If you've ever struggled with incessant soreness and deep dull ache in the front of your hip that won't go away, you've probably scrolled to the end of the internet trying to find some kind of relief. *cue the evil hip hook* If you don't know what that is, you literally lie down on your belly and impale yourself and your hip flexor over a metal hook. I wish I was kidding. If you're needing THAT kind of "release", it's REALLY time to take a deeper look into WHY your hip flexor is clamping down...
13 days ago • 3 min read
If I said I didn't need these exercises too... I'd be lying. Somewhere, somehow I've recently picked up a funky ankle ache. Yes, even PT's get "how did I do this?" niggles. And I know a lot of runners are feeling the same thing as you ramp up for fall races, entering peak mileage, or are in the thick of peak marathon mileage. And you might be saying things like: "My right ankle has this nagging tenderness/soreness my past couple runs. What do I do about it?" The most common not-so-great...
20 days ago • 3 min read
I've been noodling on this for a while now. Why do some knee niggles and running injuries linger worse than the full-blown flu? Especially when you're: gradually increasing mileage and balancing it with intensity strength training regularly 2-3x a week making sure you're eating and sleeping Usually that's the point where runners (myself included!) can get side tracked with "maybe I need a different shoe" or "maybe something is off with my running form"... And it could be! *it could*. But the...
27 days ago • 3 min read
I cringe every time I see a post like that on Instagram. And I have to pull myself off of my judgmental-ledge every time and ask myself: Are YOU, as a physical therapist, really never, ever going to prescribe some kind of booty-band, monster walk ever again? No. I might. I've even needed them myself a time or two. But what drives me absolutely bonkers on Instagram is the heavy use of mini (looped) bands (or just regular therabands) and it's targeted and labeled as "strength training for...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Ignoring running form? Sounds completely crazy coming from a physical therapist right? I won't lie: I was a total dear in the headlights this day in PT school when we analyzed each other's running form on treadmills (thank the running gods I was NOT selected). We all downloaded fancy angle-measuring apps. And starting drawing vectors and assessing angles of hip extension, knee flexion, ankle dorsiflexion.... and I'm over here drawing smiley faces...Ooops. Because heres' the thing: those...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
At first, I 100% froze. They teach us a lot in PT school, but not E V E R Y T H I N G. (Or maybe they did cover shin splints and I missed that lecture?) I was working at my dream-clinic at the time and this young man with shin splints was assigned to me. And for some PT's, shin splints can be a nightmare to treat. For me: my mind just went blank. (Or really, it was the *spongebob everything is on fire meme*) But I had one last trick that didn't go down in the burning flames of my...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Ironically, I'm writing this email after my own long run and I just stood up to get more water and uh... the hips are tight lol. So don't you worry; the physical therapist will be using her own movement-medicine after we chat haha. But tight hips can be a real drag, ...especially when you've tried "every stretch out there", nothing works, and near-crippling tightness is becoming an unfortunate repeat event by mile 8. The first thing you need to know is you're not crazy. It's ok if the stretch...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
I think I over did myself this week. In fact, I know I did. I recently went down another running-injury rabbit hole... this time looking into heel pain or what the ENTIRE internet likes to call “plantar fasciitis” Because I uncovered so many ways that this can go horribly sideways, Let me give you all the juicy tid-bits that didn't make it into the blog (otherwise it'd be a novel) 1. We don’t use “Plantar Fasciitis” or really “-itis” anymore because we’ve realized things are more…complex....
2 months ago • 3 min read
Contrary to popular belief... stretching, foam rolling, and resting your hamstring strain is NOT your savior. Going ham and jumping immediately into RDLs: *might* not feel good either. I recently had a runner reach out who I worked with before in the past (HI HEATHER!!)...and her dumb-dumb hamstring strain is still being a butt a year-ish later. This is no shame on her. This isn't because my exercises "didn't work". This is to show you how fickle hamstrings can be. And how nuanced and...
2 months ago • 2 min read