"Not sure I can afford that..."

The medical insurance system is broken.  This absolutely cannot be news to you.  The system is unfortunately highly influenced by pharmaceutical companies, medical supply companies, malpractice lawsuits and federal agencies.  However, for some reason, most of us as Americans have developed the attitude that if I can't get it covered by my insurance I must not need it (or some version of that thought).

The Tummy Team is made up of exceptionally high trained licensed medical professionals, physical therapists, massage therapist and coming soon a chiropractor.  Our approach is medically sound and extremely effective and completely within the reimbursable margin that medical insurance policies approve.

Our passion at The Tummy Team is to help our clients find long term healing.  We are a small business that focuses on 1:1 intimate and personal treatment.  We strongly believe you could not do this work "for the money" and be effective.  You have to do it because you believe in the importance of what you are teaching and because you love to help people.

The medical insurance system is broken.  Every policy has different requirements.  Most people have between $1000-$3000 personal out of pocket deductibles before their insurance policies will pay anything (that means you have to pay the first $1000-3000 out of pocket no matter what).  On top of that, for clinicians to become providers for many insurance companies, we have to be willing to take a fraction of the reimbursement that we actually provided in the treatment.  This is after you spend hours figuring out what policy will accept, what each policy covers and whether or not they will cover your services at all.  The staff and time not to mention the redundant paper work of this broken system, keeps us from being able to treat our clients as we know they deserve, with the time they need and the treatment we know they need.

For these reasons, The Tummy Team is highly selective about what insurance policies we are willing to work with.  We choose companies who have minimal paper work and bureaucracy and still offer the appropriate reimbursement to allow us to stay in business and still treat each client for a full hour one on one.   We refuse to sacrifice client care based on a dictation of an insurance company.

Ninety percent of our clients are cash payment clients.  Some of those clients use heath savings accounts or privately submit their claims to their individual policies (as out of network services), but the majority of clients pay cash for our services.

This is where many people start thinking..... "I am not sure I can afford that..."

Pricing services is very tricky.  There is a high value on what we provide and we give A LOT in every session.  We greatly respect your time and your financial investment and know that if YOU do not feel it is worth it, you will not come back.  Our heart is to help each client to receive complete long term healing and strategies that will stay with them for their entire life.  We want you to complete your rehab plan because you see and feel the value in it, so we are motivated to provide quality services at the best value.

The Tummy Team typically sees clients for 3-6 session and the sessions are usually spaced 2 weeks apart.  We are not seeing you 2-3x/week for 6 weeks.  We are not seeing you for months on end.  The costs of the program at spread out over the course of the time we see you,  but most people prepay for several sessions. We don't work with you forever, we train you in specific core rehabilitation and skills that will continue to help you throughout your life and then you progress to an independent core strong lifestyle.

Dealing with cash clients cuts our paperwork time in 1/2 and eliminates approximately 30min-2 hours in phone/online correspondence with the various insurance agencies.  We prefer to use our time with the client and for the clients benefit.  Due to the natural streamlining that happens with cash clients we can offer a cash discount prices.

Our current cash discount prices are $150 for the first visit (evaluation and treatment included and 60min with the Core Rehabilitation Specialist).  Our follow up sessions are $100/45min-60min session.  All sessions are 1:1 and personally tailored to each clients needs but also follow our foundational process that has been proven to work.  Since most clients are seen between 3-6 sessions.  The total cost is between $350-650. 

It is an investment.  It is a valid investment.  Diastasis Recti is a medical condition that is often untreated and then results in significant medical consequences.  An inactive deflated core can cause chronic back pain, hip issues, sacroiliac instability, sciatica, intestinal issues, pelvic floor and urinary issues, prostate issues, and can result in hernias (a tear in the abdominal wall).  The medical cost of treating one of these issues will easily surpass The Tummy Team's cost of fixing the source of all of these issues.

When people call us and tell us all their symptoms and how much these symptoms are affecting their lives and then tell us they cannot afford to work with us it breaks our hearts.  Honestly, they cannot afford NOT to do it.  This is not to be insensitive to peoples financial situations.  But honestly most of our clients are women and mothers who hold the entire family structure together and they are falling apart and they NEED to get rehab.

