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Gráinne Donnelly is back — and this time she's the editor and primary author of a brand-new Elsevier textbook, Sports Medicine and the Pelvic Floor: Science to Practice. It's the book this field has been waiting for... and the honest truth at its heart is that we don't know everything yet. What we do have is the clearest picture so far of where the science actually stands.

An Advanced Practice Pelvic Health Physiotherapist and doctoral researcher, Gráinne walks us through what the current evidence shows on returning to running, graded loading, and where adjuncts like pelvic compression garments may fit — and what they can't promise. We get into grounded running as a bridge back to impact, the gap between research and real clinical life, and why "we don't actually know yet," said with confidence, beats the false certainty all over social media.

A conversation for the clinicians and the active moms in the same room.

Time Stamps

1:00 introduction

5:46 updates on the research

11:40 external support garments

20:24 clinical implications

23:24 Sports Medicine and the Pelvic Floor - Science to Practice book

33:13 planning for what is next

41:50 storytelling as a form of health communication

49:30 reexamining advice you give patients as you learn more

CONNECT WITH CARRIE

IG: https://www.instagram.com/carriepagliano/

Website: https://carriepagliano.com

Course waitlist: https://course.carriepagliano.com/RSAWL

CONNECT WITH GRÁINNE:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grainnedonnelly_absolutephysio/

Website: www.absolute.physio

The Active Mom Podcast is A Real Moms' Guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond for active moms & the professionals who help them in their journey.

This show has been a long time in the making!

You can expect conversation with moms and professionals from all aspects of the industry.

If you're like me, you don't have a lot of free time (heck, you're probably listening at 1.5x speed), so theses interviews will be quick hits to get your the pertinent information FAST!

If you love what you hear, share the podcast with a friend and leave us a 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and review. It helps us become more visible in the search algorithm! (Helps us get seen by more moms that need to hear these stories!!!!)

Send us Fan Mail

Hildee Weiss didn't run her first full mile until she was 46. And honestly? She was convinced she'd look ridiculous doing it… like Phoebe from Friends, flailing around while everyone stared. (If you're Gen X, you already get it.)

Fast forward 12 years and she's 57, a mom of five, a grandma of five, and she's done 5Ks, half marathons, trail races, two Spartan races… the whole thing. Not to shrink herself. Not to earn her food. Just because she gets to.

We get into all of it: starting from zero in your 40s, finally walking away from the scale she called her "metal monster," lifting heavy after 50, and what it actually took to come back after a hysterectomy when she didn't even recognize herself anymore.

If you've been telling yourself it's too late… I really want you to hear this one. Her book, Embracing My Inner Athlete, is out now.

Time Stamps

1:00 introduction

7:10 having 5 children in 8 years

10:05 Gen X weight loss culture

15:29 changing mindset around diet and exercise

19:11 chasing number goals

23:16 difference in generations and how they view exercise

26:15 remembering the first starting line

35:58 redefining success and failure

41:35 coming back from injury and hysterectomy

49:01 it’s never too late to start

51:41 rapid fire questions

CONNECT WITH CARRIE

IG: https://www.instagram.com/carriepagliano/

Website: https://carriepagliano.com

Course waitlist: https://course.carriepagliano.com/RSAWL

CONNECT WITH HILDE:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/momoffive68/

Website: http://sites.google.com/view/Hildee-Weiss-author

The Active Mom Podcast is A Real Moms' Guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond for active moms & the professionals who help them in their journey.

This show has been a long time in the making!

You can expect conversation with moms and professionals from all aspects of the industry.

If you're like me, you don't have a lot of free time (heck, you're probably listening at 1.5x speed), so theses interviews will be quick hits to get your the pertinent information FAST!

If you love what you hear, share the podcast with a friend and leave us a 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and review. It helps us become more visible in the search algorithm! (Helps us get seen by more moms that need to hear these stories!!!!)

Send us Fan Mail

What happens when the body that carried you through marathons suddenly starts changing the rules on you mid-stride…?

In this episode, I sit down with Whitney Heins — founder of The Mother Runners run community, host of the Mother Runners Podcast, and a lifelong runner who chased an Olympic Qualifying marathon time through years of frustrating injuries before becoming a certified running coach herself. Whitney knows the gap between what training is supposed to look like and what running through motherhood and perimenopause actually feels like… and she's here to talk about all of it.

We get into the realities of masters running: how shifting hormones change training, recovery, and injury risk as you move through perimenopause, why pelvic health belongs squarely in this conversation, and what it takes to stop rushing the comeback and start recovering smart. Whitney opens up about the mental side of injury — the pressure to bounce back fast, the identity tangled up in our race times — and how learning to reset goals instead of abandoning them can change your entire trajectory as an athlete. Plus, how raising active kids reshaped the way she thinks about her own running, and why staying open to doing things differently might be the most athletic move of all.

