Episode #67: Pregnancy exercise myths with Danielle Ufniak
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In today’s episode, Rhonda talks with special guest, Danielle Ufniak, about pregnancy exercise - what got her into physiotherapy, her two pregnancy experiences, and we even bust a few exercise myths while we’re at it!
Danielle Ufniak is the founder of Flow Physio + Wellness, a multidisciplinary clinic that includes physiotherapy, chiropractic care, massage therapy, paediatric care, Pilates, yoga and most relevant - women's pelvic health. Danielle is a registered physiotherapist, pelvic floor physiotherapist, certified perinatal fitness coach, certified mat and Reformer Pilates instructor and most recently, a mother to almost 2 children (currently expecting baby #2!) AND the author of the book 'Empowered Mama'. Danielle's mission is to help women feel empowered and confident while moving through the many transformational periods of their lives - periods, pregnancy, postpartum and beyond!
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LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN EPISODE
Danielle’s Website (Flow Physiotherapy + Wellness)
Buy Danielle’s Book on Amazon - Empowered Mama
PODCAST LINKS & RESOURCES
Check out Rhonda’s FREE Resource Library
Pelvic Health and Fitness Podcast
Book with Dayna (Rebirth Wellness)
SHOW NOTES:
(0:49) - Rhonda welcomes Danielle Ufniak to the show!
(2:12) - What got Danielle into physiotherapy?
(4:50) - How did Danielle set up her business to marry all of her passions?
(7:25) - Danielle talks through her experience in 2 pregnancies, things that have surprised her, and lessons in exercise she has learned along the way
(15:14) - We bust some prenatal exercise myths (i.e. - kegels are vital, low impact is required, if you stop exercising in first trimester you cannot reintroduce it into your pregnancy later on)
(25:21) - What Danielle recommends to clients in terms of exercise considerations for each trimester of pregnancy
(36:01) - All about the core - should we stop ALL core work in pregnancy?
(39:00) - On personalizing your pregnancy recovery
(43:32) - Danielle’s last little bit of advice for us today!
(45:27) - How to reach Danielle, and episode wrap up!
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Episode #67 - Pregnancy exercise myths with Danielle Ufniak
We're excited to have you join us for this episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness. I'm Dayna Morellato, Mom, Orthopedic and Pelvic Health Physiotherapist. And I'm Rhonda Chamberlain, Mom, Orthopedic Physiotherapist and Pre Postnatal Fitness Coach. On this show, we have open and honest conversations about all phases of motherhood, including fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, menopause, and everything in between.
We also provide helpful education and information on fitness, the pelvic floor, and many aspects of women's health, including physical, mental, and emotional wellness. Please remember as you listen to this podcast that this is not meant to treat or diagnose any medical conditions. Please contact your medical provider if you have specific questions or concerns.
Thanks so much for joining us. Grab a cup of coffee. Or wine. And enjoy!
Hi, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the pelvic health and fitness podcast. Today, I am honored to welcome my friend and colleague Danielle Ufniak. Danielle is the founder of Flow Physio and Wellness. a multidisciplinary clinic that includes physiotherapy, chiropractic care, massage therapy, pediatric care, Pilates, yoga, and most relevant women's women's pelvic health.
Danielle is a registered physiotherapist, pelvic floor physiotherapist, certified perinatal fitness coach certified mat and reformer Pilates instructor. And most recently a mother to almost two children. She is currently 31 weeks pregnant with number two. Congratulations. Thank you. If that wasn't enough and the author of the book empowered mama, you are up to a lot of things, Danielle.
So impressive. I know, I'm a forever student. Yes. Danielle's mission is to help women feel empowered and confident while moving through the many transformational periods of their lives. Periods, pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond. Thank you so much for joining me today, Danielle. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to chat with you.
So we got your, your bio there again, you're up to a lot of things, but do you want to just give our listeners just a little bit more background about you and what got you into the field of pelvic health physiotherapy? Yeah, definitely. So, um, I graduated from physiotherapy school, and I went right into working in a gym setting.
Um, I've only ever worked in gym settings, um, as a physio. So, working with a lot of athletes, and I would say a 50 50 split of like male and female athletes, and there was definitely some gaps in my knowledge, um, specifically coming to, female athletes, specifically around pregnancy and postpartum, and then also with some, um, symptoms that they were mentioning.
Um, so that definitely got me into exploring pelvic health, as well as I was a, Marathon runner, and I would pee, like, every race. So, once I learned that that was not normal, um, because it was something we did joke about at the time, black tights only, um, and so, out of, like, personal interest, plus working with this population in gym settings, I got into pelvic health.
