What Happens When Recovery Waits 6 Weeks? How Early OT and PT Can Support Mental Health After Traumatic Birth Most patients after traumatic birth are discharged from the hospital without occupational or physical therapy. If postpartum rehab is recommended at all, they're told to wait six weeks or more. In that early window, the hardest parts of recovery happen alone. Pelvic pressure. Tailbone pain. Incontinence. Neck, back, and shoulder discomfort from hours of feeding. Lactation challenges. Sleep deprivation. Partner fatigue. Hypertension. Uncertainty about what's normal and what isn't. Growing distress that has nowhere to go. 128 hospitals have decided that's not acceptable. From rural to large metropolitan health systems, 128 maternity hospitals offer OT and PT to address functional recovery during postpartum admission. Therapists visit mothers in their room, while holding their baby, with their families present, to develop a recovery plan after an unexpected birth event. Mothers share what they feel is needed before they go home, before questions compound, before complications grow into anxiety that affect their mental health, and before they spend 6 weeks wondering if what they feel is their fault. Join Rebeca Segraves, PT, DPT, PWCS and Jenna Segraves, PT, DPT, NCS, co-founders of Enhanced Recovery After Delivery®, for a live discussion and Q&A on what early OT and PT actually changes for postpartum women. Learn how inpatient and outpatient practitioners and practice owners are building the referral pathways to reach moms sooner. We'll talk about the clinical model, the scheduling structures that work inside and outside of the hospital, and the one thing you can do in your practice to stop waiting for a referral that was never coming. This event is for the therapist who knows this is your pathway to build. If you're watching patients get referred to rehab months after birth, wondering why no one told them sooner, it's time to accept that you're the only clinician who's going to change it. Build something that meets mothers where they actually are. Join Live. REGISTER HERE

I was in a Zoom meeting with the lead OT and PT of the acute care maternal rehab program at one of the leading academic medical centers in the U.S. They were explaining how they started a service line that offers rehab to mothers during hospital admission after birth when they noticed another need: OB nurses wanted to learn what they were teaching patients in the hospital room with their anatomical pelvic model. During a treatment session, a nurse had observed the therapist use the pelvic model with a new mom after a perineal tear and discuss the pelvic health treatment plan she created for her. The nurse left the room and when the therapist ended her session, she was met with a team of OB nurses at the nurse's station on the mother baby unit. They wanted to see the pelvic model and learn the pelvic floor education that the therapists were providing to women after vaginal delivery before discharge. What started as an acute care maternal rehab program expanded into an interdisciplinary postpartum recovery model led by occupational therapists, physical therapists, OB nurses, and OB/GYNs. The Pelvic Health Network's Postpartum Recovery Hospital Directory tracks 128 facilities that offer rehab services on the maternity unit. These programs have quickly grown into a movement that is expanding access to early recovery care after birth in hospitals, home health, outpatient clinics, and virtual care. In every setting where a therapist was willing to build the referral pathway, clinicians have learned the fundamental skill that gets buy-in from the maternal care team: how to communicate the value to mothers earlier after birth. In our workshop on Tuesday, June 16 at 7 PM ET, therapists will receive the presentation template to communicate their role, and learn what to include, who to invite, and how to build the case for early maternal rehab in every setting for moms who want access to postpartum recovery care. See you then, Rebeca Segraves, Pelvic Health Network REGISTER HERE

Duke University Health System saved over $815,000 in 24 months by adding physical therapy to their maternity unit and via telehealth. The program could not have launched without a physician order.  127 maternity units in the United States currently offer occupational and physical therapy during postpartum admission. The hospitals reducing postpartum readmissions fastest have one thing in common: a physician who decided to build a recovery team. This session is designed for OBGYNs, MFMs, and OB hospitalists who want to understand how a postpartum recovery program works, what it requires of the physician, and how to build one inside their own health system before 2027. You will leave this session with: 1. A clinical algorithm and outcome measures for identifying postpartum patients who would benefit from rehabilitation during hospital admission or through telehealth and home health follow-up after discharge. 2. Rehab practice guidelines that include assessing physiological response to activity after hemorrhage, Cesarean hysterectomy, preeclampsia, and other major birth events. 3. Program outcomes that address the metrics that payors and health systems measure including length of stay, patient satisfaction scores, preventable complications, and avoidable readmissions. Presented by: Rebeca Segraves, PT, DPT, PWCS | Founder, Enhanced Recovery After Delivery®. Developer of the only global directory that tracks inpatient postpartum recovery programs across maternity hospitals. Dr. Katherine Sylvester, PT, DPT | Founder, MommyMonitor. Acute care women's health physical therapist and remote postpartum monitoring specialist. This session is free. It is built for the physician who already suspects something is missing in the recovery window between discharge and the six week visit and wants to do something about it. Register to attend live or receive the recording. REGISTER HERE