Everyday Ergonomics for Working Moms | Stop pain, fix biomechanics, improve function
Hey momma, are you exhausted from putting your daily aches and pins aside to care for everyone else? Do you struggle to make time for regular physical therapy, chiropractic or massage appointments for yourself? I’ve been there. Hi. I’m Amanda, a mom of three littles and a working physical therapist. I had my first baby during the last year of graduate school. I was new to motherhood and overwhelmed with my career journey. I remember being on the bed with my laptop while nursing a baby, juggling it all at once. I remember crying from mental exhaustion heightened by physical neck, shoulder and back pain. But I endlessly rocked my velcro baby anyway. It was lonely. It was uncomfortable. I needed to manage my pain but had no time to spare for MY OWN NEEDS. When my second child came, I had a toddler and a career to juggle. Still just as busy but a little bit wiser. This time I focused on MY body mechanics in all the things. The physical aches decreased with simple shifts to my positioning during nursing, cleaning, work and play. I can’t be the only one with aches and pains in motherhood. So here I am, live in your earbuds with all my recommendations and none of the timely appointments. In this podcast, I use my professional education, real patient experiences and personal mom journey to help you take care of yourself. I focus on body mechanics, ergonomics and easy do-anywhere exercises to fix common pain points for working moms. Grab all the pillows, let’s get comfy and love those babies with more joy and less pain.
Episodes
As the New Year approaches, many moms feel pressure to “get back into shape.” But what if this year, we did something different?
In this New Year’s Eve episode, we’re closing out the holiday series by reframing what strength and fitness really mean for moms. Instead of chasing extreme workout plans or unrealistic resolutions, we’re talking about training for the life you actually live—and the life you want to keep living.
Mothe...
Christmas morning doesn’t have to leave you overstimulated, exhausted, and sore before noon. In this final episode before Christmas, I’m sharing simple, mom-tested ways to make your morning feel calmer, cozier, and more joyful—without adding anything to your to-do list.
These are small prep steps that protect your energy, your body, and your presence—so you can actually enjoy the magic you work so hard to create.
Less chaos.
Le...
New Year’s looks a little different when you have little kids—and that’s okay 🤍
In this episode, I’m sharing simple, low-stress ways to celebrate New Year’s with young kids without staying up too late, overdoing it, or exhausting yourself in the process.
These ideas are easy to set up, fun for kids, and realistic for parents who are already carrying a lot—physically and mentally.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Usin...
This week on Everyday Ergonomics for Working Moms, we’re diving into one of my favorite parenting tools—our family’s Calm Down Bench. If the holidays bring out big feelings, meltdowns, overstimulation, and sensory overload (in kids and moms), this episode is your new go-to reset plan.
I’m walking you through exactly how our Calm Down Bench works, what to put inside your calm down bin, and how to use it as a co-regulation tool ins...
58. Holiday Ladder Safety for Moms: OSHA Tips, Ergonomic Strategies, and Real-Life Decorating Advice
In today’s episode of Everyday Ergonomics for Working Moms, Amanda breaks down something festive and surprisingly risky: holiday ladder safety. With over 160,000 ladder injuries each year — and a big spike happening between November and January — this conversation matters more than we think.
Amanda takes OSHA guidelines and translates them into real-life mom language: how to use the 4-to-1 rule, maintain 3 points of contact, avoi...
Let’s make holiday travel easier on the body you mother in. Whether you’re traveling by car, plane, train, or just shuffling between homes — this episode gives you simple, doable ergonomic hacks to reduce tension, improve circulation, and keep your body feeling supported and cared for.
We’ll cover:
- Pre-travel stretching + walking for blood flow & inflammation reduction
- Compression stockings: when they matter & who ...
If you’ve ever walked past a mirror and thought, “I would look so much better if I could just sit up straight,” this episode is for you. Today we’re getting real about posture — what it is, what it isn’t, and why simply “sitting up straight” doesn’t solve your rounded shoulders, forward head posture, or that dreaded tech-neck hump.
As moms, our daily routines, workspaces, feeding stations, and even our kitchens train our bodies i...
Bath time shouldn’t leave your back aching or your shoulders burning. In this episode of Everyday Ergonomics for Working Moms, we’re diving into real-life, mom-tested ways to make bath time safer, easier, and more comfortable—for you and your kids.
Whether you’re bathing a slippery newborn, wrangling a wiggly toddler, or teaching an independent preschooler how to wash themselves, these ergonomic tips will help you move smarter, n...
We’re celebrating one full year of Everyday Ergonomics for Working Moms! 🤍
In this special anniversary episode, I’m reflecting on how this podcast began, the surprises along the way, and the small ergonomic tweaks that have made big differences for moms everywhere.
