Watch the segment at youtube.com. 

She used HSS resources for postpartum strength training, pelvic floor, and return-to-run programs to ensure she races safely, while experiencing the same journey she's guided many patients through.

Dr. Austin also has a patient who she helped recover from an injury who is also trained for the marathon for the first time.

Watch the full segment at abc7ny.com. 

I treat professional athletes for a living.

I'm the primary care sports medicine doctor for the New York Liberty. As a former Division I athlete myself, I'm honored to remain connected to the sport I love—and treat some of the world's most elite players. I know I've been tasked with caring for a historically marginalized population at a time when the healthcare system is finally starting to value female athletes. I take this responsibility seriously—and coordinate care year-round for the team, treating everything from acute and chronic musculoskeletal injuries to sore throats and earaches. 

But after the birth of my second child, I found myself on the other side of the exam table—trying to manage diastasis recti, a postpartum condition where the abdominal muscles separate, causing pain and weakness.

Even with world-class care and clinical training, I'm still on the mend eight months later. That makes me one of the lucky ones. Most women don't have access to the resources I do and they're left navigating complex, often painful recoveries on their own.

The reality is pregnancy affects nearly every organ system, yet most women receive little to no guidance on how to protect or rebuild their health. Our healthcare system waits for problems and then scrambles to respond. It rarely works to prevent them.

We're long overdue for a shift to a proactive model of perinatal care—care that supports women before, during, and after pregnancy—and integrates musculoskeletal medicine, physical therapy, and nutrition.

Read the full article at time.com

There are a bunch of physical benefits of the run-walk method too: For one, it can reduce your injury risk, especially if you’re just getting started with the sport, said Dr. Austin. Running is one of the highest impact forces you can put your joints through, Dr. Austin explained, and because of that, people can experience pain and overuse injuries if they ramp up too quickly. The run-walk method allows for a slower, safer progression. Same principle applies for people with arthritis: Inserting walk breaks into runs can help give your joints a breather while still promoting blood flow, which is important for reducing feelings of stiffness. Ultimately, this approach can allow them to tackle longer distances than nonstop running, said Dr. Austin.

Read the full article at self.com. 

Sure, a high-intensity sweat session can make your heart pump harder, your breath quicken, and may even cause a burning-like feeling in your lungs and chest. And if you’re going hard, chances are you’re not going to be able to muster enough breath to eke out more than a few words at once, let alone full sentences. But chest pain or shortness of breath that’s severe or that doesn’t improve when you slow down can be a sign of a heart attack or other serious cardiac event, Dr. Austin explained. 

That’s especially true if the sensations feel wildly out of proportion to what you usually experience during a given effort. “A person training for a marathon who runs 80 miles a week and starts having chest pain that stops them from running is worrisome to me,”said Dr. Austin, whereas someone running for the first time and feeling out of breath during their workout isn’t nearly as concerning.

Read the full article at self.com. 

Wear and tear on our active joints is inevitable, and the menopause transition can make them more vulnerable. Ashley V. Austin, MD, sports medicine physician at HSS shares simple, and often overlooked, ways to support joint health that include proper nutrition, recovery, strength and mobility practices, footwear and more, which can help us stay active and pain free through and beyond menopause. 

Listen to the podcast at podcasts.apple.com.

Watch the full video at youtube.com. 

Over the years, everyday wear and tear can do a number on your cartilage. And when it withers, your knees will grow weaker. "As cartilage deteriorates, we have less cushion and support within our joint," Dr. Austin said. Without healthy cartilage to bolster your knees, they won't be as robust or function as well as they used to in your younger years. And as a result, "we have to rely more on the surrounding and supporting muscle groups to keep heavy loading forces off of the joint," Dr. Austin explained. But over time, these compensations can lead to other issues like muscle imbalances and, eventually, even injury.

“Regular exercise and strength training of the lower body (with a concentration on strengthening the hips) can help,” Dr. Austin said. “The hip muscles are some of our strongest muscle groups, and they help with changes in balance and gait that can happen with cartilage wear.”

"Muscle atrophy happens as we age. When we are younger, we can complete activities even if all of our supportive muscles are not activating at once. But with advanced age, our strength decreases." said Dr. Austin. 

“As the muscles that surround your knee weaken, they no longer have the capacity to support the joint. Not only does this equate to more stress on the knees, but it also lowers the threshold for injury,” continued Dr. Austin.‌

To maintain good muscle recruitment and activation, “your muscle support system needs to be more and more efficient to prevent injury the older you get. Therefore, it is imperative that we keep exercising and strength training throughout life to counter these changes and to prevent injury," advised Dr. Austin. 

Read the full article at Livestrong.com. 

Weakness and underuse of the muscles that support the knees are common causes of inflammation that can result in pain, explained Dr. Austin. 

High-impact activities, such as running or high-intensity interval training, which is short bursts of intense exercise alternated with brief recovery periods, can also contribute to knee pain if they’re done without proper training, said Dr. Austin. That’s especially the case if those high-impact activities are coupled with shoes that don’t support you, inadequate nutrition, and repetitive stresses from the same activity over time without sufficient rest periods. 

If you’re already experiencing pain, avoid high-impact activities such as running, jumping, deep knee bends, and squats. Instead, try low-impact activities such as walking on soft surfaces like a track, grass, and trails, Dr. Austin suggested. 

Read the full article at consumerreports.org.