And then during COVID, when I became pregnant with my own daughter, I was like, Oh, now I still have gaps in my knowledge within pelvic health, um, specifically in, uh, pregnancy and postpartum fitness and athleticism. So that that's when I pursued doing that certification through being Brianna battles course, which is how we got connected and, um, yeah, and it's really changed the trajectory of how I approach public health, uh, and women's health too.
So, um, it's been nice to marry the two. So cool. Yeah. We have that a lot in common in that regard, just in the sense of working out of a gym. I feel like that, that in and of itself is a more rare thing, right? Like, I think it's becoming more common, but definitely not the norm. Um, did you start your business right out of school then?
Um, I worked for a business for about a year and then when I did my pelvic health cert, that's when I went out on my own. Um, I just started small, like renting a space from another brick and mortar clinic, but I really did go out on my own because at the time this was 2015, um, the clinic, the clinic within the gym that I was working for, like, didn't understand that like pelvic floor physio, you need like a windowless room.
people clanging weights next door. Um, so it really like kind of gave me that push to into this entrepreneur space as well. Um, because I knew I had a vision in my mind of what I wanted to look like. And it was like very niche. Yeah. Amazing. So do you want to just tell our listeners a little bit about what, uh, sorry, your businesses flow?
Flow physio and wellness. Yeah, what what it looks like. How did you set it up to sort of marry all of those passions that you have? Yeah, so it started out as just me. Um, and I chose the name flow because of Um the theory of flow state so it's the theory of Um, it's by this, uh, I don't know, I guess, philosopher at Chicksama High, where you enter a state where time, uh, passes without you even knowing things feel effortless and it's your happy place.
And so, especially working with athletes and really movement being a pillar of my business. I want it. I want people to help them find their flow state and whatever it is they love to do so. The that's where the name came from. And it was just me. And then I met my now husband, David, who was in chiropractic school at the time.
Um, and so when he graduated, he came on. Um, and it was just the two of us for a few years. And then during COVID, we opened our own brick and mortar and we brought on more team members. Um, and it was funny, like with everyone we've brought on, it's been like kind of law of attraction where they've reached out to us and have said, like, we like what you're doing and we very much align with you.
So it's been easy to build because like, it's been people that are already in our space and have our values and like very similar professions, um, or. Niche of, uh, patient like caseload. So that's amazing. Yeah, that's what's so wonderful about social media. You know, we connected via social media. Hmm. Yeah, you can just be, you know, putting your message out there, putting your values out there.
And that's a wonderful way to get employees, right? Versus trying to just put a random ad out there and just hope for the best that they're going to align with you, right? That's amazing to just attract those people that way. Yeah. Yeah. It felt organic. It felt authentic to the business. And, um, I think the, because it's multidisciplinary, when people come in and they see one or more of us, it feels very much like everyone's on the same page, which, um, my core values around physio and women's health are very strong.
And so like, I definitely need a team to use that same language and reflect those same goals if they're going to work. With me. That sounds such a beautiful environment that you've created, Danielle. Very cool. So do you want to just share with us a little bit more about your story with your pregnancy? So you're right in the middle of your second pregnancy now.
What were some things, you know, you have this background, this knowledge. What were some things that still surprised you or, you know, lessons you had to learn in regards to exercise during your pregnancies and are probably still learning. Yes, still learning for sure. Um, yes, my first one. I think that's why I'm finding this pregnancy like much more liberating.
I'm finding it much more enjoyable because a lot of the things my first pregnancy, like I had the pelvic health information. Um, I think a few differences were. My, um, like feeling need of being in control was really hard for me to give up. I'm very type A and that feeling out of control doesn't sit well with me.
And I, a lot of women that I speak to kind of like resonate with that as well. Um, and not knowing what's to come is also super. Scary. Um, so that is a bit, it was like a big theme. Um, also creating boundaries, boundaries around work, um, boundaries around how I use my limited and still being limited energy supply, um, adaptability, because something that I really do, um, hit home with women is that things change week to week.
Um, And not kind of have experiencing a change and then spiraling and being like, it's only going to get worse from here. Um, kind of seeing it as more of this like ebb and flow. Um. Then like a kind of like a linear trajectory in terms of in terms of everything in terms of performance, symptoms, energy, mood, everything.
So, um, I think those were the biggest things that prepared me for this pregnancy. Um, the first one I also had a big problem letting go of. Um, and comparison, which Brianna talks a lot about in her course, and, um, now I've implemented a lot in my treatment, especially with social social media and comparison being so readily available, um, online.
