Eclipse Wellness

08/28/2025

What makes us the best option for physical therapy in Northern Virginia? Check out our 5 star reviews. If you want more info, check out our most recent blog post about what really sets Eclipse Wellness apart!

01/03/2025

I firmly believe the key to growth is stepping outside of your comfort zone. I guess I need to practice what I preach. I have spent the last 7.5 years as a physical therapist and strength coach. It’s time to add a new challenge: coaching.

This year I will be an assistant varsity baseball coach with Herndon High School. Thank you to Coach Frank and the staff for taking a chance on a guy who has spent a lot of time working with baseball players, but never in this capacity. Special shout-out to my friend Patrick who was a coach in the program and reached out to me about the opportunity. We played baseball in Herndon when we were 11 and now our lives come full circle.

Gandhi and a bunch of IG bios said “be the change you wish to see in the world”. Baseball rehab sucks right now. We need to do better. I can either sit on the side and complain about coaches or I can step up and try to help.

This is honestly a scary challenge, but I’m excited to see what it brings. For those of you who don’t know, I grew up a few miles down the road from Herndon High School and I was in the stands at the baseball field as a 3 year old cheering for my brother. Part of having Eclipse Wellness is getting to take unique opportunities and this is certainly that and more.

I would be remiss if I didn’t give a special shoutout to Sarah. When you have a 2 year old and tell your partner that you might want to do something out of your comfort zone that is going to take up a lot of your time and they respond with “I guess our son needs some Herndon gear” you know that you have the right partner.

This isn’t going to change much at Eclipse, other than the fact that our afternoons in the spring might be busy 😂 Thanks for all of your support, I couldn’t do this without the awesome community that we all have built together. Now let’s change the baseball landscape in Northern Virginia.

Go Hornets!

06/24/2024

This is going to be a good one! Register and come on by!

Join us next week for a free community workshop! Physical therapist, Dr. Danny Lehnert from Eclipse Wellness and Meg Donnelly, Licensed Massage Therapist from NoVA Weekend Warriors will be chatting about low back pain and hip mobility as it pertains to cyclists. This will be an interactive workshop that will focus on some simple tests that you can perform on yourself and some exercises to improve or prevent back pain!

The workshop will run for approximately 30 minutes and light refreshments will be served along with time afterwards to answer any questions.

This event is open to all so please bring a friend! Eclipse Wellness Meg Donnelly, Nova Weekend Warriors

04/24/2024

Physical therapy is not what keeps you healthy 🤯

Physical therapy is not the goal, it is a means to the goal.

Regular exercise in whatever way you enjoy is the ticket to staying healthy long term. Too many times we make PT the focus instead of returning to your activity.

Your physical therapist needs to perform a thorough evaluation and understand what you are trying to get back to doing. Then they should design a treatment plan about returning to that activity.

The goal of PT should be to discharge you as soon as it is safe to do so. The more time you take away from exercise the harder it will be to return.

Shutting down all activity for 4 weeks to focus on PT is rarely the answer. The key is to tweak your activity to allow you to do as much as possible while recovering.

PT should focus on taking away as little as possible. If you are lifting weights and it only hurts to squat the answer isn’t to stop all lower body lifting. The answer is to modify the squat but do everything else that you can tolerate. This seems obvious but most healthcare providers take away everything and then slowly add things back. This often results in loss of strength and that can cause a whole set of other problems.

At the end of the day, the most important thing is to remember why you are in PT and ask yourself how your treatment is helping you reach your goals!

04/22/2024

Check out our new blog post on deadlifting with back pain. We discuss if it is safe, deadlift form, and modifications you can make based on pain and equipment limitations. Check it out:

https://www.eclipsewellnessnova.com/post/can-i-deadlift-with-back-pain

04/08/2024

Have fun and be safe if you get a chance to see the eclipse today!

02/08/2024

⚾️ Baseball players - do you want to make the most of your off-season?

