Cleared at six weeks is not the same as ready.
The six-week check-up confirms that nothing is medically wrong. It is a sign-off, not a rehab plan. Nobody watches you squat, run or lift a car seat before telling you that you are fine to resume everything, and that is the gap most people fall straight into.
Your abdominal wall, pelvic floor and hips spent nine months adapting, then went through a delivery. They do not reset on their own. Leaking when you run, heaviness by the end of the day, painful sex, a core that feels absent: all common, all treatable, and none of it something you have to wait out.
What people are told to live with.
None of this is the price of having a baby. Each one has a physical explanation and a physical treatment, and it does not matter whether you gave birth last month or nine years ago.
Leaking Urine
Urine escaping when you run, jump, cough or lift. Extremely common after birth, and not a trade you have to accept.
Pelvic Heaviness
A dragging or bearing-down feeling in the vagina, usually worse late in the day or after carrying your child around.
Painful Sex
Pain at penetration or a deep ache afterwards, often from scar tissue, a pelvic floor that will not let go, or both.
A Core That Feels Absent
You brace and nothing happens. The abdominal wall is not catching load, so the low back and hips take it instead.
Low Back and Hip Pain
Pain feeding, lifting the car seat, or standing while you rock a baby. Usually a load-sharing problem rather than a back injury.
Fear of Running Again
Every attempt ends in leaking, heaviness or pain, so you stop trying. That is a rehab problem, not a permanent state.
Test it, load it, put it back to work.
We start with what you want to do again: run, deadlift, carry a toddler up three flights of stairs. Then we test the system that has to do it. Pelvic floor, abdominal wall, hips and breathing get assessed together, because they work together and they fail together.
After that it is real strength work, progressed on what your body shows us rather than on the calendar. Pelvic floor assessment runs through our pelvic floor therapy service with Dr. Amelia Fly, PT, DPT, who holds a Level 1 certification in Pelvic Function.
No referral needed in Illinois. In-network with BCBS, PPO and Medicare, and we verify your plan before you start.
Six weeks or six years, start here.
No referral needed in Illinois. We are in-network with BCBS, PPO and Medicare, and we will verify your plan before you come in.
Your first visit is a full one-on-one evaluation. Tell us what you want back, whether that is a 5K, a barbell or picking up your toddler without bracing, and you leave with a plan pointed at it.
You’re all set.
We’ll reach out within one business day to confirm your appointment. If you need to speak with us sooner, call us directly.