Pelvic Health in Your Pocket: How the Amie App Is Changing Postpartum Care with Dr. Anna McMaster PT, DPT, PRPC
Navigating pelvic health during pregnancy and postpartum can feel overwhelming—especially when care is hard to access, time is tight, and symptoms are confusing or isolating. As part of our Expert Spotlight series, we sat down with Dr. Anna McMaster, pelvic floor physical therapist and founder of Amie, a groundbreaking app delivering expert pelvic care straight to your phone. Her mission centers on accessibility, working to ensure that quality pelvic health treatment reaches individuals regardless of geographic location or other traditional healthcare obstacles. Through her clinical expertise and entrepreneurial vision, she's helping to transform how pelvic wellness is delivered and experienced.
In this conversation, our founder Lauren chats with Dr. Anna about how her personal and clinical experiences inspired Amie, how it’s designed to meet women where they are, and why small, consistent steps can make a powerful difference in recovery and confidence. Whether you're new to pelvic floor care or looking for better support, this is a must-read.
Catch the full conversation on YouTube, or check out 5 of our highlights below!
1. Turning a Common Postpartum Struggle into an App
Lauren:
I'd like to just start with the spark and what inspired you to create this AI-powered pelvic floor app, and was there a personal experience or a gap in care? Walk us through that journey.
Dr. Anna:
Yeah, I mean, it was kind of both. I experienced this issue from both sides, both as a provider, (pelvic floor PT) and as a new mom. And so as a provider, I witnessed this over and over again with my patients where I would see a pregnant patient all the way through her pregnancy. We'd get to the end, schedule that first postpartum appointment just like a couple of weeks postpartum, and inevitably that appointment would always get canceled.
And when I was a new mom, I then kind of "got it". In those first few weeks postpartum, you're like, "How am I supposed to leave my child for a couple hours? They're going to need to eat, and can someone take care of them, or am I supposed to bring this baby with me?" It's just kind of a logistical nightmare.
It's just kind of a shame because then those patients either never come back or they come back several months later and they tell me like, "Oh, I've been dealing with leaking and back pain and hip pain and prolapse and all of these things for several months, and just suffering with that." And I just felt like there's got to be a better way to get these patients the help that they need during this very chaotic time in their lives.
Lauren:
I can totally relate to that. I was a 40 minute drive from my PT, and then trying to juggle that with a newborn and in the car was tough. And even when you can take them with you, it's stressful because it can be hard for you to focus, because you're constantly worried about this tiny, newer baby. It's great when you can bring them along and I love that option, but it can still be stressful.
And then, yeah, I feel like the baby ends up taking the front seat and then your things kind of get put to side. And then time flies, too. You'll turn around and it's been two months, four months, six months. I can totally understand and relate to everything that you just said.
Dr. Anna:
Yeah, I did a couple pelvic PT visits myself when I was postpartum, because I was like, "I need to prioritize this." But I remember the first time I drove to my PT, and it was very far, about 40 minutes, my baby threw up all over herself in the car. I was like, "Now I have to find parking, clean you up." I think I luckily had brought another change of clothes. It was just like a disaster.
Lauren:
And then you're probably running late because you didn't budget time for the throw up and cleanup.
Dr. Anna:
Yeah. So it was crazy. It was not the best PT visit, let's just say that.
Lauren:
You describe the Amie app as "pelvic floor PT in your pocket." Can you walk us through what that means in practice and what a typical user experience would look like?
Dr. Anna:
Yeah, so I wanted to try to replicate as much as possible that experience of going in to see a pelvic floor PT in person, but just in app form. And so what that kind of looks like on the app currently is when you first log in, you are prompted to answer a few questions. I definitely ask way more questions in person, but I tried to keep it quick and snappy for my moms. So it's about five to seven questions. Things like: Are you pregnant or postpartum? How many weeks? What are your goals? Stuff like that.
And then they are prompted to take what I'm calling benchmark strength assessments, where we measure your baseline core, hip, glute, pelvic floor strength. Again, trying to tailor it to the pregnancy and postpartum experience, I tried to be as focused as possible.
And then after that, each day users are prompted to enter in the symptoms that they're feeling that day. So are we feeling back pain or neck pain, or are you feeling some pelvic pressure today? And after gathering all that information, then they are presented with a truly personalized exercise program for them on that day.
So that's kind of the main functionality of the app, but also you literally have a PT in your pocket because you have the option to text directly with me. And while I can't give any medical advice, I can answer these questions. I'll give you a couple of examples of what I've gotten: When should bleeding stop postpartum? Or, I've had this hemorrhoid now for five days, what do I do about it?
I think my goal was instead of you sitting there googling on your phone and just doom scrolling, why don't you just ask me and I can get you an actual answer? Or if I can't, I can at least point you to the right place to go.
2. How Amie Removes Shame and Builds Everyday Confidence
Lauren:
So we know of course that pelvic floor concerns are super common, but also very under discussed. I mean, I feel like we're starting to see this increase over the last five or so years where more and more people are talking about it. Will you talk just a little bit about how the app helps normalize this conversation?