Whether you're a runner navigating perimenopause, a mom training around real life, or a clinician supporting active women through these transitions — this conversation is for you.

In this episode:

• Masters running and what really changes after 40
• Perimenopause, hormones & pelvic health for runners
• The mental load of injury recovery & the pressure to "bounce back"
• Resetting goals and expectations when your body shifts the rules
• Raising active kids — and what they teach us about our own training

Time Stamps

1:00 introduction

6:39 speaking “teenage boy”

10:04 training your daughter

14:30 navigating years of injury

17:55 deciding to find a new coach

23:55 talking more about perimenopause and menopause

29:45 hormone therapy in perimenopause and menopause

33:23 having guests on podcasts

39:43 being open to trying something different

43:50 rapid fire questions

CONNECT WITH CARRIE

IG: https://www.instagram.com/carriepagliano/

Website: https://carriepagliano.com

Course waitlist: https://course.carriepagliano.com/RSAWL

CONNECT WITH WHITNEY:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themotherrunners/

Website: www.themotherrunners.com

The Active Mom Podcast is A Real Moms' Guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond for active moms & the professionals who help them in their journey.

This show has been a long time in the making!

You can expect conversation with moms and professionals from all aspects of the industry.

If you're like me, you don't have a lot of free time (heck, you're probably listening at 1.5x speed), so theses interviews will be quick hits to get your the pertinent information FAST!

If you love what you hear, share the podcast with a friend and leave us a 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and review. It helps us become more visible in the search algorithm! (Helps us get seen by more moms that need to hear these stories!!!!)

Send us Fan Mail

Your bones started changing before you noticed. Most women don't find out until something breaks.

Dr. Jocelyn Wittstein — orthopedic surgeon at Duke and co-author of The Complete Bone and Joint Health Plan — is here to change that. We dig into what perimenopause and menopause actually do to your bones, joints, and shoulders, why osteoporosis risk flies under the radar for active women, and what the research on frozen shoulder and hormone therapy is finally telling us.

If you've felt "off" in your body in your 40s and couldn't explain it… this is the episode.

We cover:

• Bone density loss in perimenopause & menopause
• Frozen shoulder, hormones & why women are disproportionately affected
• Osteoporosis risk factors most providers miss
• Low energy availability & your musculoskeletal system
• Sleep, nutrition & exercise for long-term bone health
• What rehab after hip surgery actually looks like

Not medical advice. Always consult your own provider.

Time Stamps

1:00 introduction

6:12 starting the perimenopause journey

12:12 why do we wait until 65 for DEXA scan?

18:23 the importance of HRT
23:20 how exercise intervention helps

27:33 inflammation and joint pain

37:04 putting together all of the symptoms

41:45 changing reception of HRT

43:40 advice to former self

53:20 practical advice with nuance

57:32 worst health traits

62:41 rapid fire questions

CONNECT WITH CARRIE

IG: https://www.instagram.com/carriepagliano/

Website: https://carriepagliano.com

Course waitlist: https://course.carriepagliano.com/RSAWL

CONNECT WITH JOCELYN:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jocelyn_wittstein_md/

The Active Mom Podcast is A Real Moms' Guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond for active moms & the professionals who help them in their journey.

This show has been a long time in the making!

You can expect conversation with moms and professionals from all aspects of the industry.

If you're like me, you don't have a lot of free time (heck, you're probably listening at 1.5x speed), so theses interviews will be quick hits to get your the pertinent information FAST!

If you love what you hear, share the podcast with a friend and leave us a 5 start rating and review. It helps us become more visible in the search algorithm! (Helps us get seen by more moms that need to hear these stories!!!!)

The Active Mom Podcast is A Real Moms' Guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond for active moms & the professionals who help them in their journey.

This show has been a long time in the making!

You can expect conversation with moms and professionals from all aspects of the industry.

If you're like me, you don't have a lot of free time (heck, you're probably listening at 1.5x speed), so theses interviews will be quick hits to get your the pertinent information FAST!

If you love what you hear, share the podcast with a friend and leave us a 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and review. It helps us become more visible in the search algorithm! (Helps us get seen by more moms that need to hear these stories!!!!)

Send us Fan Mail

She's run ultras. She's survived pregnancy nausea. She's raced with a baby at home. And she has opinions about all of it.

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Erin Kennedy Dalisay — ortho & sports PT, run coach, marathoner, ultramarathoner, and founder of RunWell Clinic — and we are getting into ALL of it. The stuff nobody talks about. The stuff every running mom is thinking but hasn't heard addressed from someone who actually lives it and has the clinical expertise to back it up.

We talk about the myths that are still floating around out there about running through pregnancy and coming back postpartum, what it's actually like to deal with nausea when you're used to pushing your body hard, and the question everyone wants to know the answer to… is childbirth harder than an ultra?

