's lab in Ottawa that changed how I looked at my own problem If you've ever been offered a pessary and thought "not for me," or tried one, hated it and quit... listen to this one. And clinicians, this one's for you too. Oh, and our team of masters women came in second. We also brought the music. Leave it to the moms to make it fun. Have you ever been offered a pessary? Tell me how that conversation went. Questions about my pessary journey, or trying to find someone near you who fits them? Email me at carrie@carriepagliano.com or DM me on Instagram @carriepagliano. I'm happy to help. This episode is education, not individualized medical advice. My anatomy, my solution. Yours may be completely different.  Chapters (approximate) 00:00 Why a solo pessary episode 02:21 How I learned to fit pessaries 05:30 My history: 2 C-sections, perimenopause, evening leakage 07:40 Is later-day leakage really just endurance? 09:40 Support vs space-occupying pessaries 12:00 Trial 1: the dish 13:00 Trial 2: the ring 18:00 Trial 3: the Soma, and why "it didn't work for me" isn't a verdict 20:30 Trial 4: the cube 24:00 Race logistics: when to put it in and take it out 27:25 Night leg: 5 miles downhill in the dark 30:30 A 5:30 a.m. porta potty and posterior wall support 34:36 Final leg: 7 miles uphill 37:00 Awareness vs discomfort 38:30 The research that changed how I saw my own problem 41:54 Your story isn't my story, and where to get help 44:16 Next up: the DC half  The Active Mom Podcast — a real mom's guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond, for active moms and the professionals who help them get there. Quick-hit conversations with moms, providers, and researchers... because you don't have a lot of free time (you're probably listening at 1.5x right now). Follow so you don't miss an episode. Rate & review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — it's how the next mom searching for these answers actually finds them. Share it with the friend who needs it. Questions or topic requests? DM me 💌

  6. Sep 18

    Kegels to CrossFit: A Pregnancy & Postpartum Exercise History | Crossover with Practice Brave, Brianna Battles

    Send us Fan Mail Carrie was taught to go gentle. Brianna was taught to go harder. Neither one worked. Bri Battles reached out and said let's chat about history. I said okay. So here we are, two podcasts running as one episode, looking back at the last 10, 15, 20 years of how pregnant and postpartum athletes have been advised. And I promise you, we barely scratch the surface. Bri came up through the barbell side. I came up through the clinic side. Same women, opposite ends of the field, and for most of those years the two sides were not talking to each other at all. So we get into where we've come from and what's ahead. Which is funny timing, because I'm already in peri and Bri is over there hoping we get it figured out by the time she gets here. 🔷 The Theraband-around-the-belly era of diastasis "rehab," and the logic that made grown clinicians think it would work  🔷 Where the six week rule got its power (hint: it was a paperwork problem before it was a healing timeline)  🔷 Kegels, SI belts, and what pelvic health looked like when it was its own silo  🔷 The CrossFit video that pulled pelvic PTs into the conversation, and why "that's bad" was all we had  🔷 Performative pregnancy, performative postpartum, and what I'm calling performative perimenopause  🔷 Why some women need a kick in the ass to do MORE, while athletes need permission to adapt, and why those are two completely different conversations  🔷 The trouble with "listen to your body" when you've trained yourself to override it  🔷 What I'm screening for now that I wasn't asking about a year and a half ago  🔷 The weighted vest conversation I had with my neighbor, and what it says about all of this History matters here because it repeats. If you want to know whether the rule you were handed is current or just old, you have to know where it came from. Bri is at @briannabattles and @pregnant.postpartum.athlete. Her show is Practice Brave. So what decade is YOUR advice from? Come tell us. The Active Mom Podcast — a real mom's guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond, for active moms and the professionals who help them get there. Quick-hit conversations with moms, providers, and researchers... because you don't have a lot of free time (you're probably listening at 1.5x right now). Follow so you don't miss an episode. Rate & review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — it's how the next mom searching for these answers actually finds them. Share it with the friend who needs it. Questions or topic requests? DM me 💌

