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inner thigh tightness

March 5, 2024 · In: Mobility and Restoration, Movement

Unlock Your Inner Thigh Tightness and Move More Freely

When we go about our daily activities or dive into our athletic pursuits, the last thing most of us consider is the flexibility of our inner thighs. Yet, it’s this…

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recovery time for knee replacement

February 27, 2024 · In: Injuries and Surgeries, Science-Backed Education

What is the Recovery Time for Knee Replacement?

When you’re faced with the decision of undergoing knee arthroplasty, it’s natural to wonder about the recovery time for knee replacement. The journey to full recovery after knee arthroplasty—a surgical…

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golfers elbow

February 20, 2024 · In: Injuries and Surgeries, Science-Backed Education

What to Know About Golfer’s Elbow | Medial Epicondylitis

When there’s no exact incident that flags the onset of medial elbow pain, our eyes turn towards a common culprit: medial epicondylitis. Medial epicondylitis, aka “golfer’s elbow”, manifests as pain or discomfort on the inside of the elbow….

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types of meniscus tears

February 13, 2024 · In: Injuries and Surgeries, Science-Backed Education

The Different Types of Meniscus Tears and How to Treat Them

A meniscus tear is a common injury seen in the clinic. While they do happen to be the most common sports-related knee injury, they can affect a young athlete, a…

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strengthen your deep core

February 6, 2024 · In: Movement, Strength for Resilience

How to Strengthen Your Deep Core

If you’re looking to strengthen your deep core, this is going beyond your six-pack abs. One of the main muscles we will be focusing on that makes up your deep…

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pinched nerve exercises

January 30, 2024 · In: Mobility and Restoration, Movement

5 Best Exercises for a Pinched Nerve in the Back

Commonly referred to as a “pinched nerve,” radiculopathy can certainly make its presence. It can get in the way of performing daily tasks and even cause debilitating pain, numbness, or…

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shoulder range of motion

January 23, 2024 · In: Mobility and Restoration, Movement

How to Improve Shoulder Range of Motion

Shoulder range of motion is important for daily activities. Reaching into the cupboard, washing your hair and face, and putting on clothing are all activities you need good shoulder mobility…

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quadriceps strain

January 16, 2024 · In: Injuries and Surgeries, Science-Backed Education

What You Need to Know About a Quadriceps Strain

A quadriceps strain can significantly limit your ability to perform most daily tasks. The quads are used in every day activities such as walking, standing, and going up and down…

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full body stretches for outdoor athletes

January 2, 2024 · In: Mobility and Restoration, Movement

Top 5 Full Body Stretches for Outdoor Athletes

Full body stretches for the athlete should prepare the body for an upcoming activity. A soccer player should prepare for lots of running and kicking whereas a surfer should prepare…

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patellar tendinopathy

December 26, 2023 · In: Injuries and Surgeries, Science-Backed Education

What to Know About Patellar Tendinopathy in Runners

Patellar tendinopathy is a common diagnosis in runners and other athletes. It is important to distinguish the difference between patellar tendinopathy and other common diagnoses of the knee in order…

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Meet Tera

Meet Tera
hi friends!

I'm a practicing physical therapist based out of sunny SoCal who loves to educate others and share information and knowledge. You can typically find me hard at work trying to manage normal life or cuddled up under a blanket enjoying coffee or desserts I can never seem to get away from!

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Featured Posts

how to start exercising again after a chronic pain flare

How to Start Exercising Again After a Pain Flare or Long Layoff (Without Setting Yourself Back)

woman experiencing pain that moves around the body, chronic pain explained

Pain That Moves Around Your Body: What Your Nervous System Is Trying to Tell You

woman practicing real rest for chronic pain, calming her nervous system

What Real Rest Actually Looks Like for Chronic Pain (And Why Sleeping More Isn’t the Whole Answer)

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Chronic pain coaching for high-achieving women
Licensed DPT • Regulate first, rebuild second, then layer
👇🏻 Free nervous system workbook

Saying “I’m fine” hasn’t been a lie in a long time Saying “I’m fine” hasn’t been a lie in a long time. Right now it’s probably just the fastest thing you know how to say.

