What Load Actually Reaches Your Pelvis When You Run? The Data & a Guide Built for Postpartum Moms — with DR. MEGAN JAMES

Send us Fan MailWhat load actually reaches your pelvis when you run? For years we couldn't really answer that — we just said "wait twelve weeks, then go." Babe, we've come a long way.Dr. Megan James is back — and this time it's Dr. James. She finished her PhD and brought two new papers that quietly shift how we think about returning to running postpartum.First: a graded pelvic loading pathway, built by measuring how much load actually reaches the pelvis across walking, hopping, jumping and running. The surprise star? Grounded running — a gliding, no-flight-phase style that showed consistently lower load at the pelvis than slow running at the same pace.Second: a return-to-run guide co-designed with postpartum runners. Their ask — treat us like mums who run, not athletes who happen to be mums. It's a guide, not a deadline. And if you're not running yet, you are not behind.We talk about:-Returning to running after injury versus after pregnancy-Why the research began with a nulliparous population-Hypervigilance and fear of movement-What impact forces actually reach the pelvis during running-Slow running, grounded running, and perceived impact-Creating a postpartum return-to-run guide-Looking at the whole person, not just the pelvic floorNote: This is education, not a prescription. For a plan built for your body, your birth and your symptoms, see your maternity care team and a pelvic floor PT.Time Stamps1:00 introduction6:23 setting up the research12:28 what they measured through the research16:45 surprises in the study21:20 slow running and grounded running26:42 rate of the perceived impact32:29 explaining the guide paper40:23 changing perception with feedback from moms45:32 the one-size-fits-all trap52:05 looking at the mom as a whole54:46 advice to former self58:12 potential future researchCONNECT WITH CARRIEIG: https://www.instagram.com/carriepagliano/Website: https://carriepagliano.comCourse waitlist: https://course.carriepagliano.com/RSAWLCONNECT WITH MEGAN:LinkedIn: @meganljames16The 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!!!!)