We also get into what it really means to have an orthopedic lens on postpartum recovery — why coming back as an injured runner and coming back as a postpartum runner have more in common than you'd think — plus the honest, unglamorous logistics of racing when you're also a parent.

If you've ever tried to figure out how to hold on to your identity as a runner while also holding a baby… this one is for you.

In this episode we cover:

• The biggest myths about running in pregnancy and postpartum — debunked
• Nausea during pregnancy: what helped, what didn't, and how to keep moving
• Is childbirth harder than an ultra? She's done both and she's not holding back
• Comparing pre- and postpartum performance — and how to actually think about it
• What an orthopedic perspective adds to postpartum return to running
• The real logistics of racing and parenting — scheduling, childcare, guilt, all of it

📌 Since this interview was recorded, Erin has announced she's expecting baby #2 — and she's sharing the whole journey on Instagram

Time Stamps

1:00 introduction

4:19 running her first marathon at 16

6:45 navigating running and pregnancy

14:04 returning to running postpartum

18:06 surprises with birth and postpartum

21:33 deciding to run an ultra

28:58 a new understanding of running postpartum

35:00 training postpartum

41:45 comparing ultras and childbirth

47:57 recovering from the ultra

50:20 balancing everything

54:07 rapid fire questions

CONNECT WITH CARRIE

IG: https://www.instagram.com/carriepagliano/

Website: https://carriepagliano.com

Course waitlist: https://course.carriepagliano.com/RSAWL

CONNECT WITH ERIN:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/runwellclinic/

Website: runwellclinic.com

The Active Mom Podcast is A Real Moms' Guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond for active moms & the professionals who help them in their journey.

This show has been a long time in the making!

You can expect conversation with moms and professionals from all aspects of the industry.

If you're like me, you don't have a lot of free time (heck, you're probably listening at 1.5x speed), so theses interviews will be quick hits to get your the pertinent information FAST!

If you love what you hear, share the podcast with a friend and leave us a 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and review. It helps us become more visible in the search algorithm! (Helps us get seen by more moms that need to hear these stories!!!!)

Send us Fan Mail

She was mid-serve at a volleyball match in Cyprus when the device fell out completely. It landed in her underwear. There was a crowd. She ran off the court, grabbed it, and ran back on—so fast her coach didn't even process what happened.

That's Aimee Oliver's life as a high-impact athlete with stress urinary incontinence. And after 10 years of trial and error, devices, physio, compression shorts, counting how far she'd have to run to find a toilet before a Hyrox race—she finally reached her breaking point on a long run and said: enough.

In this episode, Aimee opens up about the full arc of her journey—from the third-to-fourth degree tear after her first birth, to navigating leakage while representing Northern Ireland in volleyball, to qualifying for the Hyrox World Championships in Sweden and scheduling surgery for the Tuesday after she flies home. It's one of the most honest, specific, and relatable pelvic floor conversations we've had on this podcast.

This isn't a story about giving up. It's about a woman who promised herself she would try everything—and what happens when you actually follow through on that promise.

In this episode:

• What stress incontinence actually feels like during high-impact sport and competition
• The devices Aimee tried—what helped, what didn't, and one very memorable moment in Cyprus
• Why she dehydrated herself for years during national training camps (and what she knows now)
• Is pelvic floor PT always enough? A real, honest answer
• The emotional weight of feeling broken in your own body as an athlete
• Choosing surgery: how she got there, how she picked her surgeon, and what urodynamics testing actually involves
• Competing in Hyrox Worlds—and scheduling surgery for two days after she lands home
• The genetic component: her mum, her daughter, and a pattern that can't be coincidence
• Recovery realities: 3 months out of her training world and what she's doing with her head

Time Stamps

1:00 introduction

4:42 speaking about her pelvic floor issues

11:10 emotional struggles of feeling restricted

15:43 investigating the cause of her symptoms

23:50 overcoming the DIY hurdle

27:35 deciding to have surgery and the experience

39:04 doing all of the things

42:23 life post-surgery

50:00 rapid fire questions

CONNECT WITH CARRIE

IG: https://www.instagram.com/carriepagliano/

Website: https://carriepagliano.com

Course waitlist: https://course.carriepagliano.com/RSAWL

CONNECT WITH AIMEE:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bodyfitmums/

Website: www.bodyfitmums.co.uk

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice or create a provider-patient relationship. Always consult your own healthcare provider before making changes to your care.

The Active Mom Podcast is A Real Moms' Guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond for active moms & the professionals who help them in their journey.

This show has been a long time in the making!

You can expect conversation with moms and professionals from all aspects of the industry.

If you're like me, you don't have a lot of free time (heck, you're probably listening at 1.5x speed), so theses interviews will be quick hits to get your the pertinent information FAST!

