The Postpartum Gap Nobody's Filling: Dr. Jenny Quartano & The Movement Driven Podcast
Why postpartum care shouldn't end at a six-week checkup — and what your body actually needs after having a baby.
A C-section is major abdominal surgery. Yet for most new moms, the follow-up plan looks like a quick virtual check-in, a warning not to lift more than ten pounds, and a "good luck" on the way out — even though the baby they're going home to already weighs close to that.
Dr. Jenny Quartano, PT, DPT, CEO of All Together Wellness in Jacksonville Beach, sat down with Dr. Greg to talk about that gap, and why so much of what we accept as "normal" after childbirth shouldn't be.
From Home Health to Whole-Family Care
Dr. Quartano's path started in neuro, where she became board-certified before moving into a pediatric residency and training other pediatric PTs. Treating kids in their homes gave her a front-row seat to something the clinic never showed her: families running on empty, with moms holding the whole household together while their own health needs went unaddressed. That observation became the foundation for All Together Wellness — a comprehensive, in-house team spanning PT, OT, speech, feeding, and lactation support, pelvic health, and functional medicine, built around the idea that a family's wellbeing is one connected system, not a set of siloed appointments.
The Postpartum Checkup That Never Happens
One of the most pointed parts of the conversation: pelvic health follow-up should be as routine after childbirth as the six-week OB visit, but it almost never is. Dr. Quartano speaks from personal experience here — she had a C-section the same week COVID shut everything down and never received real follow-up care of her own. Her larger point stands regardless of circumstance: a major surgery deserves a rehab plan, and postpartum bodies rarely get one.
Kegels Aren't the Whole Answer
Ask the internet about pelvic floor issues and the advice is almost always the same: do more Kegels. Dr. Quartano pushes back on that. A lot of pelvic floor dysfunction isn't weakness at all — it's guarding and tightness that needs to release before strengthening does any good. Layer in scar tissue from a C-section incision, which is functional tissue worth treating, not just a cosmetic afterthought, and it becomes clear why a generic exercise handout falls short of an actual evaluation.
The Nervous System Connection
A recurring theme throughout the episode: the nervous system doesn't stay in its lane. Chronic stress and poor sleep don't just wear moms down mentally — that tension gets stored physically, often right in the pelvic floor. Dr. Quartano's approach treats pelvic pain and dysfunction as part of a whole-body pattern, not an isolated muscle problem, which is why her team looks at sleep, stress, and nervous system regulation alongside hands-on pelvic health work.
Functional Medicine, Minus the $700-a-Month Supplement Bill
Dr. Quartano's own health journey — unresolved fatigue and weight changes in her twenties that conventional medicine tried to solve with a prescription pad — led her into functional medicine and a root-cause approach. Her team leads with food and lifestyle changes first, and supplements only where a real gap exists. As she put it, plenty of people walk in already spending hundreds a month on supplements that have simply replaced a pharmacy bill without addressing anything underlying.
Why Finding the Right Specialist Matters
Physical therapy covers far more ground than most people realize — pediatrics, geriatrics, orthopedics, neuro, women's health, cardiovascular, and sports medicine, each with its own depth of training. Dr. Greg and Dr. Quartano both pointed to their own limitations as a strength, not a weakness: knowing when a case belongs with a different specialist is what actually gets patients better care, faster. Landing with the wrong-fit provider — one who's generally competent but hasn't treated your specific issue in years — often means someone quietly assumes "PT just doesn't work for that," when the real problem was never getting matched with the right specialist in the first place.
The Takeaway
Postpartum recovery, pelvic health, and whole-family wellness all point back to the same idea: symptoms don't exist in isolation, and neither do the people experiencing them. Whether it's a mom accepting pelvic pain as a "rite of passage" or a family bouncing between providers with no coordinated plan, the fix is the same — get to a specialist who treats the whole picture, not just the closest complaint.
๐ Working through pain, pelvic health concerns, or recovery after having a baby? Movement Driven works with active adults across Jacksonville and St. Johns County to build strength, resolve pain, and get back to full function. Schedule your $79 first evaluation or a free 15-minute discovery call at movementdriven.com or call 904-257-5765.
๐ง Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
