I guess you could say I neglected it, but I blame life. Life got in the way, Ava was sick, the weather has been terrible, I got sick, basically the winter happened. I finally got an appointment yesterday and It felt great to be tortured with massage and stretching.

Although going to Physical Therapy means you have an injury, I still love it because every time I leave I feel great. Basically my Physical Therapist told me that I have a hamstring strain, and my hamstring was crazy tight. I pretty much knew this going into our appointment because it started limiting me last week.

It wasn’t until last week (when I was sick) I was doing WAY less then I normally do and I started to feel my hamstring ache on and off. Funny right? You think with an injury the more active you are the more it hurts. Not with this one. Activity helped my hamstring feel better, it kept it loose.

So although a hamstring strain in some cases can be debilitating and super painful depending on the level strain, mine is only a mild strain and I am happy it won’t effect my job or anything else right now. All I need to do is stretch, massage, and perform my PT exercises!

I am SO TIGHT… and here are a few of my stretches that have been helping a ton:

The Mermaid Stretch:

Adductor Stretch:

The Figure 4:

One of my fears was having this injury sideline me, but GOOD NEWS it won’t! I can still squat, deadlift, and teach my classes. As long as nothing causes pain

As a trainer I have learned not to ignore injuries. They can be painful the longer you put them off and they will take away from your ability to progress your fitness! I am glad I got this appointment in before anything turned serious!

Have you ever had a minor injury before? 

Have you ever had an injury that was caused because you delayed seeing a doctor? 

It has been about 3-4 months since I last did a plank (seems like an eternity) and I was definitely not as strong as I used to be.  It felt good to really feel my core working and also to have my arms shaking from fatigue at the end of my session.

Along with the planks I did rows using a resistance band, reverse shrugs using my body weight on a chair, and a lat exercise over head with a 3lb dumbbell. I will be practicing these exercises daily until my next PT visit on Monday.

Now onto the importance of Physical Therapy. Over the last few years I have had a couple of injuries and I have grown to LOVE PT. Of course I hate being injured but I have learned more about injury recovery through personal experience from my hip and shoulder.  This has made me a better personal trainer. One of the main things I learned were The phases of recovery:

1. Rest 2.Range of Motion 3. Strength

Obviously the strength phase is the most fun and motivating but the first 2 are so IMPORTANT. If you do not rest and recover in phase 1 you can risk re-injury or delayed recovery. As part of the treatment the second phase is to restore range of motion.  The 2nd Phase Range of motion is crucial so that the joint can move properly and in the future there is no injury because of a limited range of the joint. Phase 3 you get to exercise the shoulder either using bodyweight, bands, or weights! It’s the best part for me.

Although physical therapy can be painful because of massage and getting back the range of motion I know that as the weeks pass I am closer to having my strong shoulder back! It is awesome to see the progress. On my first PT session I could barely lift my arm up straight in front of me and now I can extend my arm fully over head using weights!

My advice for anyone that is going to physical therapy is be PATIENT. Recovery doesn’t happen over night but be diligent with the exercises you are given and you will see progress!

(this was Take 1 of my plank picture… as you can see Cooper was quite curious of the camera haha)

Happy First day of spring!!

After some painful massage of my posterior tibialis, Melissa also used a stick roller to massage my IT Band (Iliotibial Band). If you haven’t been to physical therapy before rolling out any tight muscles can be torturous at first. I know the reward of the massage which is muscles that are relaxed and aren’t holding onto tension, so I act tough during the remainder of the session.

After doing an exercise to build up the arches in my feet I was finished. I walked around and felt completely loose and I could tell that my alignment was significantly better! Thank you Physical Therapy!! I love it.

I am constantly paying attention to my areas of weakness and I focus on making those areas stronger. Right now my feet are my weakness and I need to strengthen my arches. If I don’t it will cause more muscular imbalances in other areas of my body.

Do you notice any muscle imbalances in your body? What do you do to correct them? here are a few stretches I do multiple times per week:

For a tight lower back…

Lay on your back and tuck your knees into your chest, let your knees fall to one side of your body and then switch. I find that this helps stretch your butt and lower back.

For tight hamstrings…

lie on your back and stay completely flat. Wrap a towel around one of your ankles and keeping your leg straight pull your leg up as far as you can. This helps stretch the back of your legs.

If you slouch forward… rounded shoulders

Try stretching out your chest. Find an open door frame and grab the door frame so your arm is extended straight back at or just under shoulder level. This should help open up your chest.

Before beginning a new exercise program consult your physician first