We as women/mothers tend to shuffle our needs to the very bottom.  We convince ourselves it is vanity or if we just power through it we will be fine but that is a lie.  If our child or husband had a medical condition that was causing them to have chronic pain, weakness, intestinal issues, where they were wetting their pants, and if you leave it untreated it may result in the need for major surgery, we would not hesitate to find a specialist and do what needs to be done to take care of it.  Then why is it different for the mom.

You cannot afford NOT to do this.

It is selfish to NOT take care of your self.  It is selfish to deprive your family and loved ones from your full potential.  It is selfish to not value the body that you have been given and take care of it for the long run.

The medical insurance system is broken.  Please do not rely on that system to determine what your body needs and what is important for your health.  Do your research.  We have TONS of information at www.thetummyteam.com including several free videos.  We have so many personals stories on this blog if you just scroll down you can read real testimonies from people who have had life changing experiences with The Tummy Team programs.

We love what we do and we believe in it wholeheartedly.  We want you to find complete, long term healing for your core.  Please call our office and set up your first appointment... we would love to work with you.

360-952-CORE

If you do not live within driving distance to The Tummy Team, we also offer Comprehensive Online Programs at a great value.

Do not believe that lie that you are not worth it.  You are worth it.  Let us help you.

Katie~ mother of 3

We just received this great letter from one of our Core Foundations Online Clients...we are blessed to hear stories similar to this every day!

"Before starting the tummy team, I knew I had a Diastasis but did not know if it was possible to heal this condition, and did not fully understand how this condition was affecting many aspects of my health.  After each of my three children were born, I found myself gradually back at a healthy weight where I did not want to lose any more weight, but with a protruding tummy.  I appeared to have excess belly fat, and I often thought this was just part of having babies.  My tummy protruded more than ever after my third child, and even at a healthy weight, I found I only fit into my stretch pants comfortably.  I went to a postpartum P.T. in town who specializes in losing the "pooch" who tried to help me, but had me doing some crunch exercises that were making matters worse.  I read a book about belly fat, bought some postpartum videos (filled with crunch motions done by women who appeared to have "perfect" postpartum tummies without even a stretch mark to show), incorporated cardio exercises into my daily routine, and I ate very healthily.  I still felt very frustrated and sad about the appearance and feel of my body.  After researching all my options on the internet, I came across the Tummy Team website.  Since I had never purchased an online program before, I was skeptical.  I am so thankful I made the decision to try the Tummy Team program.  I felt the knowledge I gained from the first week alone was worth the investment.  I lost a total of five inches around my waist in eight weeks, with no change in my diet, and no cardio exercise (I only focused on the Tummy Team program postural changes and exercises during the eight week program).  I started off with a deep, three finger width Diastasis at my belly button, and it was completely closed after three weeks on this program.  I now fit into my clothing comfortably and I no longer have a protruding tummy.  I love how structured this program is, making it easy to fit into a busy schedule.  The timing of the progress always seemed perfect for what my body needed.  For example, when I was feeling my upper body needed help, there was a focus on upper body stretches.  I have always had poor posture, and for the first time in my life I have great posture that feels natural, and effortless.  I no longer suffer from low back pain.  My digestion has also improved, along with a greater awareness and understanding of how issues with digestion were further damaging my core.  One symptom that surprised me the most during this program was I noticed a disappearance in foot pain.  Before starting this program, my feet hurt first thing in the morning and throughout the day unless I wore running shoes in the house.  Now I go bare foot all day around the house and notice no foot pain. 

            The founder, Kelly Dean, is very knowledgeable, friendly, compassionate, and professional.  I felt she really cared about my healing journey.  I love the option of Skype sessions with her, for one on one support.  Also, the private Facebook group is supportive in that a person can ask all of their questions on there with prompt helpful feedback and support from Kelly Dean and members who are also working through the program, or already completed the program.  I will definitely sign up for the Tummy Team Prenatal program if we have any more children!"