Over the past year, we’ve talked about posture, pain relief, breastfeeding ergonomics, tech neck, toddler lifting, and so much more. These episodes have reached mom...
Halloween doesn’t have to mean chaos, sugar crashes, and overtired kids! In this episode of Everyday Ergonomics for Working Moms, Amanda shares her favorite Halloween hacks for moms to make the night fun, calm, and easy.
You’ll hear practical trick-or-treating tips, easy Halloween meal ideas, and bedtime routines that help your kids wind down — so you can enjoy the night, too.
✨ What You’ll Learn:
- Healthy Halloween dinne...
Big holiday meals shouldn’t mean a sore back, stiff shoulders, or aching wrists. In this episode, Amanda shares her go-to ergonomic strategies to help you cook smarter, not harder — so you can actually enjoy the holidays you’re working so hard to create.
Learn how to:
🍽️ Plan and prep large meals in stages to avoid fatigue
🪑 Set up your workstation for maximum comfort (yes, you can sit!)
🧑🍳 Use anti-fatigue mats and surface ...
Ever wake up feeling like you slept wrong? In this episode, we’re talking about the power of pillow placement for better sleep and pain relief. Whether you’re a back, side, or stomach sleeper, small tweaks in alignment can make a big difference in how your body feels in the morning.
Learn how to:
- Choose the right head pillow height for your neck
- Use towel rolls and support pillows for back and shoulder comfort
- Keep your hi...
Not all baby gear supports healthy development — even the ones that promise to! In this episode, I’m sharing the baby and toddler items I personally avoid as both a mom and a physical therapist.
We’ll dive into why popular gear like baby walkers, jumpers, and upright seats (like the Bumbo) can actually put stress on developing hip joints, encourage toe walking, and delay milestones like crawling, sitting, and walking. You’ll lear...
Motherhood is beautiful—and exhausting. Between work, kids, and everything in between, it’s easy to feel like your brain and body are stretched to the max. In this episode of Everyday Ergonomics for Working Moms, I’m sharing the real-life hacks that are saving my mental, physical, and emotional health as a mom of three.
These aren’t Pinterest-perfect systems or complicated planners. They’re simple, doable tweaks that help me move...
Why does wrist pain so often travel with trap tension, or why does neck stiffness show up after weeks of baby holding? It’s not random—it’s your body compensating.
In this episode, we’ll explore the Mom Pain Connection: the most common compensation patterns and pain clusters I see in moms. From weak postural muscles to poor lifting mechanics, our bodies are brilliant at making things happen—even if it means overusing the wrong mu...
Back pain is one of the most common struggles—affecting 60–80% of adults—and moms are no exception. In fact, up to 70% of women experience back pain during pregnancy, and many still feel it months after giving birth. But here’s the truth: your back is not fragile.
In this episode of Everyday Ergonomics for Working Moms, Amanda breaks down the myths about low back pain, why painkillers and rest aren’t the long-term answer, and how...
Does driving leave your hips and low back feeling tight, stiff, or achy? You’re not alone. Car seats aren’t built with moms in mind — they’re built to fit “average” bodies, and most of us end up slouching, straining, or overreaching just to get from point A to point B.
In this episode, I’m sharing a quick and easy system you can use every single time you get in the car to set yourself up for a more comfortable ride. I call it the...
✨ Show Notes:
Long drives and road trips don’t have to leave you stiff, achy, and miserable. In today’s episode, I’m joined by my client Carolyn, who shares her journey of turning hours on the road from a painful necessity into a comfortable routine.
Carolyn was driving 1–4 hours at a time and constantly battling neck and back pain—until we worked together to adjust her car ergonomics. With a few simple tweaks and posture strateg...
Motherhood is demanding, and our bodies feel it—especially our shoulders, neck, and back from nursing, carrying, or even hours at a computer. In this final episode of our National Breastfeeding Month series, I’m sharing a quick, practical stretch break you can do anytime, anywhere to ease tension and bring a little relief.
This episode is designed with moms of infants in mind, but it works beautifully for toddler moms, working mo...
This week, I’m pulling back the curtain and sharing something close to my heart—my own breastfeeding journey with each of my three kids. From the challenges to the unexpected lessons, every experience was different, and each one shaped the way I support other moms today.
I want to normalize these conversations, because whether you nursed for three days, three months, or three years, your story matters. No two journeys look the sa...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.
"SmartLess" with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett is a podcast that connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity. A nice surprise: in each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two. What ensues is a genuinely improvised and authentic conversation filled with laughter and newfound knowledge to feed the SmartLess mind. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!