Send us Fan Mail

Your baby is NOT sucking the calcium out of your bones.

That's the line all over social. What's actually happening is your body mobilizing a small amount of calcium from bone to help make milk. And across 14 studies, it looks a lot more like a temporary loan than a permanent loss.

This week I sat down with two first-time podcasters from Duke.

Dr. Emma Kosbab started this systematic review and meta-analysis as a PT student. Dr. Laura Pietrosimone was her research mentor. Together with their team they screened 6,568 citations to land on 14 studies about breastfeeding and bone density, and we get into what that means for the mom who wants to run and lift. 🔹 Why breastfeeding touches bone at all (and why "mobilizing" is a much less scary word)

🔹 What happens at the low back, the hip, and the whole body, from early postpartum through weaning

🔹 Whether breastfeeding longer changes the picture

🔹 Who may want to pay closer attention, like moms with a history of bone stress injury or under-fueling

🔹 Who belongs on your care team if that's you

🔹 The questions nobody has answered yet, starting with how many extra calories breastfeeding actually takes If you're nursing and wondering whether your bones can handle getting back to running or lifting, this one's for you.

Read the paper:

Kosbab E, Christopher S, Horn ME, et al. Changes in Bone Mineral Density in Postpartum People During Lactation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Athl Train. 2025. https://doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-0497.25

About Emma: Emma Kosbab, PT, DPT, LAT, ATC is an outpatient ortho and sports PT and outreach athletic trainer with Duke Health, and a contract PT/AT with USA Paralympic Swim. She loves working with female athletes and moms through pregnancy and postpartum. Off the clock: volleyball, running, lifting, and anything outside (Utah roots). Connect with Emma: Instagram @em_kosbab12 · https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-kosbab/

About Laura: Dr. Laura Pietrosimone, PT, DPT, PhD is an Assistant Professor and clinical researcher in Duke's Doctor of Physical Therapy Division. She studies how movement and physical activity change after lower extremity injury, and she's passionate about female athlete health across the lifespan. She's a mom of three, a runner, and happiest in the mountains. Connect with Laura: Instagram @lstanpietro · https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-stanley-pietrosimone-4ba30615/

This episode is education, not individualized medical advice.

The Active Mom Podcast — a real mom's guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond, for active moms and the professionals who help them get there.

Quick-hit conversations with moms, providers, and researchers... because you don't have a lot of free time (you're probably listening at 1.5x right now).

Follow so you don't miss an episode. Rate & review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — it's how the next mom searching for these answers actually finds them. Share it with the friend who needs it.

Questions or topic requests? DM me 💌

Send us Fan Mail

Same run. Same treadmill. Same impact. So why do some women leak and others don’t?

That’s the question Natália Cardoso Campos, PT, MSc, couldn’t let go of. She’s a physio and PhD researcher from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil, here in the US for ten months at UMass Motor Control Lab, Amherst on a Fulbright Scholarship under the supervision of Dr. Richard Van Emmerick to analyze new data.

Her Master's study put 32 female runners on a treadmill with force plates built in and had them run for 30 minutes. Half of them leak and half did not.

The runners who leaked had pelvic floors just as strong as the ones who didn’t. The difference showed up further down the chain, in how their ankles and hips handled impact.

(We recorded this right before we finally got to meet in person at ICS 2026 in Maastricht!)

We talked about:

🔹 How a biomechanics lab full of male runners led her to study women who leak
🔹 What “high impact” even means when everyone is doing the exact same run
🔹 Less energy absorbed at the ankle, more at the hip. What that might mean for the pelvis
🔹 Do women who leak hit the ground harder? (Nope.)
🔹 Equifinality: why your leak and my leak can have totally different recipes
🔹 What you can and CAN’T take into the clinic from one study
🔹 What her PhD is chasing next

If you’ve been told your pelvic floor is strong and you’re still leaking on your runs, this one is for you. And if you’re a PT treating runners, Natália put it best: “We need to stop treating symptoms and start treating women.”

📄 Campos NC et al. Inefficient impact absorption and reduced shock attenuation in female runners with stress urinary incontinence. Journal of Biomechanics, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2025.112753
👋 Find Natália: Instagram @nataliacardosofisio · ResearchGate

This episode is education, not medical advice.

The Active Mom Podcast — a real mom's guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond, for active moms and the professionals who help them get there.

Quick-hit conversations with moms, providers, and researchers... because you don't have a lot of free time (you're probably listening at 1.5x right now).

Follow so you don't miss an episode. Rate & review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — it's how the next mom searching for these answers actually finds them. Share it with the friend who needs it.

Questions or topic requests? DM me 💌

Send us Fan Mail

What do you do when there’s no evidence to build evidence-based practice?

Dr. Chris Edwards has an answer: “We have conversations.”

Chris, PhD, clinical exercise physiologist and researcher, works with tactical athletes: military, police, fire and paramedic teams. She once sold her company and her house, packed her car with her dog, and drove across Canada to do this work. Her PhD asked a question almost nobody was asking: does having a baby change injury risk for women whose job is to carry heavy things, fast, under pressure?

Spoiler alert, in her words: it does.

In this episode we get into:
🔹 How patterns she saw in veterans’ movement sent her across the country
🔹 What her research found about childbirth and repetitive strain injuries
🔹 Why telling your chain of command you’re pregnant still feels risky for a lot of servicewomen
🔹 What return to duty looks like after a baby, and who gets to decide
🔹 Leakage, prolapse and the pelvic floor demands of rucks, fitness tests and parachute jumps
🔹 Why a trauma-informed approach matters with this population
🔹 Where her research goes next, including menopause

Whether you wear a uniform, carry a toddler, or treat the women who do both, this one’s for you.

Find Chris: Instagram @drchrismedwards | drchrismedwards.com

The Active Mom Podcast — a real mom's guide to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause & beyond, for active moms and the professionals who help them get there.

Quick-hit conversations with moms, providers, and researchers... because you don't have a lot of free time (you're probably listening at 1.5x right now).

Follow so you don't miss an episode. Rate & review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — it's how the next mom searching for these answers actually finds them. Share it with the friend who needs it.

Questions or topic requests? DM me 💌