Uh, it's. That is something that I've had to really do some self work on. Amazing. So yeah, this time around, do you find you're able to sort of like scale back a little easier, modify a little easier versus your first pregnancy? Yes. Yeah. I've been more gentle with myself is how I would. Um, also just listening to my body, um, the first, so before becoming pregnant with my daughter, Lennon, I was doing CrossFit and I thought, Oh, well, I have to continue doing CrossFit because things can't change ever.
Um, whereas this one I was doing, I was doing strength training and Pilates and running before, and then once. My pregnancy came running is really the only thing that has felt good in my body and that I my body has liked doing So I've kind of just gone with that and I've given up the other things without guilt And I think that's a big part of it too is like not feeling guilty Also, I am proud to say I have not weighed myself once this pregnancy.
Whereas the last pregnancy I weighed myself every single day, I could tell you exactly to the pound how much weight I gained from beginning to end, which is sad. I relate. Yeah. Like there's so much more to it than that. And so I'm really proud of myself for that as well. Yeah, that's amazing. I know. I wish I could go back in time and learn all these lessons before I came to this world after my two kids more because I had.
A challenging postpartum recovery pregnancies, I knew enough to scale back but definitely could have done a better job of being kind to myself like you said, and yeah for sure tried to, you know, have the belly only pregnancy which is like, what does that even mean we can't control that. And for sure, like weighed myself and now where I'm at, like, if I were, I'm not having any more kiddos, but if I were, my experience would be 100 percent different.
So in terms of body image, did you do anything to sort of heal that side of yourself to let go of maybe those ideas of, yeah, you know, only gaining a certain amount of weight? How did you get to this point with your second pregnancy? Um, I think after going through pregnancy and postpartum the first time and realizing how much of a blip that season truly is in the grand scheme of things, like, not getting hung up on it, it's easy not to get hung up on it once you're on the other side and you see like, oh, okay, you know, I'm 12 months now postpartum and that.
My, my world and my body feel so different than, you know, 12 months ago, and 12 months is nothing over the course of a lifetime. And so really reminding myself that this is a season, this season will end. So you might as well enjoy it when you can. And I, knowing that this is my last, um, pregnancy as well has really helped with that.
Cause I'm like, Nope, stop with the negativity. Sit in this and enjoy it, be present, take it for what it is, learn from it, and then get ready for the next season. Such a great outlook. How was your postpartum experience with your first? Um, it was, I was very lucky. It was very good. Um, physically, I would say mentally it was tough because it was still going.
I probably should have. Talk to someone, um, like more of like on the mental health side of things with, uh, postpartum, like specifically I err on the side of anxiety and now having more people in my network that do do, um, perinatal mental wellness, um, And for some warning signs that they've told me I'm like, Oh, yeah, I should have talked to someone.
So this time, more open to that. And just more aware of what to look out for. Physically, it was. Good. And I do think that I was very gentle with myself physically postpartum because I have seen the effects of jumping into things too quickly. Um, and how hard it is to undo some of those compensations and strategies once you start using them.
So, uh, I think that was something that I was like very aware of, um, and still am. So, yeah. Awesome. So the reason I reached out to you to record today is you have been posting sort of openly on Instagram with your pregnancy journey with exercise. I just love some of the message messages you're putting out there.
Um, one of the things we learned in Brianna battles course is the pendulum swing that exists with exercise right so you know back in the day we the joke in the course is like our grandmas weren't doing CrossFit right so. Messaging back then would have been, you know, go swimming, just take it easy, do yoga, which is a interesting statement because yoga is not a benign activity either walking, right?
And then the pendulum kind of swung the opposite way with, yeah, CrossFit and like, you're hardcore, you know, just keep doing what you've always done. And where, you know, I think. What Brianna Battles course does well and what we as coaches try to do is find sort of like that messy middle for people. So let's talk a little bit about just like some of the myths that still exist.
There's still a lot of misinformation and just mixed information for pregnant folks. In regards to exercise, the first one that comes to mind for me, um, and you want, if you want to talk through this is Kegels, right? So we, I feel like Kegels has had like, you know, everyone knows what Kegels are now. Most people do.
I also hate that it was named after a man. Like, Yes. I refuse to use that term in my practice. I'm like, no. It's, it's a political, yeah, I'll say the whole, the whole mouthful. for you. Good for you. Yeah. So I feel like, you know, everyone learn about Kegels. Everyone almost was taught like, you're gonna Kegel all the time.
Just Kegel, Kegel, Kegel a hundred times a day. Mm-hmm, . And then, you know, now some of the messaging you see online is like, kegels are bad for you. Kegels are gonna make your symptoms worse. And I think again, like anything. Let's find that messy middle. So do you want to just talk us through key goals during pregnancy?
