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body mechanics

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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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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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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tech neck help

October 10, 2023 · In: Body Region Support, Neck/Jaw, Science-Backed Education

What You Should Know About Tech Neck: Relieve the Pain

With the use of smartphones and electronics on the rise, a normal day’s work and simple mindless scrolling can sometimes end in pain. Tech neck is on the rise as…

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knee pain hiking downhill

October 3, 2023 · In: Body Region Support, Knee, Science-Backed Education

Knee Pain Hiking Downhill: Prevention and Treatment

Are you one of the many individuals who has experienced knee pain hiking downhill? You start off on a great day of hiking, especially in the warmer weather of SoCal,…

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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)

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

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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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Licensed DPT • Regulate first, rebuild second, then layer
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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.
I currently do not squat, lunge, or deadlift. I g I currently do not squat, lunge, or deadlift.

I get why everyone defaults to these movements. They’re efficient, they build strength, and if your body can tolerate them, there’s nothing wrong with having them in a program.

For a long time, I assumed that if I pushed through it, my body would eventually catch up. That’s not how it works when you’re dealing with chronic pain. Pushing through leads to a setback fast.

Your back is tied directly into what your hips and legs are doing. Careful form can only take it so far out of the equation, especially when weakness is involved.

A few months ago, I was doing bodyweight versions of these same exercises at home. Every time, it aggravated my back. So I stepped back to isolated machines instead.

Here’s what made it click. I couldn’t even tolerate a leg extension machine at 30lbs. I weigh about 120. There was no version of me safely squatting my own bodyweight and that’s still true right now.

Isolated machines do exactly what they’re built for. They isolate one muscle group and take my back out of the equation so I can still train and progressively add weight at a pace that’s safe for my body.

If a compound lift keeps interfering with your back, this is where I’d start looking instead.

If this is the kind of order-of-operations thinking that’s useful to you, hit follow. That’s exactly what I break down here.
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