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I'm a Physical Therapist, a Speaker, and an Educator. I'm also the founder of the Tummy Team.

I believe we need to stop normalizing core and pelvic floor dysfunction just because the symptoms are common. Common and normal are NOT the same thing.

After multiple pregnancies and subsequent back pain, a protruding tummy, and weak core muscles, I started looking for answers. I felt alone and ashamed, but as a physical therapist I knew there was a solution. Once I found it I couldn't let another woman go through this alone.

As a woman, wife, mother, athlete and physical therapist specializing in rehabilitation of the internal muscles of the core and pelvic floor, I have a unique perspective and dedication to helping people rebuild their true core strength and gain confidence and connection throughout the process.

You CAN overcome challenges like back pain, protruding tummy and weak core that come from Diastasis Recti.

Kelly Dean, Physical Therapist
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I'm a Physical Therapist, a Speaker, and an Educator. Oh yeah, I'm also the founder of the Tummy Team.

I believe we need to stop normalizing core and pelvic floor dysfunction just because the symptoms are common. Common and normal are NOT the same thing.

After multiple pregnancies and subsequent back pain, a protruding tummy, and weak core muscles, I started looking for answers. I felt alone and ashamed, but as a physical therapist I knew there was a solution. Once I found it I couldn't let another woman go through this alone.

As a woman, wife, mother, athlete and physical therapist specializing in rehabilitation of the internal muscles of the core and pelvic floor, I have a unique perspective and dedication to helping people rebuild their true core strength and gain confidence and connection throughout the process.

You CAN overcome challenges like back pain, protruding tummy and weak core that come from Diastasis Recti.

Kelly's Clinical Background and Credentials

  • Master’s of Physical Therapy (1997)
  • Over 25 years of clinical experience
  • 12 years owning Physical Therapy clinic (The Tummy Team) specializing in functional core and pelvic floor rehabilitation
  • Faculty Professor at MCU (Midwifery College of Utah) beginning fall of 2022
  • Professional Speaker: MANA (Midwifery Alliance of North America) break out session speaker at national conference 2013
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Kelly's Story

After several pregnancies and subsequent severe back pain, a protruding tummy, weak core muscles, and a significant diastasis, Kelly’s own journey changed the direction of her career. Today, the owner & founder of The Tummy Team, she is dedicated to fully understanding the neuromuscular, postural, and alignment issues that contribute to core weakness and abdominal separation. Her combination of multiple approaches specifically treats these conditions for long-lasting changes.

Kelly is a physical therapist specializing in the rehabilitation of the internal muscles of the abdominals and back. Kelly performed her undergraduate work at the University of New Mexico, where she also swam competitively for four years. She received her master’s degree in physical therapy from the University of North Dakota in 1997.

Kelly loves to teach people about the body’s amazing design and intended function. She’s passionate, too, about increasing the body’s performance without severe amounts of exercise. Throughout her career, Kelly has amassed extensive professional experience beginning in stroke and brain injury and neuromuscular re-education and progressing to specialized functional core and pelvic floor rehabilitation with women, men, and children. She has worked in multiple clinical settings including in-patient rehab, home health, community re-entry and her own private clinic. She uses this rich variety of clinical experience to comprehensively address each client specific needs.

The Tummy Team was formed in 2009

With a mission to empower people everywhere with effective and life-changing functional core and pelvic floor health, The Tummy Team developed a unique approach to online rehabilitation.

The Tummy Team approach is based on 4 key principles

Principle 1

Retrain the Brain

Kelly’s professional background is grounded in NDT (Neuro Developmental Treatment), an approach that was initially developed for brain injury patients. During 13 years as a stroke and brain injury specialist, Kelly has used these techniques to help severely injured people regain the ability to walk, lift, and return to the most important areas of their lives. Having shifted her focus to core rehabilitation, she found the same approach to be incredibly effective when working with the core and pelvic floor. We use this neuromuscular re-education approach to reconnect the communication between the brain and the affected muscles by reinforcing what the muscle was designed to do. In the process, we are retraining the brain to respond to and reinforce that function. The intentional process and progression of our programs are designed to set you up for long-term success.
Principle 2

Make it Functional

The muscles of the core are primarily postural muscles that are intended to be strong and active all day in every activity. The most effective way to retrain the body and the brain is to reinforce every exercise with functional activities you will engage in consistently. We have found it has to be functional to be meaningful and ultimately effective for the client. For these reasons, our approach purposefully designs every strengthening exercise, anti-compensation stretch, myofascial release, and motor learning strategy to easily integrate into movements you are already doing. Our approach prioritizes upright postures with balanced and active muscle alignments. We make it functional, we make it meaningful, and we make it doable.
Principle 3

Partner with You

Everything we guide you through is ultimately designed for you to do independently. We take your education seriously so that you can feel empowered and equipped to know how your body was designed and why it may be failing to function. Our programs provide both hands-on education as well as comprehensive take home materials. Our passion is to help you rehabilitate yourself – we just equip you with the awareness and tools you will need to identify and improve ongoing alignment challenges. Our goal is to give you strength and tools for life.

Principle 4

Our Story is Your Story

Every staff member of The Tummy Team has personally experienced the life-changing benefits of core rehabilitation. This firsthand knowledge gives us an incredible passion for what we do, and a serious drive to help you recover. We have personally healed our own severe diastasis, traumatic pelvic floor dysfunction, chronic pelvic instability, lower back pain, constipation and more by living what we teach. We constantly refine and improve our approach to make it realistic, doable, and effective for you. While The Tummy Team consists of highly trained Core Rehabilitation Specialists™, we’re also real parents, athletes, and professionals just like you.
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