Yeah, so normally I encourage women to come in in first trimester, um, I've actually heard of some pelvic floor physios that will, like, will refuse to treat in first trimester, but I think it's such a scary time and such a great time to slip in some of this information and education and bust some myths, like, before things start.
Changing. So with Kegels is something we address day one, and how I approach it is I say like, we don't ever want to learn just one thing. We want to learn to use our body in all the ways. So you definitely want to be able to do a contraction, but we also then need to be able to learn how to relax. Um, and it's more about Coordination than gaining strength in pregnancy.
I want you to be coordinated as a pregnant woman and not just like trying to get as strong as possible. And if we think about any of the muscles in our body, most of the muscles in our body, they work in a contract, relax.
Um, and so I really do show people in my, like, in my own body with my own muscles, like what that would present like, and once they see that they understand the importance of being able to do both sides of that pendulum, find your contraction, but then be able to let it go, um, and everywhere in between.
And we also talk a lot about Um, tension to task, which is something that Brianna talks about in her course, but I really like the analogy of like, it's not a light switch. It's not a grip or a full like release. Like you can use it as a dial too. And you can find as much support in your pelvic floor muscles as you need for whatever it is that you're doing.
And however, challenging that. Thing is so, um, yeah, that's how I educate on it. And then how I implemented in practice is I don't ever prescribe equals ever. Um, I educate women how it's naturally part of. The movements we're going to be doing and what they're already doing in their daily lives as well.
And so it's not about adding exercises or adding kegels in bed every night. It's about becoming more intentional and aware of when your pelvic floor is doing those. things. When it is, when is it contracting? When is it relaxing? Um, even being intentional, like mindful of like, Oh, I just coughed and I didn't leak.
So my pelvic floor must've contracted, um, or I went pee and it was effortless. So my pelvic floor must've been relaxed. So just like kind of showing them the situations. Needed for both, um, and incorporating it into some of the exercise we do together. Amazing. That's beautiful. And I think the other sort of myth that exists out there, and this is something I sort of.
He considered or thought about before I knew about pelvic floor before I learned this, this world. Um, you know, I was doing CrossFit when I was pregnant and I sort of thought to myself, and the message I heard was, yeah, you want a strong pelvic floor to push your baby out, right? Like you want a strong core, you want.
Right. I think that's such a common myth too. And it makes sense, right? If you think of it sort of physically where like, yeah, you want that strong contraction to push baby out. Do you want to just touch on that about how that's not entirely true? Yeah. I, in fact, it's like completely the opposite. Right. Um, so yes.
So pelvic floor muscles are, well, there is a series of them that are sphincteric in nature, meaning that they. close like a sphincter or relax. And we actually need them to be completely relaxed to have as minimal barrier to kind of entry or exit for pushing baby out. The muscles we actually want to train would be our transverse abdominis to create more intra abdominal pressure.
to then push baby down and out. And then the other big muscle group is the uterus, which you don't have a ton of control over. Um, but, and then breathing, using our breathing and our bracing with our transverse abdominus muscles and that pressure management to have an effective push. Um, but I also have been lately, um, educating on like intensity of push.
I really feel like we over over emphasize like this really powerful hundred percent push where our pelvic floor muscles like a little bit of a warm up period they don't want a baby rocketing through them so like really training for this like you know this five minutes of pushing that's it like the like a race type of situation I find is, um, can be really harmful for your tissues.
Uh, so telling them it's not a race and like explaining pelvic floor needs to feel relaxed. Um, I still do some perennial retraining and some pelvic floor muscle. I don't call it Like perennial massage, because we're not massaging, but pelvic floor relaxation training closer to birth as well with my patients.
Amazing. Yeah, thank you for that. So, the other thing I wanted to touch on, myth wise, if a client, so, you know, many people, myself included, experience nauseousness and just not feeling great during the first trimester, And maybe just don't have it in them to exercise, right? And again, if I were to do it again, I would have been much more gentler with myself, but I still force myself to try to work out during that time.
But, uh, you know, if folks maybe are not feeling it and they just would rather rest or stretch or whatever that might be. And then they might have been told, you know, like during pregnancy, it's safe to continue doing things that you've always been doing, right? Like running maybe, for example. But say someone has that fear, well, I didn't run that entire three months of my first trimester, maybe now it's not safe to start running again.
Do you want to talk about that? Yeah, um, that is just 100 percent a myth. So, um, there used to be a lot of medical professionals that would say, Oh, if you weren't working out prior to pregnancy, or you know, you took a big break, not a good time to reintroduce movement into your pregnancy. Um, or. You know, if you were a runner or you were doing CrossFit before, like don't introduce a new style of movement or a new type of fitness.
