Postpartum Running: Why It Took Me 15 Months And 7 Years To Lace Up Again
I always loved running. In high school, college and graduate school, I used running as both a social activity and a way to maintain my sanity. Most of my friends were runners and we’d go to early morning run clubs, sign up for races together and use running as a way to shake off our Saturday morning hangxiety together.
At the time of my injury, I was running bout 25-30 miles a week and I was still living that life. I was going to a run club a few times a month and signing up for races all over the country with my friends. At that point I had run 5 half marathons and countless 5k and 10k races at very unimpressive times.
In this blog post, I’ll be talking about the hip injury that stopped me from running seven years ago and how pregnancy actually helped me improve my fitness and return to running for the first time in years.
My original hip injury that stopped me from running
Saturday morning November Project in Philadelphia circa 2015
In 2019, a couple years after moving to Austin, I woke up one morning feeling weird. My sacrum was sore, my tailbone hurt, and my hip just didn’t feel right. I figured it would get better with movement, so I kept going. It didn’t. A few weeks in, it had gotten substantially worse. I couldn’t sit. Being at work and driving were extremely uncomfortable and exercise made me feel worse.
In retrospect, it’s the perfect example of stress impeding your ability to think straight. The symptoms I experienced were symptoms I was treating in my practice every day, but I panicked. Instead of going to PT, I went to my primary care provider.
I asked for imaging - something most physical therapists would balk at as a first line of defense. First, an x-ray was ordered. It showed nothing but my pain got worse. Then an MRI of my lumbar spine. It was inconclusive. I went to an orthopedic doctor who recommended fusing my sacrum (what?!).
By this point I’d been in pain for a year, I had stopped almost all physical activity because it made things feel worse. Tampon insertion started to hurt, gynecologic exams started to feel awful, my relationship was impacted.
Most pelvic floor PTs reading this are probably thinking.. “hey friend, you’re catastrophizing and have you looked at your hip?” Eventually I had an MRI with contrast of my hip, which showed a labral tear. If I had been using my clinical brain, I could’ve landed on a diagnosis and treatment plan a year and a half earlier. But I wasn’t.
I finally went to physical therapy, and it helped a lot, but every time I started trying to run again I was right back to where I started. In pain and uncomfortable sitting, driving and sitting on my couch at night. I kept trying, I kept getting injured. But eventually then I found other things that I enjoyed doing, and just sort of accepted that running wasn’t in the cards for me.
By the time I got pregnant, it was 5 years since my last run.
At the time that I got pregnant, I already hadn’t been running for about five years as a result of that hip injury. I felt pretty comfortable biking, rowing and lifting, so that’s where I focused my energy.
When I got pregnant, I started focusing on core strength, hip strength, single stability and balance for pregnancy as well as mobility and flexibility for birth. After my baby was born, I continued focusing on those things so I could keep up with the demands of life with a baby.
Early evening Halloween run circa 2016 (I’m spiderman)
There were the usual ups and downs with travel, illness and busy work weeks, but for the past two years I was relatively consistent with weightlifting, cardio and mobility. Throughout pregnancy, I aimed to lift three times per week with at least two mobility sessions.
My lifting sessions prioritized core and lower body strength with movements like goblet squats, deadlifts and kettlebell swings as well as single leg stability like step ups, single leg RDLs and bulgarian split squats. My mobility sessions prioritized spine, lumbar and hip mobility with movements like hip 90/90s, windshield wipers, adductor rock backs.
Read more: How I prepared for pregnancy as a pelvic floor PT, here.
Somewhere along the way, my hip started feeling a lot better. At this point it had been about seven years since my last run and I hadn’t even considered trying.
That was until last week, when I was talking to a friend who’s a runner and it struck me that there’s no reason I can’t try again. And in fact, the two years of prehab I had been doing for pregnancy and recovery is probably what my hip needed all along.
