"I have bad knees..."

"Every time I do ______, my knee flares up and I have to stop..."

Does this sound familiar?

Knee pain is one of the most common reasons that clients come to see us. They come in discouraged because they have tried everything from icing, anti-inflammatories, stretches, compression, rest, etc. After all of that, they were not getting the relief they were looking for.

From working with over a thousand clients in clinic we have found that there are three common limitations that people have when dealing with knee pain:

• Limited Mobility/Flexibility 
• Instability in the knee joint
• Strength Limitations

Sometimes all you have to do is correcting one of the limitations and you'll finds the relief you were looking for. More often than not, there is a combination of these limitations that cause pain and prevent you from doing the activities you enjoy.

Our team got together and...

By Nate Jones, PT, DPT

Prevalence and Overview

Low back pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal conditions experienced by almost every population in the world. At any given time, 9.4% of the world’s population is suffering from low back pain (defined as pain anywhere between the last rib and the bottom of the gluteal muscles), including 7.7% of the North American population, and low back pain is the single largest cause of disability worldwide.¹ Types of low back pain range from point specific pain lasting less than a day to diffuse pain with radiation down one or both legs (radicular pain) for a much longer period of time, sometimes lasting years. Classic physical therapy treatments,² medications such as NSAIDS and opiates,³ and surgical approaches^4-7 all fall well short of fixing the widespread issue. 

Luckily, most incidents of low back pain rapidly improve within the first month of onset, and thereafter continue to slowly improve for another few...

Author: Dr. Nate Jones, PT

Important: Read Part 1 First (Click Here)

Progression and Tissue Tolerance to Load

The single most important factor for avoiding pain and injury with running is likely how running is progressed. The human body is remarkably resilient and adaptable - given the right progressions, conditions, and genetics, it can lift over 1000 pounds off the ground or run more than 100 miles without stopping. When a stimulus is applied to the body, the body responds by trying to improve itself in relation to that stimulus, whether this is lifting heavy, sprinting, or running a marathon. If the stress of the stimulus is too low, there is no reason for the body to adapt. If the stress of the stimulus is too high, either in a single session or over time, the body cannot adapt quickly enough and excessive tissue breakdown and subsequent injury can occur. Adaptation to exercise is highly individual, with some people demonstrating more propensity for strength versus endurance,...

Author: Dr. Nate Jones, PT

Introduction

Running is one of the most common forms of exercise in the world. People engage in it to improve their health, lose weight, for fun, and to participate in an enormous variety of competitions. It is an activity available to almost everyone, has very few barriers to entry, and includes a wide variety of health benefits.¹ However, running has an immensely high injury rate compared to other ways of exercising, and running related injuries are one of the key reasons why people discontinue running.² This article series is going to explore why running has a high injury rate, which specific aspects of running contribute to certain common injuries, and how best to avoid said injuries. 

Click Here To Download Our Pain-Free Running Guide

Why Does Running Have A High Injury Risk?

In order to discuss running injuries, it is imperative to define what an injury is. Studies disagree on the exact definition, but Buist et al put forth one...

Dr. Matt Shiver

Physical Therapist, CSCS

Born and Raised in Charleston, SC. Matt attended Bishop England High School where we played football and discovered his passion for performance based physical therapy. Matt had a devastating ACL injury that required reconstruction and physical therapy. During that time, he started to realize that when he did deadlifts and squats his recovery was improving. The 3 sets of 20 leg press he was doing in traditional rehab was just not cutting it. He began researching training methodologies and quickly came across CrossFit. He started to implement this training into his rehabilitation and noticed tremendous improvement.

Matt attended Appalachian State University where he studied Exercise Science and Nutrition. While he was at Appalachian he discovered the sport of weightlifting. By his senior year he had directed two local weightlifting meets and founded the Mountaineer Weightlifting Club.

After graduating from Appalachian State Matt moved back home...

Kathryn Adel is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, a Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD) and is the owner of FitWave Nutrition.

She has completed degrees in both Kinesiology and Nutrition, as well as a Master’s degree in Sports Nutrition from Laval University in Canada.

Kathryn works extensively with athletes of all levels, helping them achieve optimal performance through personalized approaches. Kathryn is also trained to help endurance athletes who suffer from gastrointestinal symptoms during exercise.

She has partnered with Brad Johnson and the team at AXES Performance Coaching to support their athletes in the pursuit of their goals.  

Made 2 Move is happy to support both AXES Performance Coaching and Kathryn.

Kathryn is experienced with the Low FODMAP Diet for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and is certified by Monash University in Australia. Her extensive training and experience in Sports Nutrition along with her personal experience as an...

Recreational lifters often use external support/equipment for multiple purposes. Some use it for injuries, some use it for performance benefits, and others use it because they were taught they need to wear them at all times.

This article will go over how and when to use the equipment to maximize your health and performance.

Injuries

When you walk into a gym, you can get a pretty good idea of who is dealing with an injury/pain based on the equipment they are wearing.

Are you wearing knee sleeves with light activity? Hmm..

Are you wearing wrist wraps for every upper body exercise? Hmm..

Are you wearing a belt with squats and deadlifts under 85%? Hmm..

The same goes for ankle braces, elbow support, etc. 

Let's set this straight... We should NOT be relying on this equipment to exercise!! Our body is meant to be strong and stable without the use of external support! PERIOD.

With all that being said, wearing external support can provide healthy...

Author: Dr. Nate Jones, PT 

There are three main concepts we’re looking at in regards to nutrition:

1. Weight gain/weight loss
2. Body composition
3. Overall health/vitamins/minerals

Weight gain and weight loss are 100% determined by the amount of calories you take in versus the amount of calories you expend. 2000 calories of table sugar will cause the same change in weight as 2000 calories of broccoli or beef. This is basic physics, and is indisputable. However, calories out is not a set amount - multiple factors including exercise, daily activity, hormonal changes, and even the actual food you eat influences the amount of calories you burn every day. 

The calories in versus calories out concept makes weight changes simple, but not necessarily easy. The first step is determining the average amount of calories you burn in a day. There are online calculators that will estimate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or TDEE based on body weight and activity...

Author: Dr. Meg Henderson, PT

What is Low Pressure Fitness?

If I took a survey of which exercises would best strengthen the core, I would probably get very similar answers. The top three I can think of off the top of my head are: crunches, planks, and hollow holds.

What if I told you NONE of these exercises actually help to improve the function of your core? The definition of the word core is “the most central, innermost, or essential part of something”. So why are we strengthening our “core” with exercises that target more superficial muscles?

As you can see in the picture above, your core is actually a complex system made up of 4 muscle groups: the pelvic floor, transverse abdominis, multifidi, and diaphragm. This system is responsible for posture, circulation, respiration, maintaining continence (so that we don’t leak!), support for our internal organs (prevention of pelvic organ prolapse or hernia), sexual function,...