  7. Sep 11

    The First Real Data On Climbing While Pregnant | JOY BLACK

    Send us Fan Mail Three years ago Joy Black came on this show to talk about climbing in pregnancy and postpartum, and quite honestly, we had almost no research to point at. She came back this time as a published researcher. Two papers, both in Sports Medicine, both with Dr. Margie Davenport's lab at University of Alberta. So we sat down and broke them open. The first is qualitative: 11 elite climbers, Olympic and World Cup level, on how they actually made decisions while pregnant. Not "is climbing risky, yes or no." Something much more interesting. They're assessing risk continuously, move to move, inside a single climb. The second one is big. 692 climbers. Roughly 64,000 hours of climbing during pregnancy. And it gives us numbers we have never had before. More than half of those climbers were never given a single recommendation about climbing during pregnancy by a practitioner. Not "here's how to modify." Not "here's what to watch." Nothing. And fewer than 40% were offered any rehab at all postpartum. We did not tell them no. We said nothing. Which they heard, correctly, as we have no idea what you do. 🔹 Why a fall in climbing is not what you think it is, and why that distinction changes everything  🔹 What the fall rate and adverse event rate actually were across 64,000 hours  🔹 The modifications climbers make on their own, top roping, vertical over steep, lower grades, not topping out  🔹 Controlled impact versus chaotic impact, and why a six week okay is not clearance for either  🔹 What to ask a climber in your clinic when you have never climbed in your life  🔹 The prolapse story that made me want to stand up and cheer, and maybe throw something I promise you, you do not have to be a climber to help a climber. Joy says it better than I do, and she says it about halfway in. Guest: Joy Black, climbing coach for pregnant and postpartum climbers, @climbingwithjoy, trainedbyjoy.com.  Her first time on the show was Season 2, Episode 12. Research collaborator: Dr. Margie Davenport, @drmargiedavenport Studies discussed:  🔹Davenport MH, Ray L, Black J, McHugh TL. "An Informed Risk Assessment": A Qualitative Exploration of Elite Climbers' Experiences During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period. Sports Medicine. 2025. 🔹Davenport MH, Osachoff L, Ray L, Black J, Cheung NKY, McHugh TL. To Climb or Not to Climb: A Cross-Sectional Investigation of Risks and Benefits During Pregnancy and Postpartum. Sports Medicine. 2026. The Active Mom Podcast — a real mom's guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond, for active moms and the professionals who help them get there. Quick-hit conversations with moms, providers, and researchers... because you don't have a lot of free time (you're probably listening at 1.5x right now). Follow so you don't miss an episode. Rate & review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — it's how the next mom searching for these answers actually finds them. Share it with the friend who needs it. Questions or topic requests? DM me 💌

  8. Sep 9

    REWIND Summer Finale// Pregnancy And Postpartum Exercise Research Is Years Ahead Of What You're Being Told: Why It Isn't Reaching You | MARGIE DAVENPORT, PhD

    Send us Fan Mail Labor Day is in the rearview, the temps are finally doing what they're supposed to do, and this is the last rewind of the summer. Quite honestly, this is the one I wanted to close out on. When Margie came on for this one, she spent a good chunk of the hour telling me she couldn't tell me things. I'd ask, she'd dodge. I'd ask sideways, she'd dodge nicer. At one point I told her she was like a mystery novel and I just wanted to know what happened on the next page. She said she'd love to tell me, but she can't. She wasn't being precious about it. The Canadian postpartum guidelines were still in peer review, and she walked me through exactly why researchers go quiet. Until a paper has been through that process, she is not going to stand up and tell you something is safe. She also told me the first draft went out to postpartum women for feedback and came back with a note that it was going to cause a lot of mom guilt. So they went back and reworked the messaging. As a mom herself, that was not a message she was willing to send. Listening back now, with the guideline published and Margie already back on the show this past summer to walk us through it, this one plays completely differently. This is the hour right before. 🔹 Why the assumption that elite athletes have the best of everything is mostly wrong, and what happens to the ones who get told they're done at the first trimester  🔹 The athletes nobody has studied: the ones who wanted to come back and couldn't. Margie's team put out the invitation and got almost nothing back.  🔹 The one thing Margie says she'd go back and do more of, in pregnancy, in postpartum, and now heading into perimenopause  🔹 Postpartum and perimenopause showing up in the same body at the same time, and how little we currently have to offer either one  🔹 In Canada, 7% of all grant funding goes to women's health. The postpartum guideline got none of it. It got built by volunteers and undergrads.  🔹 The PhD student she says to watch, and why sleep may turn out to matter as much as exercise in this window Margie is one of my favorite people to just throw questions at, and this is her at her most honest about what we still don't know. Margie first came on the show back in Ep 38 in 2022, and she was back this summer on Ep 252 to walk through the guideline once it published. If this one leaves you wanting the answers, that's the episode with them. Find her on Instagram at @drmargiedavenport. One thing this whole hour keeps circling: screening before somebody hands you a program. Nobody can tell you what your body is ready for without looking at it first. If you're in the Arlington area, come see me in the clinic. If you're anywhere else, telehealth and virtual consults are open.  This is education, not individualized medical advice. If you're having symptoms, get eyes on it. The Active Mom Podcast — a real mom's guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond, for active moms and the professionals who help them get there. Quick-hit conversations with moms, providers, and researchers... because you don't have a lot of free time (you're probably listening at 1.5x right now). Follow so you don't miss an episode. Rate & review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — it's how the next mom searching for these answers actually finds them. Share it with the friend who needs it. Questions or topic requests? DM me 💌

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About

Welcome to the Active Mom Podcast — where real motherhood stories meet real science. Hosted by Dr. Carrie Pagliano, double board-certified physical therapist, runner, mom of two, and internationally recognized expert in pregnancy, postpartum, pelvic floor, and perimenopause performance. Whether you’re a mom navigating running with prolapse or leakage, a clinician supporting active women, or a lifelong athlete trying to stay strong through every hormonal season — this show gives you evidence-based guidance and real life mom stories without the fear, confusion, or shame. Each week, Dr. Carrie brings candid conversations with researchers, clinicians, elite athletes, and everyday moms to explore what it actually takes to run, lift, jump, and live confidently through pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, and beyond. We talk about: • Postpartum return to running & lifting • Pelvic floor symptoms (leakage, prolapse, pain) • Pregnancy exercise myths & safety • Strength training at every age • Perimenopause performance & hormone changes • Mental health, identity shifts & motherhood • The realities of being an active mom in a busy life Real talk. Real science. Real moms. Because you deserve to feel strong and supported — at every stage of your active life.

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