If you love what you hear, share the podcast with a friend and leave us a 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and review. It helps us become more visible in the search algorithm! (Helps us get seen by more moms that need to hear these stories!!!!)

Send us Fan Mail

After interviewing 10 pelvic floor support device companies—6 internal, 4 external—Dr. Carrie Pagliano sits down with researcher and pelvic health physiotherapist and researcher Dr. Christina Prevett to do what she couldn't do alone: process it all.

This is the debrief episode for the Inside Pelvic Floor Support: Devices, Fit & What You Should Know mini-series—and it's where the real clinical conversation happens.

Together they unpack what the marketing language actually means, how FDA clearance changes what a company can and can't say, why "neuromuscular facilitation" made Carrie twitch, and what both clinicians and consumers should actually be asking when considering a pelvic floor support device.

They also tackle some of the bigger picture questions that came up across the series: When do you use a device alongside PT instead of waiting? What's the difference between a normal anatomical change and a symptomatic one? What does "failing PT" actually mean—and is it even the right framing? Who is a good candidate for internal versus external support? And how do access, cost, and geography affect all of it?

This episode is for the clinician trying to make sense of an increasingly crowded market—and for the person with symptoms who just wants to know what might actually help.

In this episode:

• Predispositions for pelvic floor dysfunction and non-modifiable anatomy
• Using devices and PT in tandem, not in sequence
• Normal pelvic changes versus symptomatic changes
• FDA-cleared vs. wellness device language—and why it matters
• Internal versus external device profiles and patient fit
• Industry-funded research: the double-edged sword
• Access, cost, and the case for over-the-counter options
• Getting client buy-in when suggesting a device

Time Stamps

1:00 introduction

3:15 PTs fitting pessaries and other devices

9:21 prolapse management involving anatomy and symptoms

14:44 physical comfort with pessaries

17:58 cutting through the marketing

20:45 FDA approval versus “wellness”

26:10 studies versus real world use

30:01 reality of external devices

39:44 big takeaways from the series

CONNECT WITH CARRIE

IG: https://www.instagram.com/carriepagliano/

Website: https://carriepagliano.com

CONNECT WITH CHRISTINA:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.christina_prevett/

Website: https://www.ksr.ualberta.ca/exerciseandpregnancy/

Substack: https://christinaprevettphd.substack.com/

This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice or create a provider-patient relationship.

The Active Mom Podcast is A Real Moms' Guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond for active moms & the professionals who help them in their journey.

This show has been a long time in the making!

You can expect conversation with moms and professionals from all aspects of the industry.

If you're like me, you don't have a lot of free time (heck, you're probably listening at 1.5x speed), so theses interviews will be quick hits to get your the pertinent information FAST!

If you love what you hear, share the podcast with a friend and leave us a 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and review. It helps us become more visible in the search algorithm! (Helps us get seen by more moms that need to hear these stories!!!!)

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of the Active Mom Podcast mini-series
Inside Pelvic Floor Support: Devices, Fit & What You Should Know, we’re speaking with:

Lauren Barker, CEO & Co-founder of Uresta—a company developing a self-managed internal support device for stress urinary incontinence.

Uresta was designed to provide a more accessible alternative to traditional pessaries by allowing users to size, insert, and manage the device independently.

We cover:
• how Uresta works mechanically (intravaginal bladder support)
• who it may be a good fit for (and who it’s not)
• how sizing and fitting works without a clinician
• how to use it correctly and common mistakes
• how it compares to traditional pessaries
• where it fits alongside pelvic floor rehab and return to activity

Time Stamps:

1:00 introduction

2:34 how Uresta started

6:37 how to use Uresta

10:46 who this is for

12:52 explaining the studies

16:38 real world use

21:23 common misconceptions

22:18 rapid fire questions

Uresta is a reusable device designed for daily or situational use and is available direct-to-consumer without a prescription on their website.

💲 Starter Kit: ~$179 USD
💲 Replacement Size: ~$129 USD

Discount Code: https://uresta.com/ACTIVEMOM (10% off)
Website: https://uresta.com

⚠️ Disclaimer:
This content is for education only and does not replace individualized medical care. Pelvic floor symptoms are complex and highly individual—always consult your own provider before making changes.

The Active Mom Podcast is A Real Moms' Guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond for active moms & the professionals who help them in their journey.

This show has been a long time in the making!

You can expect conversation with moms and professionals from all aspects of the industry.

If you're like me, you don't have a lot of free time (heck, you're probably listening at 1.5x speed), so theses interviews will be quick hits to get your the pertinent information FAST!

If you love what you hear, share the podcast with a friend and leave us a 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and review. It helps us become more visible in the search algorithm! (Helps us get seen by more moms that need to hear these stories!!!!)