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From Hip Flexor Pain to Sub-4: Natalie’s Charlotte Marathon Story

“I started having intense hip flexor pain.”

“Last summer I started casually going to run clubs
 I signed up for the Charlotte Marathon
 probably three or four weeks into that I started having intense hip flexor pain. I didn’t know where it came from
 it was excruciating. I had to stop running and I had already signed up for this marathon. I had this goal and I was like, I don’t wanna just give up.

I had only tried physical therapy once before and didn’t have a great experience with it, so I was kind of hesitant
 didn’t know if I was gonna be able to fix my hip flexor pain in 10 weeks until the marathon.”

“I started having intense hip flexor pain.”

“You can run the marathon in 10 weeks.”

“Emily was in our gym
 she offered like a first free assessment
 we spent the first 90 minutes just getting to know me holistically, what my goals were. And she was like, you can run the marathon in 10 weeks. We can make this happen. ‘Let’s see your running plan.’ She reconstructed a running plan for me
 we’re just gonna take it week by week and see how your pain goes.

She gave me some warmups. We started working on some strength training around my hip flexor, which was a totally new concept to me — that PT would be strength training around your injury and not just focusing on your pain in that one specific area.

It was very individualized, very adaptive
 entirely one-on-one, eyes on you at all times. We’d try a movement and if it didn’t hit what I was feeling, she’d say, ‘Okay, let’s try this movement.’ It felt like we were in it together.”

“I was able to run the Charlotte Marathon pain-free.”

“We spent the next 10 weeks together
 slowly and slowly I got better. Then we started talking about pace goals — ‘I can’t believe we’re talking about pace goals
 when you first saw me it was like, can I even do the marathon?’

I was able to run the Charlotte Marathon pain-free the whole time, met my pace goals, did a sub-four marathon, and have been healthy since. She’s left me with lasting knowledge — how to prevent injury, how to warm up properly, what to do when you feel aches and pains, how to keep strength training to emerge stronger.

I looked forward to my appointments. It was the best — it couldn’t have gone better. With the right time and attention, week over week, you can do it.”

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