When you’ve been dealing with this for as long as you have, saying “I’m in pain” over and over stops feeling worth it.

Chronic pain means every day carries some of it, so every day would mean saying it again. At some point, you stop wanting to be the person who’s always the one bringing it up. So “I’m in pain” turns into “I’m fine,” not because it stopped being true, but because you got tired of being the one who has to keep announcing it.

I know this one myself. Saying it enough times starts to cost more than staying quiet does. Next time, try something closer to the truth, something like “I’m managing, but it’s a lot today.” That’s honest enough to let someone actually see you, without turning into the running commentary you’re tired of giving.

Are you trying to convince everyone else you’re fine or are you trying to convince yourself?

Send this to someone who needs to stop convincing herself she’s fine.
I hear this one on repeat. It started in your shou I hear this one on repeat. It started in your shoulder, now it’s crept into your shoulder blade, and maybe down toward your mid back. And the first thought is always the same: something new is wrong now or something else is breaking down.

But that’s not usually what’s happening. Pain that spreads to the region right next door isn’t a new injury announcing itself (unless you legitimately injured yourself again).

When pain spreads without a new injury behind it, it’s been part of the picture for a while, and showed up out of nowhere, it’s usually the same alarm system that’s been running in the background. It’s now been ringing long enough that the areas nearby started picking up the signal too.

Think of it less like a break and more like a smoke detector that won’t stop going off until the whole hallway of detectors starts sounding along with it. Nothing new caught fire. The system’s just been on for a long time.

If you’ve already had this checked and nothing new turned up to explain it, pay attention to that. It’s usually your best clue that this is your nervous system spreading the pain to a new area, not a new injury needing its own workup.

Comment “MINE DID THIS” if pain has crept into the area right next to where it started. I’ll send you my blog post I wrote on this exact topic that goes more in depth on what’s actually going on.
But here’s what’s actually true. You’ve probably But here’s what’s actually true.

You’ve probably been told for years that any movement counts as building strength, and in the very beginning, it kind of does. If you’re coming from little to no activity, walking, Pilates, biking, or yoga will strengthen you…at first. Your body is adapting to a demand it hasn’t had to meet before.

But that adaptation has a ceiling. Once your body reaches its load tolerance for that amount of activity, doing more of the same thing doesn’t build you past it. You’re not getting stronger anymore. You’re just maintaining the level you already reached.

This is where cardiovascular and endurance work split from strength work. Walking and biking stay focused on the cardiovascular system. They’re not increasing the load on your muscles. You’re training your heart and lungs instead.

Pilates and yoga work your muscles through holds, which builds muscular endurance and helps your muscles sustain a position under fatigue. That’s a real adaptation. It’s just not the same one as strength.

Real strength requires loading a specific muscle heavy enough, and consistently enough, that it has a reason to adapt again.

If you keep exposing your body to the exact same stimulus, no further change happens. The muscle already met that demand. It has nothing left to respond to.

Comment “MAXED OUT” if you just realized you’ve been maintaining instead of building for a while now.
Everyone sees you making it through the day just f Everyone sees you making it through the day just fine. They don’t see what it’s costing you to get there or what happens once you finally stop.

You show up. You answer the emails, sit through the meetings, keep your voice even when it needs to be, and nobody watching would ever guess anything is off.

They don’t see how tirelessly you work the second you walk back in the door, taking care of everyone else before you’ve had a single second to take care of yourself. They don’t see whatever you’re quietly carrying right now…the thing nobody’s asked about because you never said it out loud.

But your nervous system has been working the entire time to keep you looking like that. Holding the line through every part of the day you couldn’t afford to fall apart in.

And by evening, when nothing else is asking anything of you, it finally stops pretending. Not a dramatic collapse, just a flatness. It’s in the plans you cancel, the conversation you can’t hold, the two hours you lose staring at nothingwhen there’s nothing left keeping the performance up.

Nobody sees the discipline it takes to hold that together all day. They only see the version of you that’s left once it’s finally safe to stop.

If this is you, let the plans stay cancelled tonight. That’s not falling behind. You’ve already asked enough of yourself today.

Send this to someone who’s fine all day and disappears the second it’s finally safe to stop.
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