Dr. Anna:
I think I tried to do this in a few ways. I think the first is just having it be in that kind of friendly context where it's not a super medical-looking app. That in and of itself can be scary, for sure. As someone who has white coat syndrome themselves, I get it. So presenting it in a fun-looking context is one way.
Also presenting everyone with the pelvic floor benchmark assessment and having the pelvic floor symptoms in the symptom tracker along with all the other symptoms. Then having pelvic floor exercises mixed in with all your other exercises, just having it be in there in all the different ways to remind people that your pelvic floor muscles are just like other muscles. As a society, we've happened to put a lot of shame around it and to fight it and not talk about it. But I do think we are in kind of a, I don't want to call it a golden age, but it's definitely a lot better. I feel like more people are talking about it. And so I'm hoping that it might not seem as shocking when you're going through your program and you're like, "Okay, yeah, just did my squats. I did my hamstring stretch, and like, oh, next are my Kegels," and we were just going through this as just another exercise.
3. How to Keep Moving With Pelvic Floor Symptoms—Without Giving Up the Exercise You Love
Lauren:
Let's talk about movement for a minute. What are your go-to tips for staying active if you are dealing with pelvic floor challenges?
Dr. Anna:
I want to say first off that I know that it is disheartening to try and exercise when you have pelvic floor symptoms. I feel like it makes people not want to exercise at all, which I totally get. It's a bummer when you're trying to do something and then, "Oh man, I feel that pressure."
But what I always try to work with my patients on is, first of all, tell me a type of exercise that, one: you love, and two: you are going to do consistently. I feel like people are always like, "Well, my doctor said I could do yoga." Okay, well, do you like yoga? Are you going to do it? Are you excited about it? Are you dreading it? If we're dreading it, then that's not helpful.
So find that exercise that you're going to do, and then let's find ways to modify it for right now--not forever--where we can still do that exercise, but with either no symptoms or minimal symptoms.
I feel like the biggest example of this is my runners. I am never going to tell a runner to not run. That's just silly. They're not going to do it. But instead of your daily three to five mile run, how can we adjust that? Do we need to do a run/walk situation? Do we need to, instead of running up in the trails, do we need to do it on a flat road or on a treadmill? Do we need to look at your form or your step length? Do we need to do a specific warmup? There's hundreds of ways to modify all of these different exercises and to find out what we need to do so that you're still exercising, you're still moving, but you're comfortable. Longevity is a huge issue now, and people are talking about perimenopause and how we all need to start strength training, all of that stuff.
And if we just stop exercising altogether, it's really going to hurt our overall health, cardiovascular health, muscle strength, all of these things. It's really hard to not go on that three mile run and for it to be a 10 minute run/walk instead. I am guilty of this, too. If I can't do a 45 minute workout, what's the point? But at a certain point, you have to realize that your life is different now, and so let's adjust to that and kind of make it the best that we can and acknowledge that it's temporary. As you get stronger and as your body heals, you will be able to go back to those five mile runs. It just is going to take some time.
Lauren:
Yeah, I think that's a huge takeaway from this is that while it might feel like not what you want in the moment, it's not that it's that way forever and that it's like you can progressively work up to those other things. But trying to go back to where you were immediately can make it harder and longer and all those kinds of things. So it is hard. It's definitely a rollercoaster, emotionally, physically, everything.
4. Simple Supports for Prolapse That Make Daily Life More Manageable
Lauren:
I wanted to talk just for a minute specifically about pelvic organ prolapse. I know we have a lot of people who are dealing with that. Can you talk about what some simple strategies or supportive tools are that can make a big difference in daily life? Because as we know, when folks are experiencing the symptoms, simple things that were easy are now hard. Will you just talk us through that a little bit?
Dr. Anna:
Yeah, absolutely. I think prolapse is such a hard thing to manage and to deal with. And so I will try not to talk for 20 minutes about all the tips that I have.
Lauren:
I know this is a loaded question, right? I'm like, answer it quickly.
Dr. Anna:
But I'll say I have two things that I talk to every single patient that I have who has prolapse. And the biggest one is bowel mechanics. I have no data on this, but I feel like a high percentage of women are always straining to have a bowel movement. And what happens when we do that if we're holding our breath and having that valsalva is we are putting a lot of pressure downwards on the pelvic floor and on that prolapse and that can exacerbate symptoms. And having a bowel movement is something that is happening multiple times a day for some people, multiple times a week for others. So it's something that happens a lot. So we want to make sure that we're doing it in a way that decreases the amount of actual pressure that's going down. And so it's important to make sure that you are using either a squatty potty or a stool, something that puts your knees higher than your hips. Remember to exhale as you're bearing down, not holding your breath.
I feel like constipation is also a huge issue with women. So making sure that your stool consistency is good in a way that works for you, whether that's making sure you're drinking enough water, or if we need to do fiber supplement or stool softeners for those early postpartum women--just making sure that we deal with all of that is a big piece.