And I find, I think that's so detrimental and like already pigeonholes you so much. Um, from personal experience, I did nothing in either of my first trimesters and the second trimester. Yeah. Switch just went off and I said, I'm good to go. Let's. this. And I kind of jumped back. Well, I didn't jump back in. I waited back then.
Um, but yeah, I think when they're in that moment of feeling crappy. Just reminding them, like, again, a very small season of pregnancy of the whole overall journey. And you can reintroduce this, um, Like this movement that you want to do in second trimester. And if that movement. doesn't feel good, we can try anything else.
So, um, and that's why I pursued Pilates because my background is strength training, um, and running specifically, but I found for patients that maybe came from either of those backgrounds, but then were like, no, this is still not working for me. Maybe like I feel better, but these. Um, it's nice to have like a third kind of facet of movement that they can experiment with, with me.
Um, so yeah, I think you don't even need to stay in your like wheelhouse or your pre pregnancy kind of like movement identifier. Um, it's a nice time to explore other movements, um, and use some of the strategies. Um, so I think it's a great time to just explore different ways to move. Um, One of our mentors, Anthony Lowe, always talks about move all the ways.
Right. So just, yeah. Try things and just see how it feels. What a great skill then for someone to have as they move into postpartum, right. And just them that all movement counts is, you know, something I talk about all the time, all movement counts. It all counts as a workout because you're honoring where your body's at.
You're meeting it where it's at. You are moving in a way that's going to honor, you know, your longterm health. So like check, check, check. Right. So that's a great, yeah. Well, so what are some, uh, recommendations or considerations that you talk to your clients about in each trimester when it comes to exercise?
Again, I know there's a lot of myths out there of like, don't lift over a certain amount of weight or, you know, don't do certain things in your first trimester, last trimester. What are some things that you talk about? Yeah. So in first trimester, we really hit home about like, Okay, here is what's going to happen inside of your body.
I like to do a ton of anatomy and education prep work so that they can read very much visualize what is happening in their body because it makes them more, it makes them better intuitive movers of what they'll probably have to change, right? Once they understand how everything works together. So We front load it with a lot of that and we talk a lot about how it's normal to not be able to move at all in your first trimester and to really prioritize hydration, um, to just like, even if you're quite sedentary, which is fine, but still lots of position changes because the human body doesn't like to be in one position for too long.
Even if you have a desk job, right? We want to switch things up. So we talk about that. Um, and then we talk about. Um, like working on some strategies, like maybe you're not. running, maybe you're not strength training, but while you're sitting at your desk, can you do a few core breaths for me? Right? So like, can we get these little movement snacks in or these little kind of training snacks in so that when you do feel better, if you do, You can then use those almost like little accessory prep things that we did and then apply them to your big movements again.
So that's what we do in like first trimester. Um, and then the beginning of second, once they start feeling better, that's the time I get into like a lot of myth busting. Specifically, I find the biggest questions for me are around heart rate, um, and breathing around core exercise, um, and around impact. Um, I would say those are like the big three that we really hone in on for a second trimester, because that's when women's bodies are changing and they start getting very concerned about those three things.
You want to just get a little deeper into that then let's start with like, what do you talk about with heart rate? Yeah, so okay, for example, myself with this pregnancy, I have loved running. It's just felt really good. Um, and it horrifies some people to see me out there. Um, and so with, with, um, heart rate, I Um, and I think it's really important to, to, to, to give women the, that like kind of freedom away from tracking it, um, because I think it is so detrimental to their fitness.
Um, so there was a study done, I think it was in the eighties that said like, don't 40 and nothing since really. Um, nothing that I've found since. So. Um, not great. I tell women like Obviously, we don't want to be in our, like, max heart rate zone. So, find your max, 220 minus your age. Like, you don't want to be in that 80 to 100 percent of your max for, you know, for longer than probably 30 minutes.
And truly, that would be something that's really hard to do even, like, before pregnancy. And with the structural changes that occur, like, you're not even physically going to be able to hit that, probably. So Um, that's kind of like a window that I give them, but I'm more so like RPE, which is rate of perceived exertion.
Um, or my favorite thing that I've probably say a thousand times a week in clinic is you can be breathy, but not breathless. In terms of that, how I describe it is like, if you and I were going for a run side by side, maybe we're not talking, because we are really focusing on our breathing, and we should be, um, but if we were to stop, you wouldn't need to And collect yourself for a minute, you know, before saying a sentence to me.
We should be able to stop and then you turn to me and say a sentence. That's kind of the outline I give women. Um, and some women love that kind of freedom to then explore and push themselves. Some women do like the 140. They have to do whatever works for them and their comfortability in their pregnancy, and that's not for me to decide.
