 A very common problem we see at Athletes’ Potential is low back pain. What comes with low back pain are a lot of questions about the best ways to manage the pain when it first occurs, as well as the best ways for our athletes to rehabilitate. What I want to focus on in this blog post is how important it is to get back to gentle activity sooner rather than later when dealing with low back pain. A Timeline of Back Pain T0: Back pain! You feel a sharp ache in your lower back. You may have been lifting something heavy or you may have been reaching for your shoes. Back pain can come about for a variety of reasons! Whatever the case… your back “went out.” No matter the presence or absence of pathology (disc irritation, facet irritation, muscle strain, etc.), your brain and nervous system are going to go into overdrive trying to protect your back. This is where many people will experience a tightening sensation or spasms in their lower back. This is a normal, protective mechanism! Your brain is doing its best to shield you from further motion by tightening up all the musculature in your back. Thank you, brain! This phase is known as the “acute” phase of pain. Typically this lasts for a day or two. It's where pain is the worst and rest is indicated. The goal of this stage is to get the pain to stabilize. When I say “stabilize” I mean that it still might be quite painful, but you are able to do more than you previously could, such as get out of bed and do short walks, where before that was near impossible due to the rapid, sharp pain that occurs with motion. Many athletes believe that rest is best at this phase, but many studies suggest the opposite. In a 2018 review of best practices surrounding low back pain, 6 out of 11 studies support avoiding bed rest during acute bouts of low back pain, four studies were inconclusive, and only one suggested bed rest.1 Great news! Get active as soon as you are able. At this point, it's best to work on breathing exercises, gentle core exercises such as bracing and bridges, and try to get on your feet when tolerable. If this is unsuccessful and your high level of pain is lasting for more than three days, I would contact us at Athletes’ Potential or your PCP for further assessment and treatment. Once the pain begins to stabilize, and you’re able to do some gentle activities as tolerated, you’ve entered the subacute phase. T1: Less Back Pain! You’re feeling slightly better but you’re still hesitant to do anything beyond baseline. You would like to get back to your workouts, your sport, or just simply getting into and out of a car without increased ache. This is the subacute phase and is also where physical therapy is incredibly helpful in accelerating your rehabilitation. In lieu of physical therapy, this is where so many athletes choose one of two directions:
Luckily, we have a good bit of evidence supporting option number two. Those that choose light activity as compared to bed rest have a statistically significant improvement in their overall recovery timeline as supported by a cochrane review of the literature2. Once again, get active. Do a light workout as tolerated. Listen to your symptoms and stay within what your body is telling you. If you want guidance, reach out! This is what Athletes’ Potential is here for! Hopefully by day 5-10, you’ve slowly progressed back to a reasonable level of capacity. T2: Light to Moderate Activity Once again, this is where physical therapy at Athletes’ Potential excels! You’re feeling better but just need a bit more guidance to push you over the edge to get back to your activity or sport. Core stabilization, strength training, and flexibility drills are all part of this phase. This is where we can really make some quick strides in your recovery. – I won’t go into this last phase too much, as this phase isn’t the intent of this blog. Overall, I want readers of this post to know that if they are having an acute bout of back pain, stay gently active as tolerated! Don’t go out and progress too fast, and don’t ignore your back pain. Listen to what it's telling you. If it's slowly getting better, go do things such as walks, light exercise, and gentle stretching. And if you ever need guidance with this recovery, feel free to reach out to us at any time! Thanks for reading, Dr. Marcus Rein PT DPT Physical Therapist Athletes’ Potential
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 We are in the day and age of information overload. You can practically have your questions answered by the first 3 links that pop up after you enter your search. Not only will your questions be answered, but anxiety may begin to creep up when you have to sift through what serves you or what does not for your particular situation. When it comes to pregnancy, childbirth, before and aftercare, resources and information abounds. At Athletes’ Potential, we desire to provide clarity, support and empowerment through your walk in life including the birth journey. Jasmine Bradfield is a traditional birthworker and doula currently pursuing her Midwife certification, and is local to Atlanta. Having doulas and/or midwives present during the birth process as continuous support is brimming with evidence that there are positive outcomes related to improving the birth experience. This also means decreased medications, decreased c-sections, increase in spontaneous vaginal births, shorter labor duration and decreased negative feelings about childbirth, to name a few. 1 Jasmine, what is one thing you want our audience to know about doulas/midwifery? Birth is a normal physiological function of the body, and there are many different ways to support each unique life occurrence. I always say the best birth is an informed birth. Every birth is different. No matter what you read, what you hear, or