High school tryouts are right around the corner and little league and travel ball aren’t far behind that!

Maybe you feel like you didn’t accomplish as much as you wanted this off-season? Or maybe you feel great but still want to make sure you aren’t missing anything in the last few weeks before baseball starts?

We can help you answer those questions and more! We are offering baseball assessments to make sure you are ready to stay healthy and dominate this season!

Our comprehensive assessment utilizes movement and power tests that have been used to help everyone from little leaguers to MLB all-stars improve their game. We start with broad movements and then hone in on your unique limitations using my years of experience as a doctor of physical therapy. After we are done, you will have an individualized guide that explains where you are limited in mobility, power, and strength. We then create a plan to address your findings.

Too often, I see baseball athletes become frustrated on the mound or in the cage because something isn’t working. Maybe the problem isn’t your technique or coaching, maybe your body just doesn’t move in certain ways! It’s amazing how easily your skills on the field improve once your body starts moving better!

If you are interest in a baseball assessment to dominate next season then reach out and let’s set something up!

01/24/2024

🗣️ Northern Virginia healthcare, fitness, and wellness professionals, this one is for you!

We are starting a journal club!

Staying on top of research when you are a busy professional can be difficult. It can also be challenging to make time to connect and talk to other professionals.

We want to fix that problem!

Our initial plan is to meet monthly, but we are open to feedback if you want it more frequently. Each meeting will involve one professional discussing an article related to their field.

We are not set on the date/time but we are hoping to get started in February. We will be meeting in the evening over Zoom to make it convenient for busy professionals. You are not obligated to come to all of the meetings, just the ones that are convenient or interesting to you!

If you are interested in joining then send us a DM and we will add you to the list. Please share this with anyone you think might be interested!

01/23/2024

🥳 Happy Belated New Year!

We took some time off from social media to enjoy the holidays and to finalize some exciting plans for this upcoming year!

We want to focus on helping our community because that is why we started Eclipse Wellness. We want to help people in Northern Virginia learn about how to take care of their bodies.

We have some plans to better connect with other healthcare professionals and people who just want to stay healthy!

If you have any ideas about how we can better help our community then let us know!

Comment below or send us a DM 👋

12/13/2023

People rarely suffer catastrophic injuries, but the little ones can add up‼️

This post is not meant to scare you, merely to educate. Injury creep is something I see in clients all of the time.

It usually comes from a lack of education, which is what I hope to fix with social media. Simply reading this and understanding the concept can’t help address long-term injuries.

You don’t need to run to a physical therapist for every ache or pain, but you need to be honest with your self assessments. If you start taking away activities because of your injury then you have a problem.

The easiest way to get rid of short term pain is to do nothing at all. The easiest way to prevent long term pain is having a plan and staying active.

If you have questions about your individual injury journey, reach out!

12/07/2023

Your PT better have a plan for you‼️

It’s going to be hard for them to have a plan if they don’t know what your sport requires. I’m not saying they need to teach you how to throw a slider, but they need to understand basic pitching mechanics.

Because of poor understanding of your sport, most PTs will underprescribe exercises. A few band exercises aren’t getting you ready to throw a baseball and a few bridges aren’t going to help you dunk a basketball.

Find a PT who not only understands the beginning or the rehab process, but also understands the end goal. That can be difficult, but it is worth it if you want to return to your sport safely!

09/11/2023

You deserve better for your rehab‼️

First of all, evidence does not support ice for an injury and second of all stretching is rarely the answer. Unfortunately so many healthcare providers give them out like Oprah giving away cars.

You need a plan that actually aligns with evidence. You also need an individualized approach that is not the same printout of exercises that every other patient receives. If you don’t seek this out for yourself then you are settling for inferior rehab. Do yourself a favor and find a physical therapist who knows what they are doing.

If you are in the Northern Virginia area then reach out. Otherwise, I can try and help you find the right person in your area!