Many women are often cleared to return to activity at their 6-week postpartum check up with their OB or midwife.  Medical clearance is important, but how do we know when our body is really ready to return to running and other high intensity activities?

Running is considered a high intensity activity, so there are important factors to consider especially with regard to the strength and stability of the hip girdle, core and pelvic floor muscles prior to engaging in this type of activity. More specifically, is the body ready for impact, speed and endurance with running.

The passage of time is not enough to say that you are ready to run. Whether it is 6 weeks or 6 months postpartum, the body needs gradual return to impact with modifications as needed along the way.

A pelvic physical therapist can evaluate your body postpartum and look at your movement patterns with specific movements like hopping on one foot and double leg bounding to see the stability of your hips and how well your body handles the impact and reacts to forces up the chain.  If the foot alignment has changed, for example or the arches have weakened during pregnancy, this can lead to changes at the hip that could result in knee or hip pain with higher impact activities.  The widening of the pelvic girdle and changes in your posture postpartum can affect how efficient we are breathing as well as how effective our core muscles are working.  If the core or pelvic floor muscles are weak this can impact how pressure is managed in the abdomen which can lead to symptoms such as incontinence, prolapse or pelvic pain with higher impact activities.  

If you have any questions on your return to running or would like an evaluation to assess your readiness for high impact activities, please give us a call to schedule a consultation.