By Kristin Boza
CORE Fitness and Physical Therapy, 2940 W. 95th St., is known for its wide range of offerings in Pilates and physical therapy, all in an effort to help strengthen the core and promote overall health and well-being.
An essential part of CORE’s philosophy is to promote women’s health at all stages of life, particularly addressing the changes that occur after a pregnancy.
“I like to think once postpartum, always postpartum,” said Cathriona Fey, Women’s Health Fitness Specialist at CORE, with certifications in pre/postnatal care. “The changes that are required of our bodies to carry and birth children can impact our deep core and how we move for the rest of our lives.”
From a fitness approach, CORE’s prenatal and postnatal classes are geared toward helping women feel stronger and more connected to their bodies. “Our goal is that they can return to their regular exercise routine more confident and supported, armed with these essential techniques to train safely and more effectively postpartum,” Fey said. “Postpartum recovery started during pregnancy and a lot of the techniques we teach can prevent common postpartum issues, like incontinence, diastasis recti, low back pain, prolapse, and more.”
Issues like pelvic pain, painful intercourse, urge incontinence, and post-surgical therapies can be treated through physical therapy and fitness classes at CORE. Even if insurance doesn’t cover physical therapy, women can find help through the fitness classes, or they can graduate to the fitness classes after completing a physical therapy program. All classes are designed to provide a safe and effective full-body workout while promoting a functional and stronger core.
“It’s so important to shed light on women’s health therapy and pelvic floor therapy because it’s not usually talked about,” said Terri McCabe, Studio Manager at CORE. “Most women experience issues at some point, and these issues are related to pregnancy and delivery. For us culturally, we’re sent home from the hospital without a prescription for physical therapy and told to ‘just rest.’ If we were given the proper tools and rehabilitation opportunities or therapeutic interventions immediately following labor and delivery, we may not have issues feeling out of alignment or off–balance years later.”
CORE Fitness and Physical Therapy is in the insurance network for BCBS PPO, and they also accept self-pay and workman’s comp individuals. Since physical therapy is an essential service during the shelter-in-place orders, CORE is able to see these patients; telehealth appointments are also available. Online fitness classes are available for a drop-in price of $10 per class; register online at CoreFitnessPT.com.
