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foam roller for upper back pain

December 19, 2023 · In: Mobility and Restoration, Movement

How to Use a Foam Roller for Upper Back Pain

A foam roller is a tool that can be used for soft tissue mobilization and myofascial release. It can also be used with exercises to help improve mobility. Did you…

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tight hip flexors

December 12, 2023 · In: Body Region Support, Hip, Science-Backed Education

Tight Hip Flexors and How to Treat Them

The hip flexors are a group of muscles that are important for movement and mobility, as well as for powerful leg movements like kicking. Tight hip flexors can lead to…

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how to build self care

December 5, 2023 · In: Habits for Healing, Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing

5 Different Ways How to Build Self Care

Building self-care can feel like a daunting task. Where to start? What to do? How much will it cost? This post will look into 7 different areas of self care…

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exercise and mental health

November 28, 2023 · In: Pain Science and Healing, Science-Backed Education

Exercise and Mental Health: Positively Improve All Aspects of Life

Most people are aware of the physical health benefits of exercise. What most people are not aware of is the other benefits that come from physical exercise. It can even…

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weak ankles

November 21, 2023 · In: Movement, Strength for Resilience

How to Fix Weak Ankles: The Ankle Support You Need

Weak ankles are a sign of poor stability in the distal lower leg. On occasion, external support may be necessary for safety and pain management. Strengthening the muscles around the…

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rounded shoulders

November 14, 2023 · In: Pain Science and Healing, Science-Backed Education

How to Fix Rounded Shoulders

Have you ever caught yourself with your shoulders hunching forward in the mirror? Or has someone ever said anything to you about standing up straight? Rounded shoulders occur when certain…

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ql exercises

November 7, 2023 · In: Back, Mobility and Restoration, Movement

Quadratus Lumborum: Stretches and Exercises to Relieve Back Pain

Have you experienced back pain after a day out on the golf course? Or what about a long day of work after repeatedly twisting to one side? Even going for…

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hip internal rotation

October 31, 2023 · In: Body Region Support, Hip, Science-Backed Education

Hip Internal Rotation and Why It Is Important

Hip internal rotation is one of the most commonly limited movements of the hip. Improving range in this direction can help with countless activities. This includes squatting and helping to…

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ankle pain when walking

October 24, 2023 · In: Body Region Support, Foot/Ankle, Science-Backed Education

Ankle Pain When Walking? Why it Hurts and How to Fix It

Have you had times where you have gone our grocery shopping or gotten up for your daily walk only to have your ankle start bothering you just minutes in? Ankle…

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hamstring stiffness

October 17, 2023 · In: Body Region Support, Hip, Science-Backed Education

Chronic Hamstring Stiffness? Here’s What You Need to Know

Hamstring stiffness affects a lot of people. Why are the hamstrings a commonly stiff muscle group? This post will address anatomy of the hamstrings, reasons stiffness may occur, and exercises…

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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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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)

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

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

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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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