But I do like to give them all that education about like where these numbers are coming from and other strategies they can use for aerobic exercise. Like informed consent, right? We talked about that as well. All the time, right? Just giving people options because I think again, we have grown up in, you know, generations where it's these very hard and fast rules with maybe not a lot of context or yeah, studies back in the day that maybe aren't holding up, holding true today.
So just giving that wide array of information, you can do this, you can do this, you can do this, and then what feels right for you. I love that. Yeah, yeah, amazing. So the next one you mentioned was impact. So what do you talk about clients with that? So like skipping, running, you know, box jumps, those types of exercises, those types of movements.
How do you discuss that during pregnancy? Yeah, so again, I think giving them a lot more freedom than they feel like they have, um, and some of them what may have been told by their medical professional, like their OB or whoever their care provider is like to avoid it, but, um, I can assess that much easier than they can in their office.
Um, they can, I can watch them do a box jump. I can watch them run. And so I think it should be up for more of like a conversation between me and the pregnant person than in, you know, in their office, they're on their back, they have no clothes on. Right. So, um, what we talk about impact is we want to be symptom free, obviously.
So we, I do a lot of education again on like,
Um, and we go over all those symptoms and like some of those symptoms include, you know, pelvic pain. Are you leaking? Do you feel heavy? Are you having to like hold your breath and really grip everything to do this movement? Do you have back pain? Do you have hip pain? Do you have pelvic girdle pain when you do it?
Um, and With impact and with core to sometimes I get them to show me like their absolute max effort and then do something more a little more controlled while I'm queuing them so they can see and feel the difference between the two because they'll be like, Oh yeah, this one. That I just went balls to the wall that felt yucky compared to when you cued me a little bit and then I, I, it kind of gives them that little, again, that intuitive athlete, like getting a sense of what truly does feel good.
Um, and then my only concern with impact is, is it safe? So for me doing burpee box jumps on a Good non pregnant day is not even a safe activity. I failed so many times. So as a pregnant athlete, I don't consider that safe. I consider that way too risky. Um, so I don't do that, but for someone else, they might feel very proficient in it and super confident and like they're agile.
And more coordinated than me. They might continue to do that throughout pregnancy. So, again, it is such an individual experience, and I really try to reiterate that. Um, and I say, I like to say, like, that's where we're at this week, but, like, next week you have to re evaluate, and the week after you'll have to re evaluate, because things change so much.
so frequently during pregnancy. And I think that, you know, gets probably into a whole deeper conversation that you and I went through ourselves of that identity piece and identifying with yourself as an athlete. And I think a lot of people struggle to let that go during pregnancy, right? So something like a burpee box job, it's like, if I, you know, can't do it, or if I take that off the table, then I'm not the athlete I once was.
Where, you know, just reminding folks that it is a temporary time, it doesn't define you as an athlete if you have to modify certain things, but I think that's the struggle, right? For a lot of folks that are just so tied. To that athletic identity and just can't seem to let those things go during pregnancy.
Yeah, yeah, but you have to cut circle back to that like risk first reward, right? Like, is the risk of this movement or the symptoms that you might be feeling like worth it. Um, we also have to like always circle back to like, what will this do for my postpartum healing and recovery? So, and I think putting that in perspective for some of those more, um, like like steadfast athletes.
Um, it does help. Like I say, I kind of reframe it like, okay, we'll take this out now because that will really help you postpartum return to, you know, what you do love to do. So it Yeah, it's a it's a risk. And again, they have to make that decision for themselves. But I'm here to help kind of Um, I don't know if that's a good way to put it, but I think it's a good way to kind of like guide it or educate.
Yeah. Yeah. Bodily autonomy. But again, giving that full picture, that full spectrum view with the education that we have. Right. Because a lot of people, myself included, I didn't know a lot of these pelvic floor things when I was pregnant, even as a physiotherapist. Yeah. So. Perhaps had someone said, you know, doing some of these things now may potentially impact your pelvic floor down the road.
Maybe I wouldn't have changed. Maybe I would. Who knows, right? But give that information and then bodily autonomy. People can choose what they want to do, but at least they have that guidance. They have that info. Yes. Yeah. And then the last one, I'm curious to talk more about this with you, because again, I think this is something you shared in your posts with core exercise, right?
So I think that is sort of that, um, grey area where people feel confused as well, like, should I stop all core? Can I do some core? What core is safe? What's unsafe? Can you talk to us a little bit about that during pregnancy? Yeah, so I guess my overall urging message of pregnancy is please do core throat.
