Many people that experience chronic pain have seen multiple practitioners over many years without lasting relief. They often feel better for 1 or 2 days, but then their same symptoms return time and time again. Sometimes they never feel even a bit of relief from symptomatic treatment, but that’s what most insurance companies allow for, so that’s what they get. For example, if their symptoms are in their shoulder, the practitioners are usually pretty restricted to only being able to treat in the shoulder and upper body areas. If the practitioner spends time treating the patient down in the pelv ..read more

What is Women’s Health? Most people think about treatment of the pelvic floor muscles and incontinence, but men have issues with these as well and also benefit from very similar treatments. Women are completely different though when it comes to their reproductive organs, breast tissue, hormones and how their bodies are built in order to sustain pregnancy, give birth, and recover from childbearing. Traditional Women’s Health physical therapy tends to focus on strengthening a weak pelvic floor and core or decreasing tension in a tight pelvic floor. It usually consists of exercises and hands-on t ..read more

Yoga is my favorite. If you’re one of my patients, I’m sure you’re tired of hearing me say this. Or, if you’ve read some of my other blog posts, this is definitely old news. But I just can’t stop, and the deeper I dive in, the more I LOVE it! The only problem is that I don’t live close to any yoga studios, and even if I did, having a toddler doesn’t allow me to have a flexible schedule to make it to all of my favorite classes. Click here to read more ..read more

I don’t know how many times I have said the above words, probably at least 1 to 2 times during each workday. Because I have no restrictions in how or what I can treat, I am able to look, listen and feel my way through each treatment and follow the person’s body rather than follow a protocol or whatever treatment the current research has decided is the best. When I am treating a body, research rarely comes into play, because that research likely did not include the person that is on my table at that moment. Every person’s body is so completely different under my hands and can completely change ..read more

Running is the easiest form of cardiovascular activity that I know of – all you have to do is strap on a pair of shoes and walk out the door!  If you are running outside there are so many other great possible aspects – fresh air, sunshine, cleansing rain, different terrains, slopes and hills, friendly neighbors, exploring a new place while traveling, wildlife, the list goes on!  I’ve always run in the morning, so I was able to feel the fresh and cool morning air and usually catch a bit of the sunrise.  I’ve also loved to run when on vacation, because I was able to explore a new ..read more

Chronic low back pain can be so frustrating and despite trying to avoid motions or positions that are known to increase pain, it can flare up for no reason whatsoever! ARGGGGHHHH!!!! It can put huge limitations on people’s activities and therefore, on their quality of life – so not cool! If you have ever dealt with this kind of pain, you understand how it can literally change your life. It can make even the simplest tasks seem like giant feats – lifting your toddler, picking your kid’s toys up off of the ground, putting on your shoes and socks, sitting at the table to eat….the list goes on. It ..read more

I was trying to come up with a catchy title for this post, then I tried to come up with a title that would summarize this post, and I just couldn’t do it.  I don’t know if it’s because this is the first time that I am writing anything besides a shopping list and a few emails in the last 2 months and my brain has been taking a vacation, or if it’s because there is no good way to describe what has happened since I shut down my business on March 13th and only left the house about 5 times in 9 weeks.  It’s “UNPRECEDENTED ..read more

I will be the first to admit that I have had to work very hard to become a better listener in my personal life, and it’s definitely still a work in progress.  I find myself interrupting or interjecting things into a conversation that might not necessarily be helpful or relevant, but they came to my mind during the conversation and I wanted to share.  Sometimes it takes quite a bit of self-control to make sure that I let the other person finish their sentence or their train of thought.  It’s amazing though, when you step back and really focus on listening, how much more you can ..read more

Being an overachiever – isn’t this usually a good thing?  Getting a 100% on the test…working hard to achieve your goals…going above and beyond for your loved ones… Well, when it comes to your muscles, the key word that we are looking for is balance.  If there are any overachievers or underachievers in the group, it throws the entire system out of balance and leads to compensations, pain, injury and dysfunction.  In order to have everything running smoothly in our bodies, all of the parts and pieces need to work together in harmony.  This is true for all of the systems ..read more

Hello!  I have returned from maternity leave and am back to work at Solstice Physical Therapy.  It is bittersweet, as I absolutely LOVED my time with my beautiful and sweet daughter, Emma, but I was also starting to get a bit stir crazy and missing work.  These 8 weeks off have really reinforced how much I love my work, my patients and the feeling that I get knowing that I am helping people to live their best lives.  I had my first afternoon back to work last week and felt completely energized afterwards.  I now feel like I have the best of both worlds – I am loving mo ..read more