Seven years after my last run, I went on my first post-baby run at 15 months postpartum
So last week I went my first run at 15 months postpartum, around seven years after my last run. I followed a fairly conservative introduction of one minute on one minute off for 10 rounds. My biggest concern wasn’t my pelvic floor but instead my knees and my hip. If I wasn’t feeling impatient, I probably would’ve spent a few weeks introducing impact in my workouts before going out on a run.
My warm up was essential to me feeling my best through that first run. I started with a 5 minute brisk walk, and then followed it up with 5 exercises performed for one minute each. You can see a visual of my warm up here.
This warm up included one minute of:
Squat to heel raise: This was a modified squat jump. I squatted, and then stood quickly like I would to jump, but instead of leaving the ground I lifted my heels. This warmed up my glues and calves.
Two legged hopping in place: This helped prepare my body for impact and loading.
Elevated mountain climbers: This continued to warm up my feet while waking up my core.
Backwards lunge to single leg RDL: This targeted balance and single leg stability.
My first couple of jogging rounds felt amazing. I listened to my audiobook and ran at a conversational pace. After my third round, my knees started to feel the pavement so I switched over to grass and felt much better. If I was running on a treadmill, I also would have considered increasing the incline to reduce the ground reaction force.
That first run, I ran 2 miles in 29:17, for an average pace of 14’31”/mi. My second run which was structured similarly was 2 miles in 25:18 for a split of 12’38”. I was so slow and so happy.
I am two weeks and four runs in to my journey of becoming a runner again. This is the furthest I’ve gotten into running without flaring my pain for years. I haven’t increased my overall distance, but I have slowly been increasing my run intervals. I intend to run 2-3 times a week, increasing my run interval by about 30 seconds a week as tolerated.
I expect to have set backs, I expect at some point my hip will start talking to me. I even expect I will need to work with a physical therapist to manage my hip as I go. I proved to myself seven years ago that my clinical brain did not have my back when it comes. But the joy I felt when I ran to the park to meet my daughter last weekend… there aren’t enough words to describe it.
Pregnancy does not have to be the end of your fitness
Pregnancy was not the end of my fitness. In fact, for me, it may have propelled it forward. In my case, a lot of time and effort plus a good bit of luck allowed me to come out of postpartum recovery stronger, more confident and in tune with my body.
Not everyone has this same experience and if that’s not yours, know that there is so much that you can do. Our set backs all come at different times in our lives. Mine was a labral tear from overuse at 27 years old. Your setbacks will look different. First trimester illness, continued nausea, pregnancy complications or pain can make it incredibly challenging to maintain fitness. Birth injury can make recovery slow, challenging and incredibly frustrating. Preexisting injuries from prior to pregnancy can make staying physically active hard, too. A lack of support can rob you of the time to take care of yourself.
If you want to prepare your body for or throughout pregnancy, or if you’re navigating postpartum recovery, know that you don’t have to do it alone. Pelvic floor physical therapy can help you rebuild confidence in your body, return to the activities you love, and approach movement with strength rather than fear.
Your journey might look nothing like mine, and that’s okay. Whether your first run is weeks, months, or years away—or whether running isn’t even your goal—you deserve to feel capable and connected in your own skin.
For me, seven years after hanging up my running shoes, I finally laced them back up. And while I’m moving slower than I ever have, I’ve never been more grateful for each step.
Here’s to honoring the setbacks, celebrating the comebacks, and finding joy in the movement that makes you feel most alive.
This post was written by Dr. Rebecca Maidansky, PT, DPT, owner and founder of Lady Bird Physical Therapy. Rebecca is a pelvic floor physical therapist in Austin, TX and founded Lady Bird Physical Therapy in 2019. She is the creator of Birth Preparation and Postpartum Planning, Baby Steps Fitness and the head writer and editor of The Pelvic Press.
Rebecca is a passionate writer and vocal advocate for pelvic health and the importance of improving access to perinatal care. She believes strongly that many common pregnancy pains and postpartum symptoms can be eased or even prevented with basic education and care.