Nicole Atwood's guest appearances

Nicole Atwood

Moms who Know

Allie Casazza

Jonathan Bailor

Laura Gassner Otting

Benjamin Hardy

Lesley Fightmaster

Jessica Smartt

Samantha Brody

Monica Packer

Bradley Nelson

Jennifer Allwood

Kelsey Murphy

Monica Tanner

Dina Alexander

Jennifer Finlayson-Fife

Nancy Colier

OwlTail

When your pelvic floor is functioning properly, you don't think much about it. It's holding everything in, doing its job. But when the pelvic floor is too weak or too tight, it can cause issues like urinary incontinence, back and hips pain, frequent UTI's, constipation or painful intercourse. The good news, says Nicole Atwood, is that wherever you are now, you can start to get better and regain your pelvic floor health.Visit our show sponsor, Mutu System at bit.ly/mutumamaFor show notes, visit: www.momswhoknowpodcast.comWhat One Little Thing are you going to do differently because of what you’ve heard today? Let me know! www.instagram.com/momswhoknowpodcast or www.facebook.com/momswhoknowpodcastgroupDid you leave a review? Get your thank you gift here: http://bit.ly/simplethankyou See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When your pelvic floor is functioning properly, you don't think much about it. It's holding everything in, doing its job. But when the pelvic floor is too weak or too tight, it can cause issues like urinary incontinence, back and hips pain, frequent UTI's, constipation or painful intercourse. The good news, says Nicole Atwood, is that wherever you are now, you can start to get better and regain your pelvic floor health.Visit our show sponsor, <a href="https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=1402695&amp;u=2228551&amp;m=90803&amp;urllink=&amp;afftrack=" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Mutu System at bit.ly/mutumama</a>For show notes, visit:<a href="https://app.pippa.io/www.momswhoknowpodcast.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> www.momswhoknowpodcast.com</a>What One Little Thing are you going to do differently because of what you’ve heard today? Let me know! <a href="https://app.pippa.io/www.instagram.com/momswhoknowpodcast" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">www.instagram.com/momswhoknowpodcast</a> or <a href="https://app.pippa.io/www.facebook.com/momswhoknowpodcastgroup" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">www.facebook.com/momswhoknowpodcastgroup</a>Did you leave a review? Get your thank you gift here: <a href="http://bit.ly/simplethankyou" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/simplethankyou</a> See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.