                                    ~ Katie, mother of three children

Swaddling Mama...

Earlier in my career as a PT, I worked in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) with little bitty preemies.  When babies are born too early, their little bodies do not have enough motor control and they can be a little floppy and limp.  Often their nervous system is completely overwhelmed by the amount of external stimuli and their own inability to respond to it well.  When you see these little ones, they are often exhausted, can't make eye contact and struggle to breath, suck and simply live.  The very first thing we do to help these little guys is swaddle them.  We pull their little bodies together, snugly and give them some stability (so they are not flopping all over the place), give them some pressure (so they can feel themselves) and some security (so they feel safe, instead of out of control). After we do this, we work on the sucking reflex by holding pacifier in their mouth and stimulating the suck.  The ability to suck is one of the first reflexes to form (essential for survival for these little guys so it makes sense) and when babies suck it begins to organize their nervous system.  It basically settles the system down, so they can focus on the few little things they need to do at this little phase of their existence, like eat and breath.  At this stage, with the little baby snugly swaddled and starting to suck- they will sigh and make eye contact.  Their vitals stabilize, their breathing stabilizes, their temperature stabilizes and they are no longer fighting to survive so they can continue begin to thrive and to develop what did not finish developing in the womb.

Our bodies require a balance between stability and mobility.  However, stability is required first to even allow the slightest amount of mobility.  We are not jelly fish.  There is a system of order and control within our body.  Our nervous system is constantly evaluating and responding to our environment, our feelings, our sensations, our movements, our emotions, our body chemistry... basically everything at a molecular level to a global/outside our body environmental level.  If we just look physically (which is not reality since you cannot separate the physical from the emotional and spiritual), but if we just look physically, if our body is in a constant state of instability (weak muscles, deflated core after delivery, constantly moving surfaces, etc) then most of our nervous system is focused on that input. Similar to those preemies, our nervous system becomes overstimulated by external stimuli and all other movement and activity becomes difficult.

When we work with clients at The Tummy Team, we evaluate a lot of different things going on.  Part of this evaluation includes determining the level of the stability the internal core muscles are providing the body.  In the initial eval, we always use our hands to wrap around the corset and draw the muscles together snugly to give the client the sensation of what their transverse is supposed to be doing.  Every time we do this, every time, the client responds.  Their eyes light up, they sigh, they verbally respond with a "wow" or an "ahh" and we can easily see something "click" within them.  It is very similar to my NICU babies response to being swaddled.

Of course we cannot walk around with our hands around them facilitating what they are missing, but we can help them rebuild that muscle and reclaim that stability.  They can tell this is what has been missing.  They can tell their body craves that support, that security, and that stability. 

We begin retraining and rehabilitating their internal core and while they are doing that we provide them with a "temporary transverse" in their abdominal splint.  When our clients can feel that muscle and essentially feel themselves again, a lot of things start to look different. 

Imagine your body feeling completely out of control and unstable. For many this is not hard but if you cannot think of how this might feel, recall those first few hours and days immediately after delivery if you have had a baby.  Your "guts" feel like jello and it is very difficult to even get out of bed, walk, or sit up much less begin caring 24/7 for a newborn infant.  It is very common to feel overwhelmed, emotional (there are some hormones here as well obviously), and a bit out of control and exhausted.  Imagine now how it might feel to be swaddled at that moment.  Snugly pulled together and supported with stability and security. 

We see it all the time.  If we have a mom that comes in to our office obviously emotionally and physically unstable, we splint them quickly.  Within 10 min there is a change in their complete body language.  Hostility is gone, lack of concentration is improved, communication becomes more calm and clear.  It is almost as if we can see their nervous system beginning to organize and the over stimulation dissipate right before our eyes.

This is one of many benefits of abdominal splinting.  But the splint is temporary.  Just like when we swaddle our babies, they eventually don't need the swaddle to be calm, to breath, to suck, to make eye contact.  They still sleep better that way for a long time but eventually that is not even needed.  Why?  Because their body gradually develops the ability to provide that stability internally.