Um, because, and, and I, I really think it comes within the context of like what is our core, because I'm not talking about your six pack, I'm not talking about crunches. I'm talking about this whole trunk canister and making sure that that whole unit of muscles is working cohesively together. Um, and truthfully, every exercise becomes a core exercise when you're pregnant.
Um, especially when you get into second, third trimester. And when I say training core, I'm talking about movements that involve like full body stability that involve breathing, queuing at specific times, um, and involve some type of like coordination or control aspect as well of our trunk, which is like how, how I picture the body and my practice is like a.
Can with like arms and legs coming off of it and a head and so when I say core, I'm talking about that whole can so It is kind of hard not to train your core during pregnancy, but, um, I think a lot of the body changes and a lot of the common symptoms I see, low back pain, hip pain, pelvic girdle pain, could be readily addressed, um, if we train core throughout.
Um, so that's kind of my overarching theme. And then within that, people are very wary of lying on their back to do core. extreme fear of diastasis that I see that still persists, um, and a lot of not Feeling confident in making exercise decisions for themselves. Those are kind of the three big things that I see pregnant women struggle with when they come into clinic.
Yeah. Yeah. So interesting. I think just reframing what is core exercise. I think educating people like you just started out with about what actually is your core again, even as a physiotherapist, like learning about that core canister and like, oh, I don't know how to do that in school. Like, that's. This is brand new information.
So yeah, you know, educating clients that like a front squat is a core exercise. Like I talk about that all the time, right. And just like you said, coordinating your breath is going to engage those muscles in a way to do what we need to do to keep that core. strong, coordinated, whatever that goal might be, right?
So I love that answer. And so I think this is where it would be helpful for folks that are listening that are like, well, I, you know, thank you Danielle for the, for this information, but I'm still confused. Like what, what, what is the logistics of like, what can I do? What can I not do? But Working with a pelvic floor physiotherapist, working with a postpartum fitness coach is that guidance, is that encouragement to, you know, go through the things that feel good for you, give you that individualized approach.
I think that's sort of the missing piece that a lot of folks don't know exists, right? Um, yeah, yeah, I have women come in that have had fairly straightforward pregnancies, no real issues or symptoms to address in clinic, but they would like to, for me to have eyes on them, watch them do some of these core movements and just give them that reassurance that Yeah, things look great.
Um, or try this or breathe at this time. And, um, also showing them like what is their diastasis, how to find it, how to feel it, getting comfortable with it. Like, truthfully, my first pregnancy, I didn't, if I didn't even want to like feel my belly, like during exercise and really like being in tune with it and and having your hands on it when you're doing some of these movements can be so helpful to create this.
Body education and body awareness, um, to help you make your own decisions as a pregnant athlete. So, um, we do a lot of that together too, and a lot of myth busting. I think, like you said, just. Giving that permission that maybe, you know, people don't realize that they need to try things, right. Even pregnancy, I think.
Many of us have this fear that yeah, like, Oh, if I, if I jump or if I skip, I'm going to ruin my pelvic floor forever. And that's just not true. Our body is much more resilient than that. Right. And so even a core, you know, a core movement, you know, someone might say like, Oh, I was told I can't do a plank.
Let's try it. Try it. Let's see how it looks. Let's see how it feels. If it feels okay, again, you're not, you're not going to cause a diastasis. Like diastasis is a naturally occurring event in the body to make room for baby. It's not going to rip your abs apart like many of us were led to believe. Right.
And so if you do that plank and maybe it doesn't feel great. Okay. We tried it. Let's modify. Right. It's giving people that, that permission and that removing that fear. You're not going to do irreversible damage by trying something. Yes, yes. And, um, I'm still teaching a weekly Pilates class and I preface every class with, Hey, I'm going to try and demo these movements to the best of my abilities.
Um, but if I get up and I start just walking and telling you what to do, it's because I no longer can. So I'm still week after week. I'll try something and be like, Nope, Nope. Can't do that anymore. Um, and it's. It's a good, it's a good learning experience and it makes me feel more confident in my ability to know my own body.
And I really encourage that in my pregnant and you know what, in all my patients, cause even in my Pilates class, I'll cue a movement and people will look at me like, I can't do that. And I say, just try, let's see. What it looks like. So this, these are strategies and habits and I guess thought beliefs that are helpful for pregnancy, but make us better athletes for life.
I think this, um, permission to try and know our own bodies. Yeah. And that can transfer just into regular life too, right? You know, someone might be nervous to pick something up at the grocery store, right? But it's like, if you are learning these things and you practice these things in the gym, it's going to transfer into everyday life to give you that confidence that, Oh, I am so much stronger than I ever thought I was.