How to Stop Peeing Your Pants After Baby with Nicole Atwood

Nicole Atwood is a core and pelvic floor specialist who helps moms to strengthen their bodies (and stop peeing their pants).  Show Notes Chanelle: Hello and welcome to the Moms Who Know Podcast. I’m your host Chanelle Neilson, and I’m joined today by Nicole Atwood.   Nicole: I’m so excited to be on your podcast!   Chanelle: This is going to be a good one. This is a topic I’ve been wanting to talk about on the show for a while: core and pelvic floor health. I’m excited to learn from her today. Nicole says healing is possible no matter how long ago you’ve had your babies. What got you interested in this line of work?   Nicole: my starting point was a life trial. I had always been fit and enjoyed exercising. I got pregnant, had an active pregnancy. It never occurred to me that I would have problems after I had my baby. I had my little girl and it was a big reality check. I had a lot of trauma to my pelvic floor muscles, from the birth. The doctor gave me the all clear at 6 weeks. I started working at a high plyo program. I feel like that created a blind spot to the symptoms I was experiencing. After 12 weeks, I had toned up and lost weight, but I had this really round belly. I started thinking back to all the symptoms I had been ignoring: I was peeing my pants. I didn’t realize that that was an issue, that was a red flag…urinary incontinence is a red flag, I was also experiencing intense low back pain, and I had the “jelly belly” I was feeling no muscle activation or recruitment, even while doing sit ups… I started researching, but there wasn’t very much information out there, and I was trying to find what was wrong with me and I found out about diastasis recti. I did a self test and I realized that something was not right with my body. I asked my doctor about it, and he was no help. I cried in the car when I left his office. I went to a physical therapist, and she gave me a little bit of help and information. She likened my body to a rubber band and she said it’s been stretched during pregnancy, and it’s not going to go back to where it was. I left her office thinking I am going to prove her wrong. I couldn’t accept that. I decided I am going to help myself. I found a UK based program, called MuTu System, I’m now a trained pro for that system. It opened my eyes to a new way to heal, and now I want to be that advocate for women.   C: I always love those stories when people have hard times and turn that into helping other people. Explain to people what diastasis recti is   N: It’s abdominal separation. The core is wrapped in different muscle layers. The rectus muscles are the superficial layer (6 pack muscles). They are in two halves. They are connected by connective tissue. When you have diastasis recti, there is a separation of those two muscles. Those two halves start to pull apart and unnaturally separate from each other.   C: it’s almost more clear in women who are petite. If you’re already carrying extra weight, it’s easy to blame it on weight and not even think there might be an underlying issue   N: that’s why it’s important to tune into other symptoms that might lead to this underlying issue.   C: I hear urinary incontinence, and I think, that it’s more serious. The sneezing thing is pretty common. My friend would stop walking, cross her legs and sneeze.   N: you have to prepare for the sneeze. That’s stress incontinence. The pelvic floor muscles can’t handle the load. We joke about it. It’s very common. It’s something that we need to address and not accept. Why are we settling for this? We deserve better   C: we all know other women who are struggling with this. We don’t have to live with this, right?   N: it’s common but that doesn’t make it normal. It’s a red flag, something is happening in the pelvic floor that needs to be addressed.   C: what do you do when women have this problem?   N: core and pelvic floor weakness is a full body approach. The standard thing is kegels, but that’s lacking. That’s not just the answer. Our pelvic floor muscles extends from the front to our rectum. Kegels are an isolated muscle and something that happens is we’re told to do 100 kegels a day and what tends to happen is that we create a tight (hypertonic) pelvic floor. It has a lot of the same symptoms as a weak pelvic floor. We need a full body approach, with restorative and rehabilitative exercise. Core and pelvic floor work together and when we train together, that’s when they become functional. If you’re having urinary incontinence it could be a lot of different things. I always encourage women to see a pelvic physical therapist to find out what is really going on.   C: We hear kegels, kegels, kegels. Give me an example of types of exercises.   N: You see these exercises here and there. What you’re doing matters. Some exercises are going to make it better or worse, but what also matters is how you’re doing the exercise. You have to correctly activate the core and pelvic floor. Many people don’t know how to activate the transverse abdominals. But it’s more important how you’re recruiting core and pelvic floor in the movement.   C: we might not be getting to the right muscles even if we’re doing the exercises. Talk to us about why this happens, especially during pregnancy.   