This is what happens with our clients.  We are consistently and systematically retraining the internal stability system to hold them together so the splint becomes less and less necessary and their internal stability builds and is being used by their body.

Stability and mobility are married.  When the body has a solid foundation of stability than mobility can happen without injury and without pain.  As you challenge the mobility (with walking, carrying kids, climbing stairs and fitness) you will continue to also further challenge the stability system.  It requires more stability to walk than to sit and more stability to lift a 20lb toddler than a 8lb infant. 

If your body has been asked to function within instability for an ongoing amount of time, months or even years, there is a tax on your system.  Without the needed security and stability, your body can be spending a lot of energy just trying to hold you together.  There is a lot less energy to think, to handle stress, to communicate, to listen, to learn, and to simply feel yourself.  This can lead to so many less than optimal situations.  When the body is spending all its energy in surviving there is little to nothing left to allow you to thrive.

The Tummy Team wants to help you thrive in your life not simply survive.

Core Rehabilitation is more than just physically pulling two sides of the muscle together to heal a diastasis.  It is more than getting into those skinny jeans. It is more than simply feeling better.  It is living better.  It is giving your body what it needs so you can thrive and grow and develop.  It is about reclaiming your true self.  It is about being the woman, man, wife, husband, mother, father you were intended to be.

Do you feel weak and disconnected?  Do you feel unstable and overwhelmed?  Do you feel numb and just going through the motions. Maybe your body is asking to be swaddled? You will absolutely benefit from The Tummy Team.

We have more information at www.thetummyteam.com.  The Tummy Team is located in Camas WA but we also have online programs that meet the core rehab needs of clients all over the world.  And if you want to not only heal your core but help others heal too, check out our Comprehensive Core 1 Workshop in the continuing education section.

Shut off the water...

So if you had a flood in your basement and you started dealing with it by scooping the water out with buckets and throwing all your towels on the water, you would still only get so far unless you found the source and turned off the water.

This is the same approach we take when healing your core.  With any problem we have, we need to look at how to fix the problem and also how to stop making the problem worse.

We hear a lot of stories from people who have tried several things to fix their diastasis.  They have been diligent at many exercises and worn splints for months and then stopped being as faithful and then feel like their diastasis is back.  They become understandably frustrated and blame what ever program they were doing or think they probably just need another splint.  Or think they need to do more exercises or splint more, or something.

This approach and mindset is like continuing to bucket out the water in your flooded basement and continuing to throw towels on the water but never looking for or addressing the leak.

You have to shut off the water!

Diastasis Recti is a not a free standing diagnosis. Diastasis Recti is a result of several factors, the most prominent being an inactive internal core, and an over active external core.  This imbalance often results in inactive collapsed daily postures and continuous forceful forward pressure pushing out on stretched connective tissue throughout the day.  Basically if your internal transverse abdominis is stretched out, ignored and inactive the muscle becomes a deflated balloon around your waist instead of a meaty corset.  Your body begins to collapse into flexed postures that make it even more difficult to use that internal muscle and the external muscles start pulling to "help".  Your body needs your corset for stability and without it you are forced to use strategies that brace and push out on abdominal wall every time you lift, bend, strain or challenge yourself. This imbalance and pushing out is what creates the diastasis and what also keeps it from closing and staying closed.

Core Rehab is about changing these strategies.  Yes, isolating Transverse exercises are essential to this.  Yes, abdominal splinting can play an important role.  But then what?  These exercises and splinting are to rehabilitate the muscle for what?  Not more exercises and more splinting.  Your core strength needs to be systematically incorporated and integrated into everything your body needs to do.  The functional use of this muscle is the key.

(This is how  your transverse abdominis is supposed to look when it is strong and active.)

To turn off the water... or to stop the damage, you must change how your body is using this corset muscle.  Doing hundreds of exercises but not using your transverse when you pick up your toddler 10 times a day is not going to get you very far.  Splinting for months but sitting on your tailbone in a collapsed position to nurse your baby for 8-12 hours a day is not going to get you very far.