And I know that's, you love doing that, Danielle. That's what I love doing. Just empowering people, making them realize that, yeah, again, they're so much stronger than they thought they were. Yes, totally. Yeah. Empowerment, education, movement. Those are like our pillars. Like, I love when a patient doesn't feel like they need me anymore.
And that's truly empowerment, like giving them those tools and that education and that. Knowing themselves so that they can go out in the world and like live their life to their fullest potential. So we touched on a lot of amazing things. I think this is going to be such helpful information for people.
Is there sort of like a take home message, last little tidbit of advice that you want to leave our listeners with today that you didn't touch on already? Um, I guess. Well, I think a big, um, part of prenatal pelvic floor physio and prenatal fitness is, I don't think it gets as much recognition as postpartum, um, on social media, in The women's health space.
I think postpartum is what women really dwell about and I think there is a mentality of like, let me just get through this pregnancy and I'm going to deal with my body after. And I don't think we need to live that way. think there should be more care during that prenatal period. I still have women come in postpartum and say, I didn't know I could see a pelvic floor physio during pregnancy.
And that to me is sad because they could have maybe had a much more enjoyable experience or a much more positive experience or felt. A lot more, um, like self advocacy and like autonomy than, uh, it, especially surrounding labor and birth. Um, and so I guess my take home would be that prenatal fitness and prenatal pelvic floor physio are just as important as postpartum.
Um, and. It should be the start of this journey. Uh, in knowing yourself is the beginning of pregnancy. Don't wait till postpartum. Don't wait to just fix your body after let's work on it throughout. Let's build good habits and a good foundation now to serve you for postpartum. Yeah. All right, so thank you so much for joining us today, Danielle.
Do you want to just leave our listeners with how they can reach out to you, how they can work with you? So yeah, I'd love to hear some contact info and then tell us just a little bit more about your book too. Yeah, so, um, people can find me at our website. It's just flow wellness. ca and it has all the fun things that are going on in our clinic and any workshops and the run club I run here in Bowmanville, um, and all of that.
I also have some freebie PDFs on there. I have a postpartum ramp up program, uh, on there. It's eight weeks and it kind of takes you from discovery That like medical clearance back to the gym or studio of your choosing. So it's very much that like weird gray zone, I call it. So I have that on there. Um, and, uh, they can also find me on Instagram.
It's flow physio wellness. Um, I am going to be off soon, so I will not be taking new patients, but I have a wonderful team and I'll shout out my husband, David. He is a prenatal chiropractor, prenatal infant chiropractor. So we're so lucky to have him too. He's going to be running the show when I'm off. Um, And then, yeah, my book, Empowered Mama, so it is a, um, prenatal pelvic health guide and journal for pregnancy.
Um, and so why I created it was, Journaling was very important to me during my last pregnancy because again of the anxiety that I was experiencing it felt really good to just like put it on paper and then it felt less scary and daunting and I actually went back and read my journal for my first pregnancy and some of my thoughts.
Thoughts and beliefs. I was like, Whoa, that's wild. So it's, it's been, it's been really nice this time to be able to look back and read through it and like almost reassuring in a way of like how much better I'm doing now. So that's why there's a journal component and like almost more of like this. Get it on paper, get it out of your brain component from because for me that was super important.
Um, and I've also included a lot of prompts from specialists in the field like yourself, um, just talking about some of those common, um, themes that come up in pregnancy. And so putting tidbits from Um, experts in all parts of prenatal health. So, um, we have naturopaths, we have fitness coaches, we have physios, we have dualism and more, and.
So I like that side of it, kind of get a more holistic look. And then the pelvic health guide part is mindfulness and exercise recommendations and general information divided into each trimester. So making it more bite sized chunks, then You know, being inundated with all of the pregnancy information at once, because I also think that's very overwhelming for people.
Um, so I've kind of married the two. Here's the education now let's reflect on it and then education reflect and all the way through to fourth trimester. Oh, and yeah, I have a copy myself, Danielle. It's so beautiful. So well laid out. I honestly, as I'm flipping through it, I'm like, I wish I had this. During my pregnancy, I also love journaling and just would have been such a great resource.
So I'm going to put all of that in the show notes. So if folks are listening and thinking, Oh, I need to get that, they can find that in the show notes. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us today, Danielle. Such a great conversation. And again, such helpful information for people. Yeah.
Thanks for having me. It was so great to chat with you. Thanks for listening to today's podcast. We hope you enjoyed the conversation. If you liked what you heard, we would love if you could share this with a friend, leave us a review, or subscribe to anywhere that you listen to your podcasts. Thanks for being here.
