Roots Physical Therapy

08/06/2023

When I graduated with my doctorate in physical therapy, some of my first cases were post-surgical trans and non-binary clients looking for grounded, safe physical therapy services. Since then, I’ve been even more attuned to the intricacies of physical therapy implications for this community.

The trans community is unique in that they are broadly undergoing the same voluntary procedures/interventions unprompted by underlying tissue injury or dysfunction.

I wanted to lend a bit of my experience to their recoveries so earlier this year I started offering *100% free virtual treatment sessions on the topic of pain-management in gender affirming healthcare*.

All people deserve to pursue pain-management, higher quality of life, and improved function in a body they identify with.



Book a session here: https://calendly.com/rootspt/gender-affirming

Graphic design by: Kristen Seward

21/03/2023

As a physical therapist who so often gets injured, I am regularly both a patient and provider.

Recently I fractured my right forearm requiring surgical stabilization.

*An impacted multi-directional distal radius fracture + FOOSH injury requiring an ORIF for the nerds in the room.*

In prioritizing my needs for rehabilitation while juggling responsibilities as a provider and business owner, I realized I am so quick to neglect my own recovery to step back into my role as the provider. To do so amounts to nothing less than self-neglect.
_______________________________________________

"To be a provider is not a role I take lightly. However, in my intentions of benevolence (a pillar of healthcare oaths) I believe I have, a few times, crossed the line.

Benevolence, and my commitment to it, means to do no harm - shouldn’t that also apply to myself?"

Benevolence, and my commitment to it, means to do no harm - shouldn’t that also apply to myself?

11/01/2023

*PSA: Starting to write again*

2022 was a big year with a lot of big moments.
2023 is already looking bigger - starting with going smaller.
____________________________________________________

"Birthed out of a half baked dream, I was used to fumbling through a one-woman show at ROOTS so introducing a new provider was a big step. I was excited to expand in what at the time felt like the best next step.

2023 is starting off with another big change: back to working solo."

Business is business and it makes more sense on multiple fronts to move forwards independently.

22/12/2022

To anyone who's known me before ROOTS, I used to write quite often about my experience moving through life and my doctorate program.

A goal of mine for 2023 is to start writing and I figured why wait? Starting us off with my most asked question, "Why Mexico?".

"Once I started, I knew what I was building. But the entire question of why, when, and where it started? That’s on the best thing my worst relationship ever did for me."

But the entire question of why, when, and where it started? That’s on the best thing my worst relationship ever did for me.

20/07/2022

Want to train for a marathon?

Running may be integral to being human but that does not mean that the goal of running a marathon is easy on our bodies. Especially not after a few generations of mostly sedentary llifestyle. Starting marathon training is easy, completing marathon training is tricky, and finishing a marathon (without injuries) is honorable.

That's why at ROOTS Physical Therapy we offer personally tailored day-by-day training plan documents for marathon preparation including pre-training base conditioning, tapering, race day, and recovery.

In this journey of runners' support, the biggest mistakes I see my marathon athletes make are:
1. Running too fast on your long runs
2. Running too slow on your short runs
3. Not cross training
4. Not hydrating/calorie prepping correctly
5. Ignoring breathwork/pacing
6. Setting arbitrary goal times

Fun fact: a marathon is 26.2 miles with 26 miles stemming from ancient Greece and the additional 0.2 miles from the 1908 London Olympics and some selfish royalty who requested the race be extended so the runners would finish in front of their personal viewing box.

14/07/2022

One of the most common questions I get is whether or not to get an MRI/x-ray when there's pain. The answer? Like everything in this field, it depends.

That used to be the most frustrating answer to me but now I love it. Things *should* be gray rather than black and white, just like everything with the body.

General rules:
1. If you were in an acute incident (car accident, ankle sprain, fall from elevated surface, etc.,)
2. If there was a "pop" or "snap" with some sharp pain + lots of swelling
3. If the pain is intensely sharp
4. If your PT tells you to get one 😉

X-rays show you more about the bones and joints, MRIs show you soft tissues including muscles, ligaments, cartilage, etc.,

Images don't always or even often show a clear picture of what's going on if the pain/dysfunction is *dynamic*.

For example, if your knee hurts when you're going up the stairs there may not be anything visibly wrong at your knees so often the MRI would come up as "inconclusive" and you would be told that nothing's wrong, but that's obviously not true. Your body is telling you otherwise through your symptoms!!

If you're not sure - talk to your physical therapist!!

11/07/2022

Book a consultation to start working towards the ROOT of the problem: www.calendly.com/sewarddpt/15min

You can also visit our website for more information on Roots Physical Therapy www.rootspt.com

06/07/2022

Have you ever realized your body is constantly talking to you?

While sometimes we do need scans and doctors to help us interpret our symptoms, your body tells you a lot more than you realize. So many times the first thing I have to work on with people is *what they feel* which is a much more intricate answer than "pain". Often times they've been feeling something they've been ignoring for months or years.

Just like a toddler, if you don't listen at first, eventually these signals turn into a tantrum presenting as a flare or an injury. Then you'll have to stop and listen.

Don't ignore your shoulder that clicks every time you lift it or that hip that pinches every time you squat. You might be risking a rotator cuff tendinitis or a labrum impingement which are much more complicated to treat than their predecessors.

05/07/2022

Specificity requires variability.