(Your transverse is unable to be active when your body is crunched as in this slouched posture.)

The Tummy Team addresses every aspect of healing the diastasis and restoring your core.  The needed integration becomes muscle memory and habit before you are done our program.  You understand why you are doing what your are doing and you can see the benefits of it.

When our clients finish our rehab programs, their core has been systematically integrated into their life. They often still have strength to build but they know how to continue building it. 

When our clients close their diastasis with our program, they do not have to ask.. "will this just open again".  They know what caused it.  So yes, it theoretically could happen again, IF.... you stop using your core, IF you sit, stand and walk with a collapsed posture, IF you push out, bear down, crunch, tuck and brace with effort and IF you ignore everything we have taught you and ignore pain and ignore your core.  Then yes, you can get another diastasis. Your body will recreate the disuse atrophy that gives you a deflated inactive core, your body will collapse and you will be forced to use less then optimal strategies for daily function and you will be suseptible to your abdominal separating again.  BUT WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT when you know how to fix it and keep your core strong?

The goal is not to do the rehab exercises forever and splint for years.  The rehab exercises tend to continue to be effective because our typical lifestyle of sitting most of our days at computers, in cars, and  at desks and then doing a few hours of active movement a week, does not give us the core strength we need for those challenges we do.  The exercises are so effective and easy to do anywhere and help you feel better, so you can still do them periodically.

If your diastasis "opened back up", take some time to really understand what you have done to completely rehabilitate your core and integrate that core strength into your daily life and postures.  I would bet it is not the splint that is your issue. 

It would be great if you could just put on a splint and let it fix you.  There is no magic pill.  It just does not work that way.  Your body works on a "use it or lose it" system.  You need to use the core everyday and most of the day to have the strength you need for the life you live.  But you can do it.  It is not impossible, it is not even difficult.  Let us help you.

We love what we do.  Our passion is to help you not only feel better in the next 6 weeks but for you to feel better 16 plus years from now.  Don't skimp on what your body needs.  Don't take the short cut.  Build the foundation your needs for the rest of your life.  The investment is so worth it.  You will not regret it.

We would love to work with you in person or through our comprehensive online programs.  Check out more information at www.thetummyteam.com.

Nick~ 19 year old man with umbilical hernia

Nick's mother heard about The Tummy Team through Fit2b studios.  Nick is a healthy, lean young man who works as a computer designer at a desk most days but also helps on his family farm on the weekends.  Nick was hammering in fence posts one weekend and noticed a bulging area pop out at his belly button.

He was seen by the doctor and diagnosed with an umbilical hernia and scheduled for a surgery.  Nick's mother messaged The Tummy Team to see if we could help him avoid surgery.  One problem, Nick lived 4 states a way.

Nick was seen for 1 Skype session.  We addressed his core strength, his sitting postures and how he engaged his core for strenous activities.  We worked on repairing his "hernia" which appeared to be more likely a diastasis (since there was no tear, no bulging organs and little pain at the umbilical area).

We scheduled a second Skype for 3 weeks out that Nick contacted us and told us he did not need.  Here is part of his email to us...

"Thanks Kelly! Really appreciate your help, friendliness, and personability.
I'm excited about this - it's like a new healthiness that I didn't even know I was missing.

Just wanted to give you a status update - it's going great! Although I can still feel the diastasis a little, it's noticeably smaller and the gap that I felt along that linea alba line is definitely smaller. Additionally, I just feel better in general now that I have a better awareness of posture and correct breathing, and that active sitting position now feels right, not uncomfortable, and I can hold it for WAY longer without back support. I swapped out my office chair for just a nice, straight wooden chair and got an external computer monitor which is all the way up at eye level (my laptop was raised above my keyboard but I still had to look down a little) and larger so that I can see all the fine details super clearly without feeling that need to lean in.

I opted not to set up a check-in appt. since it's going so well but I am truly thankful for your help. It's a great way to start off a new calendar. Hope you and your family had a blessed Christmas and have a happy New Year!"

 

Nick was able to avoid surgery and prevent further injury with just one session with The Tummy Team.