Ava MillerAs Jalen Brunson led the New York Knicks past the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals on June 4, his wife Dr. Ali Marks Brunson — a doctor of physical therapy and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist — drew a wave of online attention for a credential most NBA spouses do not carry. Marks is a Pregnancy and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist who returned to clinical work after the couple welcomed their daughter Jordyn in July 2024. Her field treats one of the most under-explained transitions in modern medicine: how a body actually rebuilds after childbirth.
Who Ali Marks Brunson is
Ali Marks earned her doctorate in physical therapy from Northwestern University in 2021. She married Jalen Brunson on July 29, 2023, at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago after the two high school sweethearts met at Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Their daughter Jordyn James Brunson was born on July 31, 2024, according to a recent profile in Yahoo Sports.
Marks holds a CSCS designation from the National Strength and Conditioning Association and additional certification in pregnancy and postpartum corrective exercise. Both credentials sit at the intersection of physical therapy and performance training — a clinical lane that has grown significantly in the United States over the past decade as obstetric providers refer more new mothers to PT rather than to general fitness coaches.
The Brunsons rarely discuss their daughter publicly, but Marks has spoken about the balance between her clinical practice and family life.
Why postpartum PT is having a moment
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated its postpartum care guidance in 2018 to recommend an "ongoing process" of recovery support rather than a single six-week visit. The model still has not fully reached most American patients. The CDC's Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System tracks maternal health outcomes nationally and continues to show that more than 40% of new mothers report at least one untreated physical complication in the first year after birth.
The most common complaints PTs see in postpartum patients are not the ones obstetricians screen for at the six-week visit:
- Diastasis recti — separation of the abdominal wall that affects roughly two in three women in late pregnancy and persists past one year for a meaningful share
- Pelvic floor dysfunction — including stress incontinence, prolapse symptoms, and pain with intimacy
- Lower back and SI joint pain tied to ligament laxity that does not resolve on its own
- Scar restriction from C-section incisions or perineal repair
A pregnancy and postpartum corrective exercise specialist is trained to assess all four and to design a return-to-activity progression — not to clear someone "back to normal" at a single appointment.
What the field actually recommends
Talk to a postpartum PT and the through-line is consistent regardless of how the baby was delivered. Five evidence-based principles tend to show up.
1. The six-week clearance is a floor, not a finish line. Most physiologic recovery from childbirth takes 6 to 12 months. Return to high-impact running or heavy lifting before pelvic floor function is restored predicts long-term incontinence.
2. Core work starts with breath, not crunches. Diaphragmatic breathing is the first exercise prescribed in almost every postpartum protocol. Abdominal crunches without a controlled progression can widen diastasis.
3. Pelvic floor training is for everyone. Kegels alone are not the prescription. PTs assess whether the pelvic floor is weak, tight, or uncoordinated — three conditions that require different exercises.
4. Pain is data, not a target. A postpartum patient who returns to exercise and feels pelvic heaviness, leaking, or doming of the abdomen is being told by the body that the current load exceeds the current capacity.
5. Strength training is medicine. The same CSCS principles applied to professional athletes — progressive overload, recovery, sleep — apply to new mothers. The dosing is different; the physiology is not.
When to see a postpartum physical therapist
Most insurance plans in the United States cover postpartum PT with a physician referral, and many states now allow direct access to PT without a referral for an initial evaluation. Patients can search the American Physical Therapy Association's public directory for clinicians with pelvic health and obstetric specialization.
A postpartum PT referral is worth considering when a new mother experiences any of the following past six weeks:
- Urinary leaking with coughing, sneezing, or exercise
- Heaviness, pressure, or bulging in the pelvic area
- Pain with intercourse
- Persistent low back, hip, or SI joint pain
- Visible coning, doming, or persistent gap of the abdomen
- A goal of returning to running, lifting, or sport
The cultural shift behind the credential
Marks's profession barely existed as a recognized specialty 20 years ago. Today, every major academic medical center in the United States lists pelvic health PT as a clinical service, and direct-to-consumer telehealth postpartum platforms have raised meaningful venture capital. Patient demand is the driver.
The visibility of athletes' spouses with clinical credentials accelerates the conversation. When the wife of an NBA Finals MVP candidate is a postpartum PT, the field gets a kind of attention it has long lacked.
For new mothers navigating the recovery year — or partners trying to support one — a consultation with a postpartum physical therapist is rarely the wrong call. The body changes more in the year after birth than at any other point in adult life. The clinical infrastructure to support that change finally exists.