When we hit plateaus with our training goals we often need to look more at how varied our training is rather than what our progressions within them look like.

Example: training for a marathon and you can't get your running splits down. Rather than just pushing yourself to run the same distances faster, you likely need to train differently. A pivotal flaw in many marathon training plans is a lack of speed variability: long runs too fast and short runs too slow. Another top 3 error is a lack of appropriate cross training. Breaking the ceiling on your runs (and preventing injury) requires a balance between lifting, long runs, tempo runs, rest days, and cross training. If any piece falls out of balance we lose it all.

Any sport specific goal from Crossfit training to swimming is the same. Our human machines are built for and require variety.

01/07/2022

USE IT OR LOSE IT - RANGE OF MOTION

As we covered in the last post....you were born knowing how to squat! It's built into your body at a fundamental level.* (*Well, most of us)

Don't believe me? Look at a couple kids playing in a sandbox - they'll sit in a squat for hours without a second thought.

Every degree of motion we have in our bodies has a purpose. Losing any of it comes with a relative cost. What you don't have access to in your hips may end up as a burden on your low back or knees.

Resolving that back/knee pain is more than just a massage, it's the slow and steady process of regaining range of motion back again (including both flexibility and mobility and then probably a fair bit of strength too).

The bad part? The process is really, really, really uncomfortable and frequency + consistency is the only way to do it.
The good part? Once you have it back, use it and you won't lose it.

(Plus less frequent injuries, less joint/muscle pain, improved aging, the *deep* satisfaction of knowing you're caring for your body, and about a million other perks along the way.)

30/06/2022

THE COST OF SITTING

You were born knowing how to "ass-to-grass" deep squat. You weren't born with tight hamstrings, hip flexors, or IT bands. Your knees didn't forget how to work.*

Well, WHAT HAPPENED?

All of these fun human advances have made our lives quite easy. We don't *need* to use our bodies like we used to. One day we switch from running all around the house and yard (hopefully) to sitting in a classroom and maybe playing 1-2 hours a day at recess and sports. We keep aging and the average person stops playing, stops running around, doesn't pursue recreational adult sports, and just keeps sitting. Sitting in the car, sitting at work, sitting to eat, sitting to watch a movie.

With all of this out of balance, something's gotta give. We lose range of motion. We lose muscle strength. We lose bone strength. We lose joint health. We sacrifice lung and heart and *everything* health in exchange for our very convenient seated lifestyles.

You probably won't notice it in the short term, maybe not even for 10 years. But it'll show back up some day.

*This statement is addressing the bulk of the patients I treat with typical development patterns and no severely traumatic injuries. For the other 20% the answers can vary widely!

23/06/2022

MOVE YOUR BODY EVERY DAY

It doesn't have to be intense nor long but move your body every day. Some days that may be a walk through the park or a swim at the beach while on vacation and others it may be a workout class or a gym session. But move your body. Bodies were meant to move and will thank you for it. Bad day? Move your body. Good day? Move your body. Comment below your favorite way to move!

21/06/2022

As a physical therapist I use the words flexibility and mobility almost every day in my sessions and often am asked to specify the difference. They are not interchangeable terms nor isolated concepts.

Flexibility is the ability of a muscle to stretch, mobility is the ability of a joint to move.

We need to pursue both! If your hip muscles are too tight but your hip joints are mobile, you can't access to the joint mobility and vice versa. Wherever you have the shortest leash will be the functional limitation of your day to day movements.

16/06/2022

1. Strength training
2. Endurance/cardio training
3. Plyometric/calisthenic training
4. Muscular flexibility
5. Joint mobility

The best care we can offer our body when it comes to exercise is balanced and diverse activity. We cannot exclusively cycle, run, lift, Pilates, zumba, yoga, etc., No one exercise will ever be able to completely address our complex movement systems completely.

15/06/2022

"Preventative care reduces the frequency, intensity, and regularity of injuries across your lifetime"

To have a car means sometimes it needs to go to the shop. The same goes for bodies and physical therapists. We do preventative care including mobility, flexibility, endurance, plyometric, and strength training in order to reduce the frequency, intensity, and regularity of the problems that you'll run into across your lifetime.

14/06/2022

Sometimes after a significant illness, injury, stressful season, etc., the normal signals and interpretations your body uses can get a bit confused. Your body can hold onto the memory and experience of pain in your brain without any signals being sent from the body (meaning there may not be any injured tissues sending out pain signals even though you feel them). For others, the intensity of pain may no longer match with the intensity of stimulation; an excessive pain experience in response to a small injury. For others, objectively positive signals can be interpreted as harmful like the touch of a hug or a gust of wind.

Physical therapists are experts in these abnormal patterns. If you've been having pain for a long time without results, if your pain doesn't seem to make sense to you, if your doctors keep telling you nothing is wrong though you keep going back for more answers...send me a message and let's talk about it.

06/06/2022

Train like you play
If you’re not training your body like you want to use it, you’re not expanding your function. With running as an example…think of the marathon runners and sprint runners in the Olympics. Which ones have more muscle mass?

Sprint training builds your muscles different than endurance training. If you want to be faster or if you want to run longer, you have to train like it.

Running is a high volume and high repetition exercise and while strength training is necessary for the body, high volume low resistance exercises are necessary to support an avid long distance running career.