what a family member went through. So I like to start service with a ‘Birth Plan’ that helps the new family set the preferences for how they realistically imagine their birth may go. Then we sit for Childbirth Education. This is a meeting where we chat about pregnancy, childbirth and newborn common occurrences and complications. Knowing this information prior to birthing day helps families decide what is best for them, and not feel as pressured to travel through the unknown. If a provider presents an intervention, as a family they may ask the provider to step out for a moment so that we can all discuss what is best for them without influence or persuasion. Doing this also allows the family to make informed decisions that they are less likely to regret and also feel empowered. Support is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of those guiding the birth process. What are the top three ways you support your clients? Education: Simply sharing what is unknown and filling the gaps between client and providers. Ex.: Childbirth education, Birth Planning. Postpartum Care Self advocacy: Empowering birthers to use their voice to say how and what works for their body, birth and budding family. Ex.: I will not speak for a family, I will not make decisions. I will however ask the questions that remind the family of their wishes. I will offer space between the provider and family so that the family can discuss in private and decide as a unit how to proceed. Emotional/Physical support: This includes touch, conversation, movement, and self expression preparing the body for the endurance of birth Ex.: Oftentimes there are movements that will assist with the progression of birth. If the baby is high in the womb, I may suggest lunges. If we are later in birth and we still have some time to dilate, maybe we shift to a supported goddess. Emotional blockage can also stall birth because stress inhibits the body to relax. Sometimes opening the door for conversation or silence even may be the support needed. As a doula I am trained to see the times that support is needed to assist in the comfort, informing, and progression of birth. At Athletes’ Potential, we are experts at getting our clients back to the activities they love after injuries or life events such as pregnancy. What advice do you have to our postpartum moms within the first six weeks after delivery that can set them up for thriving? Recovery. The body has gone through a transformation and needs rest to heal. Although it may be difficult to resist the need to get back to work or reduce girth of the belly, the body truly needs to restore itself. A physical therapist can help you understand the extent of change in the body so you know when and where active movement can begin. We believe that if you have a body, you are an athlete. In preparation for the delivery process, what are some ways you suggest preparing our birthing Mom for this enduring experience? Pregnancy is the preparation for the marathon of birth. I suggest body work such as massage, physical therapy, chiropractors, yoga or some form of pregnancy safe exercise. I love prenatal yoga for pregnant people. It is one of the only times you will find a room full of people experiencing what you are experiencing at the same time in a social setting. Pregnancy can at times feel isolating and you want to prepare the endurance of the mind too. What are ways to work with you? -My website is www.atlantabirthwork.com where we offer courses, classes, and birthwork services. -Social media: @atlantabirthwork -You can join my in-person prenatal yoga class at The Yoga Hive http://www.theyogahiveatlanta.com/copy-of-schedule -And I love to chat via email atlantabirthwork@gmail.com about potential birth workshops, education and speaking events. Thanks for reading, Dr. Krystal, PT, DPT, CMTPT, RYT-200
 Squatting is an essential movement that we do every day and that is why it is such a vital part of most workout programs. Over the years there has been a lot of debate about what proper squatting form looks like. For a very long time, the thought was that it was dangerous for you to squat with your knees going over your toes and that squatting deep (below 90 degrees) was also bad for your knees. If you are someone who exercises regularly, I can almost guarantee that you have been told some variation of “you will ruin your knees if you let your knees go over your toes.” So, let’s break down what good squat form actually looks like. The key points of performance look like this: 1.) Feet shoulder width apart with toes 0-10 degrees out 2.) Neutral spine maintained throughout 3.) Weight balanced on MID FOOT 4.) Hips release down and back, and knees bend 5.) Hip drop below the level of the top of the knee 6.) Knees track in-line with toes 7.) Neutral head position with slight upward gaze You will notice that nowhere in there does it say to keep your knees from tracking over your toes. If you follow the key points of performance, you will almost always end up with your knees going over your toes. Is this bad? The short answer is NO! It is perfectly normal and healthy for your knees to go over the toes during the squat. Let’s talk about why that is. During the squat movement we are loading and strengthening multiple muscle groups some of the major ones are glutes, hamstrings, quads, and adductors. The goal with squatting is to not put too much demand on one of these muscle groups. If we completely avoid the knees going over your toes you will certainly decrease that amount of strain put on the quads and the knee joint itself. However, the strain has to go somewhere and what happens is that your hip and lower back are forced to pick up the slack. Continuously loading your hip and back can lead to overuse and overloading of those tissues.
