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gentle strength training

November 18, 2025 · In: Movement, Strength for Resilience

The Benefits of Gentle Strength Training for Women in Recovery and Burnout

You’re exhausted, but resting never seems to reset anything. You try to slow down, then feel guilty for doing it. Instead, you push yourself again and end up right back…

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neck and upper back pain

November 11, 2025 · In: Body Region Support, Neck/Jaw, Science-Backed Education

Neck and Upper Back Pain: Why It Happens and How to Relieve It

Neck and upper back pain are some of the most common issues people experience, especially if you spend long hours sitting, working at a desk, and using your phone. Our…

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nervous system overload

November 4, 2025 · In: Nervous System Regulation

Nervous System Overload: What It Is and How to Calm Your Body

Do you ever feel tense, overstimulated, or completely drained, but unable to rest? That’s a sign your body might be in a state of nervous system overload. This happens when…

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exercises for serratus anterior

October 28, 2025 · In: Movement, Strength for Resilience

Best Serratus Anterior Exercises for Shoulder Health and Mobility

When it comes to shoulder health, few muscles are as important as the serratus anterior, but often forgotten in most training regimens. Often called the “boxer’s muscle,” it plays a…

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exercise for spinal stenosis

October 21, 2025 · In: Mobility and Restoration, Movement

Exercise for Spinal Stenosis: How to Move Safely and Reduce Pain

Spinal stenosis occurs when the spaces within your spine narrow, placing pressure on the nerves that travel through these areas. If you’ve been diagnosed with spinal stenosis, it can feel…

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benefits of sprinting

October 14, 2025 · In: Science-Backed Education

Key Benefits of Sprinting for Strength, Heart Health, and Longevity

Sprinting is one of the most effective ways to improve fitness, boost metabolism, and enhance overall health. The benefits of sprinting go far beyond speed or endurance. It builds lean…

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core strength

October 7, 2025 · In: Movement, Strength for Resilience

Forget Crunches! There are Better Ways to Improve Core Strength

Core strength isn’t just about six-pack abs. In fact, crunches are one of the least effective ways to build the kind of strength your body actually needs. Core strength comes…

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core strengthening exercises

September 30, 2025 · In: Movement, Strength for Resilience

The Best Core Strengthening Exercises for Back Pain Relief

Back pain affects nearly 80–85% of people at some point in their lives. It is one of the leading causes of missed workdays and long-term disability. Desk workers are particularly…

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back pain travel tips

September 23, 2025 · In: Habits for Healing, Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing

Back Pain Travel Tips: A Physical Therapist’s Guide to Long Drives and Flights

Travel can be exciting, but it can also be tough on your back. Long hours in a car or plane often mean stiffness, soreness, or even flare ups of chronic…

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managing arthritis pain in cold weather

September 16, 2025 · In: Habits for Healing, Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing

Managing Arthritis Pain in Cold Weather with Simple Daily Strategies

Ever notice how aches and pains feel worse when the weather is colder? This is especially true for those living with arthritis. Many people notice their joints feel stiffer, more…

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Meet Tera

Meet Tera
hi, i'm tera!

I'm a licensed Doctor of Physical Therapy and the founder of PT Complete. I built the Regulate and Rebuild Method because most people trying to get back into their body after chronic pain are told to either push through it or rest completely, and neither one actually works. I write from the clinic and from my own body, since I'm working through my own chronic pain story right now, too. When I'm not working, you'll probably find me managing the regular chaos of life or curled up with coffee and a dessert I can't seem to quit.

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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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@teravaughn22

terasandona

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

You don’t actually want to be pain free. You want You don’t actually want to be pain free.

You want to walk further without thinking about it. Get down on the ground with your kid and back up again. Sit through a full dinner without shifting in your seat. Sleep through the night. Say yes to the spontaneous thing.

Maybe the goal was never zero pain. Maybe it was a body you don’t have to negotiate with.

That’s the shift I want you to make, from tracking pain scores to tracking your actual life, whether you can do the things you want to do, not just how much it hurts while you do them.

The order still matters to get there. Regulate first, rebuild the strength, then the habits hold.

Send this to the friend who needs to hear it’s not just about the pain.
Honeymoon photo dump incoming!! 🏝️☀️🌊👙⛱️🍾💍❤️ Honeymoon photo dump incoming!! 🏝️☀️🌊👙⛱️🍾💍❤️
I stood in front of my fridge for an hour. Couldn’ I stood in front of my fridge for an hour. Couldn’t decide, not even sure I was hungry. Just stuck. And one decision felt like the hardest thing I’d been asked to do all day, even though I’d made decisions all day long without a second thought.

I kept wondering what was wrong with me. Turns out, nothing was.

Fight, flight, and freeze are all protective responses your nervous system reaches for under threat. Fight and flight speed you up. They give you the energy to push back or get away. Freeze does the opposite. It shuts things down because there’s nothing left to fight with or run from.

That fridge moment wasn’t a discipline problem. It was my nervous system running out before dinner could be decided and made.

Freeze doesn’t get talked about as much as fight or flight, but it’s just as real and it shows up in the most ordinary places…a kitchen, a closed laptop, a decision that shouldn’t be hard and somehow is.

If you’ve had a night like this, you already know exactly what I’m talking about.

If this sounds familiar, tell me in the comments, or text someone who’d know exactly what I mean.
I reached for the weights I used to lift before my I reached for the weights I used to lift before my brain caught up.

It took half a second in my garage. The half second was the moment I realized I couldn’t even lift the dumbbell. I registered the gap between the body I used to train and the body I have now.

I dialed back down. Instead of the 30s, I picked up the 10s, and I did the work that fits what my system can absorb right now.

Nobody warns you that the rebuilding work has these moments built into it. The half-seconds when your old identity reaches for a load your current capacity can’t carry, and you mistake the disappointment for evidence that you are failing.

Your current body is not a smaller version of the one you used to have. It is a different body, doing real work, on a different scale.

You can train this one.

Tag the woman who’s still reaching for the weight she used to lift. Remind her she’s not alone.
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