N: pelvic floor dysfunction is not just a womens issue. We really associate these issues with pregnancy because it’s a high load event. Our body is smart. Almost all of women in their third trimester and postpartum have some kind of diastatis. It’s when it doesen’t heal that it’s an issue. During pregnancy, two things you can do to aid the natural healing process. Not posture, posture is the way that we look. Alignment is the way our body is stacked. Pregnancy is a high pressure event. Oftentimes we over correct and that creates even more pressure. If you can maintain good alignment you can help keep that pressure system neutralized. During pregnancy, you need to avoid traditional core exercise, but still stay connected through the core and pelvic floor. Mind to muscle connection is huge. Stay connected during pregnancy, labor, delivery and postpartum. You will heal much better as well.   C: a lot of women feel like they can’t work their core during pregnancy. What can they do?   N: everyone is different. Avoid movement that causes intense pressure on the rectus muscles. Think about the load that is being placed on the pelvic floor (when running, etc.). Even if your body can handle it, is it beneficial for your body? What kind of load are you placing on your core and pelvic floor?   C: we don’t even think of that question!   N: we forget to ask is it okay for us? Is there a better solution? Is there something else I can sub in? Walking will benefit your body.   C: I love to walk, that’s my favorite. Walking and yoga! I want to talk about postpartum and beyond. You say it’s never too late, so if you’ve been walking around with this belly, it’s not too late?   N: our body is never past its capabilities of healing. Most of the clients I work with are usually in their late 40s to 60s. they see incredible healing from applying this. What you can do postpartum and beyond is those three key building blocks. Breathing is one. When we have core and pelvic floor dysfunctions, the way that we breathe matters. We can be belly breathers or do you have movement up into the rib cage. If you’re belly breathing you’re creating more pressure. Teaching a more optimal way to breathe is important. Also, that mind to muscle connection. If we’re not aware of these muscles, how can we strengthen and heal these muscles? Breathing helps aid in that.   C: you are speaking my language! We teach that in yoga. I hope you listeners put your hand on your belly to see how you were breathing. I love that we have been made aware that its common but not normal to pee your pants. Can you tell us your website?   N: There’s so much that I wasn’t even able to talk about! Coremindful.com, tips, tricks, my personal recovery, resources, advice on Instagram and FB @ coremindful See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nicole Atwood is a core and pelvic floor specialist who helps moms to strengthen their bodies (and stop peeing their pants). Show Notes Chanelle: Hello and welcome to the Moms Who Know Podcast. I’m your host Chanelle Neilson, and I’m joined today by Nicole Atwood.   Nicole: I’m so excited to be on your podcast!   Chanelle: This is going to be a good one. This is a topic I’ve been wanting to talk about on the show for a while: core and pelvic floor health. I’m excited to learn from her today. Nicole says healing is possible no matter how long ago you’ve had your babies. What got you interested in this line of work?   Nicole: my starting point was a life trial. I had always been fit and enjoyed exercising. I got pregnant, had an active pregnancy. It never occurred to me that I would have problems after I had my baby. I had my little girl and it was a big reality check. I had a lot of trauma to my pelvic floor muscles, from the birth. The doctor gave me the all clear at 6 weeks. I started working at a high plyo program. I feel like that created a blind spot to the symptoms I was experiencing. After 12 weeks, I had toned up and lost weight, but I had this really round belly. I started thinking back to all the symptoms I had been ignoring: I was peeing my pants. I didn’t realize that that was an issue, that was a red flag…urinary incontinence is a red flag, I was also experiencing intense low back pain, and I had the “jelly belly” I was feeling no muscle activation or recruitment, even while doing sit ups… I started researching, but there wasn’t very much information out there, and I was trying to find what was wrong with me and I found out about diastasis recti. I did a self test and I realized that something was not right with my body. I asked my doctor about it, and he was no help. I cried in the car when I left his office. I went to a physical therapist, and she gave me a little bit of help and information. She likened my body to a rubber band and she said it’s been stretched during pregnancy, and it’s not going to go back to where it was. I left her office thinking I am going to prove her wrong. I couldn’t accept that. I decided I am going to help myself. I found a UK based program, called MuTu System, I’m now a trained pro for that system. It opened my eyes to a new way to heal, and now I want to be that advocate for women.   C: I always love those stories when people have hard times and turn that into helping other people. Explain to people what diastasis recti is   N: It’s abdominal separation. The core is wrapped in different muscle layers. The rectus muscles are the superficial layer (6 pack muscles). They are in two halves. They are connected by connective tissue. When you have diastasis recti, there is a separation of those two muscles. Those two halves start to pull apart and unnaturally separate from each other.   