And then the second thing is support. I know it sounds weird to people, but a prolapse needs support, just like a sprained ankle needs support. There are many different kinds. There's internal and external, and so internal supports are called pessaries. They're inserted vaginally, and they can help hold the prolapse up. Now, this can be a really scary thing for some patients, and I get that. Every time I talk about it, people are like, "Oh my God, no, I do not want that." And fair enough. But they can be really helpful.
And I also want to make a note that it's not something, again, that you have to wear 24/7 for the rest of your life, but if you are not ready to commit to an internal support, I'm also a big fan of external supports and things like Hem Support Wear, where it literally is just an external support on that pelvic floor area, something to give you that little lift. And it's something that I think is such a simple way to get a lot of relief that people don't know about.
And again, it's not something that you will need forever, most likely. And so just being able to say, "Okay, while I am healing and while I'm getting stronger, I might need to use these things" in the same way that you don't need to wear an ankle brace forever after you have an ankle sprain. You get strong enough and then you might not need to wear it ever again.
Lauren:
Those are really great examples. Personally, I've used both internal and external support and pessaries are amazing. I think they're a complete game changer. And if people are considering one, my thing is it's always worth a try if you can do it, right? If you can swing it, try it, and then if you don't like it, pivot. But yeah. And I like having multiple choices. I feel like for folks, like you were saying, it's not forever. And depending on the things that you're doing, you might find that one is more comfortable than the other or vice versa. And I think the more options that we can have, the better that we can work all those things back in that we're missing and want to be able to do. So I think hearing about all these different options is great because just having that information is really helpful.
Dr. Anna:
And I'll put another plug in for pessaries. I'll give my runner as an example. If, without a pessary, she can only run maybe half a mile before feeling symptoms. If she puts a pessary in and then goes for a run, maybe she can make it a mile or two. And so it's using those tools for specific things, like you said, having different options. Maybe she only wears the pessary when she's working out, and then maybe she doesn't need anything else, or maybe then she wears an external support on her normal day to day. I know it's mentally hard to come around to some of these things, but I'm always like, "Could you just try it? Just try one and just see. Does it help you enough to be worth it? And if yes, great. And if no, fine, at least you tried it."
Lauren:
For me, it's been where I work it in and it's second nature. It's like, "Oh, I'm going to my workout, grab my pessary. I'm going to do this thing, grab my garment." And you just kind of work in it as you grab your special workout shoes, it just becomes part of what's that set of things that I need to do that activity. But just like with anything there is that learning curve and that inertia you have to get to overcome that initial thing. And then once you do, you're like, okay, it's just it's second nature at that point.
Dr. Anna:
That's my new routine.
5. How to Choose Pelvic Support Products That Actually Work (Without the Guessing Game)
Lauren:
So I also know in this space, choosing support products can really feel like a guessing game, just everything that's out there, all the different information. What do you think makes a product actually supportive, and how does your app help folks make informed choices?
Dr. Anna:
Yeah, there is a lot of stuff out there, and I think it is hard for people. Again, you Google something and there's hundreds upon hundreds of different options. And so if I was buying something, what I would look for is to see who's making it and why are they making it. Because the products that I've seen that work the best are made from people who have experienced this themselves. And so they know what it feels like to have this, so they know what a supportive garment would need to feel like to relieve that. They also know what they would want to wear all the time. It has to be comfortable and realistic, but also work.
I did the same when I was just working as a clinician. I made sure to only refer patients to use certain products that I had tested myself because things cost money and I would hate to tell someone to try something and it doesn't do anything. And then that's just a waste of money for them. So in the Amie app, I have a page for resources and referrals for products, and also for additional services. And again, I don't just put things on there willy nilly.
So it's not a super exhaustive list. It's pretty short. But my hope is that if someone is looking for a support garment, that they can go to that section and be like, "Oh, okay. Here are the two couple choices." Instead of looking through hundreds of options, let me look at these two and see which one I think is going to work best for me.
I feel like a golden age of women's health is happening. For the longest time, even in the beginning of my career, the only kind of support that was available, even pelvic supports, looked like a medical device. It was super ugly. Anytime I would bring it to a patient, they'd be like, "Really? You want me to wear this?" And I'm like, "Yeah, I know. I get it. I wouldn't wear it either."
Lauren:
Yeah, it's so hard.
Dr. Anna:
And so it is nice that we have more options, and there are more options that people will actually wear, but also I have tried some that don't do anything. So I want to try to make sure that I'm staying up with all the different ones that come out so I can try them and then be able to refer to them or not.
Are you a pelvic floor healthcare professional? We’d love for you to be a part of the Hem Support Wear community! Learn more about our resources, including our clinic sample kits, healthcare-focused monthly newsletter, and more. If you’d like to be featured in our Expert Spotlight series, let us know!
**Medical Disclaimer: This post is intended to provide information and resources only. This post or any of the information contained within should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis, treatment, or advice. Always seek the guidance of your qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding your healthcare, conditions, and recommended treatment.