Inside the Postpartum Fitness Assessment: What Happens During Your Session
A lot of women arrive at their Postpartum Fitness Assessment not entirely sure what to expect. They know they want to get back to training. They’ve been cleared by their doctor. But no one has actually tested whether their body is ready for what they’re asking it to do.
That’s what this session is built for.
Dr. Margie Ellison, our Pelvic Health Program Lead, gives you a look inside the assessment. For a deeper breakdown of each phase, keep reading.
Before You Start: The Intake
Your session opens with a brief conversation. Your physical therapist will ask about your delivery, how far postpartum you are, what you’re currently doing for exercise, and what you want to return to. This shapes how the rest of the session is prioritized and which movements are most relevant to test for your goals.
No internal exam takes place at any point. This assessment is entirely external and movement-based.
Phase 1: Foundation
Before adding load or speed, your Physical Therapist evaluates the systems that need to be functioning well first, breathing mechanics, core control, and pelvic floor coordination.
Pregnancy and delivery change how the body manages internal pressure. Breathing patterns shift. The relationship between the core and pelvic floor can become inconsistent in ways that aren’t obvious in daily life but show up clearly under assessment. Foundation testing is done in supported positions and standing, and it establishes the baseline for everything that follows.
Phase 2: Strength
This phase covers a broad range of functional movements to evaluate how your body handles load and maintains control across different patterns. That includes lower body work like squats, lunges, and single-leg movements, upper body pushing and pulling, hip hinging under load, and weighted carries.
Each movement is observed for breath control, pelvic stability, alignment, and whether any symptoms appear. You are not being pushed to fatigue, the goal is to see how your body responds to real demands, not to train you during the session.
Phase 3: Impact
Impact testing is performed when Foundation and Strength results support it. This is where readiness for running, jumping, and higher-intensity activity gets evaluated.
It progresses gradually, from heel raises and marching to hops, lateral bounds, and a short jog. Your Physical Therapist observes how your body absorbs and produces force and whether any symptoms emerge under repeated loading. For women earlier in their postpartum return, this phase may be modified based on earlier results. That’s not a setback, it’s precise information about where to focus next.
Your Results
At the conclusion of your session, you receive a complete scorecard with your results across Foundation, Strength, and Impact. Each area is scored Green, Yellow, or Red with clear next-step recommendations so you know exactly where your body is and what comes next.
Practical Details
Wear comfortable athletic clothing and shoes. Complete your intake paperwork before you arrive so your time in the clinic is spent on the assessment itself. The session is $160 and is a cash-pay service, no insurance, no referral required.
What to Know – FAQs
The Rehab 2 Perform Postpartum Fitness Assessment evaluates three areas: Foundation, which covers breathing mechanics, core control, and pelvic floor coordination; Strength, which includes lower body, upper body, single-leg stability, and load tolerance; and Impact, which tests readiness for running, jumping, and higher-intensity exercise. Each area is scored Green, Yellow, or Red based on movement quality and symptom response — giving you an objective picture of what your body is ready for and where focused work is needed.
No. A pelvic floor PT evaluation is a clinical diagnostic session designed to assess and treat symptoms like incontinence, pain, or prolapse. The Rehab 2 Perform Postpartum Fitness Assessment is a performance-based fitness assessment for women who have already been medically cleared and want an objective measure of their readiness to return to exercise, running, or strength training. No internal exam is included.
Medical clearance confirms that healing has occurred. It does not evaluate whether your core is managing intra-abdominal pressure correctly, whether your pelvic floor can handle load, or whether your body is prepared for running or lifting. Many women who feel fine still have functional gaps that surface under movement testing. The Postpartum Fitness Assessment answers the question your six-week clearance did not.
This assessment is not appropriate for women currently experiencing moderate to severe pain, active urinary or fecal incontinence, or pelvic heaviness and pressure at rest. Those symptoms indicate a need for formal pelvic health physical therapy before progressing into fitness testing. The postpartum fitness assessment is designed for women who are ready to return to activity and want clarity on how to do it safely.
You receive a complete scorecard with your results across all three phases — Foundation, Strength, and Impact — each scored Green, Yellow, or Red. Green means you are ready to progress in that area. Yellow means proceed with targeted focus on specific gaps. Red means foundational work or formal physical therapy is recommended before advancing. You leave the session with a clear picture of where your body is and a defined next step.
About Rehab 2 Perform
Rehab 2 Perform is a leading physical therapy and sports rehabilitation company dedicated to helping clients achieve optimal performance in their daily lives, whether they are athletes, weekend warriors, or individuals recovering from injury. With a team of highly skilled professionals across the DMV, Rehab 2 Perform offers a personalized, evidence-based approach that emphasizes active rehabilitation and functional fitness. Find a Location near you, or Schedule Here.