C: it’s almost more clear in women who are petite. If you’re already carrying extra weight, it’s easy to blame it on weight and not even think there might be an underlying issue   N: that’s why it’s important to tune into other symptoms that might lead to this underlying issue.   C: I hear urinary incontinence, and I think, that it’s more serious. The sneezing thing is pretty common. My friend would stop walking, cross her legs and sneeze.   N: you have to prepare for the sneeze. That’s stress incontinence. The pelvic floor muscles can’t handle the load. We joke about it. It’s very common. It’s something that we need to address and not accept. Why are we settling for this? We deserve better   C: we all know other women who are struggling with this. We don’t have to live with this, right?   N: it’s common but that doesn’t make it normal. It’s a red flag, something is happening in the pelvic floor that needs to be addressed.   C: what do you do when women have this problem?   N: core and pelvic floor weakness is a full body approach. The standard thing is kegels, but that’s lacking. That’s not just the answer. Our pelvic floor muscles extends from the front to our rectum. Kegels are an isolated muscle and something that happens is we’re told to do 100 kegels a day and what tends to happen is that we create a tight (hypertonic) pelvic floor. It has a lot of the same symptoms as a weak pelvic floor. We need a full body approach, with restorative and rehabilitative exercise. Core and pelvic floor work together and when we train together, that’s when they become functional. If you’re having urinary incontinence it could be a lot of different things. I always encourage women to see a pelvic physical therapist to find out what is really going on.   C: We hear kegels, kegels, kegels. Give me an example of types of exercises.   N: You see these exercises here and there. What you’re doing matters. Some exercises are going to make it better or worse, but what also matters is how you’re doing the exercise. You have to correctly activate the core and pelvic floor. Many people don’t know how to activate the transverse abdominals. But it’s more important how you’re recruiting core and pelvic floor in the movement.   C: we might not be getting to the right muscles even if we’re doing the exercises. Talk to us about why this happens, especially during pregnancy.   N: pelvic floor dysfunction is not just a womens issue. We really associate these issues with pregnancy because it’s a high load event. Our body is smart. Almost all of women in their third trimester and postpartum have some kind of diastatis. It’s when it doesen’t heal that it’s an issue. During pregnancy, two things you can do to aid the natural healing process. Not posture, posture is the way that we look. Alignment is the way our body is stacked. Pregnancy is a high pressure event. Oftentimes we over correct and that creates even more pressure. If you can maintain good alignment you can help keep that pressure system neutralized. During pregnancy, you need to avoid traditional core exercise, but still stay connected through the core and pelvic floor. Mind to muscle connection is huge. Stay connected during pregnancy, labor, delivery and postpartum. You will heal much better as well.   C: a lot of women feel like they can’t work their core during pregnancy. What can they do?   N: everyone is different. Avoid movement that causes intense pressure on the rectus muscles. Think about the load that is being placed on the pelvic floor (when running, etc.). Even if your body can handle it, is it beneficial for your body? What kind of load are you placing on your core and pelvic floor?   C: we don’t even think of that question!   N: we forget to ask is it okay for us? Is there a better solution? Is there something else I can sub in? Walking will benefit your body.   C: I love to walk, that’s my favorite. Walking and yoga! I want to talk about postpartum and beyond. You say it’s never too late, so if you’ve been walking around with this belly, it’s not too late?   N: our body is never past its capabilities of healing. Most of the clients I work with are usually in their late 40s to 60s. they see incredible healing from applying this. What you can do postpartum and beyond is those three key building blocks. Breathing is one. When we have core and pelvic floor dysfunctions, the way that we breathe matters. We can be belly breathers or do you have movement up into the rib cage. If you’re belly breathing you’re creating more pressure. Teaching a more optimal way to breathe is important. Also, that mind to muscle connection. If we’re not aware of these muscles, how can we strengthen and heal these muscles? Breathing helps aid in that.   C: you are speaking my language! We teach that in yoga. I hope you listeners put your hand on your belly to see how you were breathing. I love that we have been made aware that its common but not normal to pee your pants. Can you tell us your website?   N: There’s so much that I wasn’t even able to talk about! <a href="http://www.coremindful.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Coremindful.com</a>, tips, tricks, my personal recovery, resources, advice on Instagram and FB @ coremindful See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.

Nicole Atwood: Core and Pelvic Floor Strength (How to Stop Peeing Your Pants)