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In this episode, I sit down with Ingrid Harm-Ernandez, a physical therapist with over 40 years of experience specializing in women’s health. Known as “The Pelvic Detective” on YouTube and author of The Musculoskeletal Mystery: How to Solve Your Pelvic Floor Symptoms, Ingrid has spent decades advocating for better care and earlier access to pelvic health services for women. This conversation dives into how menopause care is evolving, why individualized treatment matters more than ever, and how we can better support women across the entire lifespan.

We talk about:

-Continuing to advocate for better women’s health care

-The role of social media in education and awareness

-Why individualized care matters

-The importance of exercise in perimenopause and menopause

-Emerging research in women’s health

-Learning from previous generations

-The continuum of life and long-term health

-Coordinating the pelvic floor

Time Stamps

1:00 Introduction

7:28 the rise in awareness around menopause and perimenopause

12:25 the role of PTs in menopause care

16:30 exercise in perimenopause

21:20 how advice has changed

28:40 bridging the gap between postpartum and perimenopause

32:10 including strength training and plyometrics

39:25 opportunities for increasing awareness

46:25 rapid fire questions

CONNECT WITH CARRIE

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

Website: https://carriepagliano.com

CONNECT WITH INGRID:

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

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ingrid-harm-ernandes-5057773b/

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 a text

What are we getting right — and wrong — about the hip–pelvic floor connection?

In this episode of the Active Mom Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Jenny LaCross, PhD, ATC, PT and Dr. Laurel Proulx, PT, DPT to unpack the evolving conversation around pelvic floor dysfunction, hip mechanics, stress urinary incontinence, and clinical reasoning in women’s health physical therapy.

Jenny is a certified athletic trainer and board-certified women’s health physical therapist with extensive experience treating pelvic health, hip, and low back conditions. Laurel focuses on modernizing pelvic health through research and education while bridging the gap between rehab and fitness. Together, they challenge oversimplified narratives around “weak vs. tight” pelvic floors and advocate for a more nuanced, individualized, impairment-based framework.

We dive into how myths continue to shape patient care, why clinicians may be focusing on the wrong impairments, and what the research actually supports when it comes to pelvic floor strength, high tone, levator ani considerations, urethral support, and morphologic variability.

If you’re a pelvic floor PT, orthopedic clinician, strength coach, or rehab professional working with active women navigating leakage, pelvic pain, prolapse, or hip–pelvic floor crossover symptoms, this episode offers practical insight into assessment, communication, and evidence-informed decision-making.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The relationship between the hip and pelvic floor — what we know and what remains unclear
• Debunking common pelvic floor myths that influence treatment plans
• Why clinicians may be focusing on the wrong impairments in patient care
• The levator ani’s role in stress urinary incontinence
• Pelvic floor strength — and why strength alone doesn’t tell the whole story
• High tone pelvic floor presentations and how to interpret findings
• Urethral failure and the potential role of genetics
• Common morphologic variations and how anatomy impacts function
• The big clinical takeaways for improving pelvic health assessment and treatment

This is a thoughtful, research-informed conversation designed to help you move beyond black-and-white thinking and deliver smarter, individualized pelvic floor care.

If you’re committed to advancing women’s health physical therapy and refining your clinical reasoning in pelvic rehab, this one’s for you.

Time Stamps

1:00 Introduction

7:15 debunking common pelvic floor myths

15:23 focusing on the wrong things with patient care

18:15 the levator ani and incontinence

23:27 pelvic floor strength

27:05 pelvic floor high tone

35:35 common morphologic variations

45:36 the big take home advice

CONNECT WITH CARRIE

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

Website: https://carriepag

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 a text

What starts as a quick run to get out of the house… can end up changing your entire life.

In this episode of the Active Mom Podcast, I sit down with running creator Erica Kennedy aka @inmyrunningerica to talk about how running helped her survive an abusive marriage — and slowly rebuild her confidence, independence, and sense of self one mile at a time.

Now she’s the voice behind the hilarious IG posts that we runners can’t stop sharing — from what to wear in Bald Headed Scallywags winter-storm running weather to her spot-on anatomy jokes and injury stories that make every runner say, “wait… that’s literally me.”

But behind the humor is real Life.

We talk about:

🔷 finding time to run while raising three kids in completely different life stages

🔷 navigating running injuries without losing your sanity

🔷finding the right running shoe (& then losing it)

🔷 the reality (and challenges) of home gym life

🔷 what it actually means to be a “running influencer” (and whether your neighbors even know)

🔷 the wild story of how she almost got scammed by “Asics.”

Plus: a run-stalking murder mystery that proves runner stories are never boring, with both of us unanimously deciding that mutual friend @lauramcgreen will singlehandedly lead the investigation and the GoFundMe. (You're going to have to listen to get this one! It's worth it!)

Because running isn’t just pace and mileage.

Sometimes it’s survival. Sometimes it’s therapy. Sometimes it’s the only 30 minutes that’s yours. And sometimes it's a great time to share a laugh.

If you’ve ever needed a run to keep your sanity — you’ll feel very seen in this one.

Time Stamps

1:00 Introduction

4:30 creating funny skits

10:22 finding the right time to run

17:05 struggling with injury

21:32 sponsorships and scams

27:41 home gyms and strength training

34:42 mom life and kid personalities

41:39 what her parents think

47:09 rapid fire question

CONNECT WITH CARRIE

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

Website: https://carriepagliano.com

CONNECT WITH ERICA:

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

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

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!!!!)