As any triathlete knows, riding a Time Trial (TT) bike is not the most comfortable position to maintain for 5, 10, 56, 112 miles or more. First and foremost, please get a good fit from a highly regarded certified bike fitter. Fitters can get certified through a variety of organizations such as: International Bike Fitting Institute, Retul, Wobble-Naught, FIST, etc. It is easy to get lost in a sea of bike fitters, so find a fitter affiliated with a local tri club or cycling team where you can ask around about the fitters expertise & experience. Creating a team of a PT, coach, and bike fitter is the ideal scenario for injury prevention.

As a physical therapist and movement specialist, I treat from a holistic approach focusing beyond physical injury. This means that I consider other variables contributing to pain and healing potential including sleep patterns, nutrition, occupational hazards, and possible stressors. This recognition of the complexity of pain and injury led me to seek additional education by becoming a yoga teacher to serve as a way to teach the connection of the mind and the body. This connection is made stronger by having a strong practice in learning how to breathe.

Whether it’s on social media or in other forms of advertising, you’re bombarded with appealing figures of individuals with ripped abs. You assume they’re healthy. I’ve treated many of these individuals and I can assure you, many of them are not healthy. Not at all.

Why are you seeking PT? Are you rehabbing post-op (after surgery), recovering from an injury, or looking for guidance and training for athletics? While these are all popular and valid reasons for seeking out a qualified physical therapist, one of the main reasons people come to physical therapy is due to pain.

Have you ever come off the court and thought “wow my elbow feels tight”? Or you finished your match and noticed your elbow was sore when you grabbed your bag. Or maybe you took a shot and felt a jolt on the outside of your elbow.

In the first article of this blog series, I talked about what I aim to accomplish during a client's first visit. I also described my education which enables me to practice physical therapy, with or without a prescription from a physician. I am now going to lay the groundwork to then build the rest of this blog series, detailing common treatment techniques I use and why.

“What do you think about chiropractors?” is definitely on the top ten list of questions that I get as a physical therapist. It’s a loaded question because physical therapists and chiropractors are often seen as competitors, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The truth is that working with other healthcare providers that offer complementary services can be powerful in helping clients reach their goals. When I find a good chiropractor or massage therapist, I don’t hesitate to tell my clients about them. This is why I’m excited to introduce Dr. Jill Driver, a local chiropractor who provides innovative care with our friends at Pierce Chiropractic.

As a physical therapist, I often hear from my clients, “I sit at a desk all day and I know I have horrible posture. That’s probably why my neck hurts, right?”. This idea generally comes from social media posts, posture “corrector” gadgets, and posture being the historical blame for every neck and back issue if you have a desk job. But here is the kicker — there is no perfect posture. That’s right, I said it. And this is what I reiterate to my physical therapy clients time and time again to break the negative cycle about posture being the cause of their pain.

Why does my tailbone hurt when I sit on my once comfy couch? This question may become relevant for many of us during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Someone asked me this question the other day and I immediately wrote it down. That's because it was probably the 800th time I’ve been asked about inversion tables. And while I have answered this question many times, I've never done any formal research on it.