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fatigue

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

August 11, 2026 · In: Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing, Rest and Recovery

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

Rest for chronic pain requires two things happening at once: physical stillness and a nervous system downshift. Sleeping eight hours or sitting on the couch only covers one. If your…

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Woman experiencing the freeze response, a dorsal vagal shutdown pattern linked to chronic pain and nervous system dysregulation

August 4, 2026 · In: Nervous System Regulation

The Freeze Response in Chronic Pain: When Your Body Shuts Down Instead of Fighting Back

The freeze response in chronic pain is a dorsal vagal shutdown state, not a discipline problem or depression. It shows up as exhaustion that sleep doesn’t touch, paralysis over small…

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Woman sitting quietly on a couch in soft natural light, deciding whether to do active recovery or take a full rest day

June 16, 2026 · In: Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing, Rest and Recovery

Active Recovery vs Rest: How to Know What Your Body Actually Needs

Active recovery is low-demand movement that keeps the body engaged without adding strain, while rest is full stillness used when the system is too depleted to tolerate input. The right…

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Woman experiencing burnout fatigue symptoms after a long work week

June 2, 2026 · In: Burnout and Fatigue, Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing

Burnout Fatigue Symptoms: Why You Crash After You Push Through

Burnout fatigue symptoms most often show up after a stressful period ends rather than during it. The crash hits once the body finally downshifts and the fatigue signals it had…

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exercise when you are tired

May 19, 2026 · In: Burnout and Fatigue, Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing

How to Exercise When You Are Tired Without Making Your Fatigue Worse

Trying to figure out how to exercise when you are tired can feel genuinely frustrating, especially when your energy is already low and you still feel like you should be…

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why am i always tired all the time

April 28, 2026 · In: Burnout and Fatigue, Holistic Self-Care and Sustainable Healing

Why Am I Always Tired All the Time? What’s Actually Causing It

Feeling tired all the time can be frustrating, especially when you are actively trying to do all the right things to take care of yourself. You might be exercising, eating…

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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

woman pausing in her car before a holiday family gathering while managing chronic pain

Holiday Family Stress and Your Nervous System: Why Gatherings Can Trigger Fight-or-Flight

woman deciding how to reply to a holiday invitation while managing chronic pain

How to Say No During the Holidays With Chronic Pain and Handle the Guilt

woman testing a gentle movement baseline during a slow walk

What is Gentle Movement? (And Why Most Advice Gets It Wrong)

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@teravaughn22

terasandona

Chronic pain coaching • Ditch the push-crash loop
Licensed DPT • Regulate first, rebuild second, then layer
👇🏻 Free nervous system workbook

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.

Send this to the friend who keeps getting told squats are non-negotiable.
It was a Sunday and I woke up feeling good, better It was a Sunday and I woke up feeling good, better than I expected after lifting the day before. I went on a 40 minute walk, did laundry and vacuumed, and had a home leg workout planned for later.

Then around early afternoon, my energy tanked. I could still putter around the house, but the thought of starting that workout felt like more than I had left.

If you’ve had energy for everything except the one thing you planned, I know how much that one can sting.

Looking back, it was hot, I’d barely eaten, and I hadn’t slept well most of that week. Each of those can pull from the same energy you’d use to train, and that day, I had all three. What felt like a motivation problem was my body showing me what the day had already used up.

So I moved the workout to Monday instead of forcing it (and let myself have the day).

Send this to the friend who feels guilty every time a planned workout doesn’t happen.

#chronicpainlife #chronicfatiguesyndrome #lowenergy #paceyourself #functionalcapacity
Nothing about chopping vegetables is urgent and my Nothing about chopping vegetables is urgent and my jaw was still clenched like it was.

If you just checked and your teeth were touching, you’re not doing anything wrong. When you’ve been running on alert for a while, your nervous system can start treating ordinary moments like urgent ones, and your jaw braces right along with it while you scroll, answer emails, or cook dinner.

Over time that can stack into headaches, jaw pain, and neck tension.

You don’t have to fix it the moment you catch it. Right now the goal is to notice it in the everyday moments it tends to hide, so it stops being something your body does without you knowing.

Save this and check your jaw the next time you open your inbox.

#jawclenching #jawtension #nervoussystemhealth #stressandpain #chronicpainawareness
Happy 1st anniversary to my other half 💕 Getting Happy 1st anniversary to my other half 💕

Getting to relive the best day ever, reminiscing through these photos, and visiting our favorite place is more than I could ask for. Can’t wait for many more of these years to come ❤️
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