Creating the Matriarc App - Guest Blog
/If you asked me three years ago if I would have co-founded a technology company helping thousands of women heal their bodies post-childbirth, I would have called you crazy. But in fact, that’s exactly what MATRIARC has done through our interactive FREE digital app available on IOS. SO, how did I get here?
As a Pilates instructor and the owner of a health and wellness company for over a decade, I've helped many clients recover from a myriad of issues and injuries, some so severe they required surgery. As you'd expect in these cases, my clients were kept informed before, during, and after a procedure by their doctors, were prescribed physical therapy, and were given an abundance of information on how to properly build back strength.
The one exception was when a client would give birth. Even in the best-case scenario, a woman might face stretching, swelling, tearing, and cutting, yet two to six weeks later she can be cleared for exercise with little to no guidance on how to properly rehabilitate postpartum.
We don't expect the body to "self-heal" after any other major surgery or physical event, so why do we assume this should happen after birth?
I found this to be unacceptable, and knew I wanted to create a platform and company where all women would have the basic tools they needed to properly begin rehabilitating their body after birth. I took my idea to a friend of mine who had experience working with brands and business and her team all came to the same conclusion. We should build an app! To someone with no technology background this seemed intimidating, but with her guidance I felt confident we could create something that would benefit so many women.
Together we came up with the idea for MATRIARC. Instead of focusing on only exercise, we wanted to create a place where women could find all kinds of wellness information relevant to postpartum. Our platform does exactly that by curating information on nutrition, fitness, wellness and motherhood. Our media player streams daily 7-9 minute workouts for the core pelvic floor, and women can listen to a handful of audio meditations specifically for this time in their life.
The exercise piece was the easiest for me due to my background. I took my information from my own trainings and certifications and began talking to OBGYNs, midwives, doulas and all kinds of specialists who worked with women during pregnancy and postpartum to come up with my exercise list and audio meditations. I divided the exercises into two phases. Phase 1 would be best for 0-6 months postpartum, while exercises in phase 2 were best if a mom waiting at least 6 months. This is due to the condition called Diastasis Recti that can worsen postpartum if a woman does any movement that builds abdominal pressure.
We consulted dozens of professionals and worked with a technology company to build out the app you see today. Although we are constantly making improvements to the app, we are grateful we have had the opportunity to help so many women and will continue to push on our journey!
Laura Arndt founded Matriarc in 2016 and is an NSCA certified personal trainer and NSCA member since 2005 as well as the owner and CEO of DeSimone Health & Fitness, LLC established in 2007. Laura holds multiple certifications including NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, certified Mat Pilates Instructor along with certification in First Aid, CPR and AED from the American Red Cross.