If you are someone who has been scared to squat with your knees over your toes, know that it is perfectly safe and actually recommended to allow your knees to come over your toes. In order to have good squat form and avoid injury, your knees HAVE to go over your toes. Yours in Health, Dr. Andrew, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS  As a physical therapist, I am often asked if running is bad for your knees. Most people typically want to know what the long-term effects of running will have on their body, and want to know if they will develop knee osteoarthritis from running. Running is a simple and accessible option of exercise for most people, and has great overall health benefits. Many of my clients also report huge psychological benefits to running, so I find it important to limit fear based ideas that running is worse for your knees than not running at all. With the fear of ruining your knees through running, only 3.5% of recreational runners have knee or hip arthritis. While just over 10% of sedentary individuals have knee or hip arthritis. This means you are almost 3x less likely to develop knee arthritis if you perform regular recreational running than if you just sat on the couch and did nothing. Moderate amounts of running may actually be beneficial to the long term health of your knee joints. 1 Continuing to run with a recent diagnosis of knee arthritis is also okay! Running does not appear to increase the speed of knee arthritis. However, if you are having difficulty recovering between runs, you may want to look at training load, cross training, or potentially altering your running mechanics. Running can help you maintain a healthy weight, that in turn will reduce the overall daily stress placed on the knee joints. Finding the optimal frequency, intensity and volume for your running to provide ample recovery time is important. Overall, runners should feel great about running with proper load progression, volume, and intensity management, as well as proper sleep and nutrition, to help with post run recovery! If you are currently recovering from a running injury, you can progress back while running on a treadmill or outside, as they both create similar reaction forces through the knee joint. You may also want to assess your knee, hip, and ankle joint mobility to ensure proper mechanics. If you have any questions or need help managing your running injuries, please reach out and we can help answer any remaining questions you may have! Thanks for reading, Dr. Sam, PT, DPT, OCS 1 Alentorn- Geli E, Samuelsson K, Musahl V, etal. The association of recreational and competitive running with hip and knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta- analysis. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2017;47:373–90  Are you like 50% of women who have an anatomical pelvic organ prolapse? That means you may have one and you do not even know it, and that is okay! However, if you are experiencing symptoms such as heaviness in the pelvis or a bulge, this new sensation can be troubling. I’m here to tell you to have no fear because there is a lot we can do to help! One of the best things you can do is begin or return to strength training - however it needs to be at the right intensity and load for your body right now. You may be thinking, “I don’t want to pick up that heavy thing, that’s going to make my prolapse worse.” Well I am here to tell you that it will not make it worse under the right circumstances. We’re going to go over what prolapse is, why strength training is important, and 3 modifications you can implement during your resistance training. What is pelvic organ prolapse? Also known as POP or just prolapse, is when there is a descent of one or more of the pelvic organs toward the vaginal opening. What this is NOT is your organs falling out of the vagina. Rather, due to life circumstances such as multiple vaginal births, hysterectomy, advancing age, we can lose the internal support structure that suspends our viscera along with general core weakness. There are different kinds of prolapse where it affects more of the anterior wall of the vagina, posterior wall, or the superior wall like the roof. Regardless of your presentation, we will work to find the best ways to relieve symptoms and get you stronger.  https://www.healthymumma.com/blog/pelvic-organ-prolapse Strength Training Helps You may have been told that you should be careful or to not lift weights at all as it will increase pressure in your abdomen and you may bulge more. Although anything is possible, with the correct training on breathing techniques, load management and positioning, I’m here to tell you lifting weights is not only possible but it’s necessary. Having a strong core and legs in the long term will put less pressure on your pelvic floor because what was once a heavy or straining activity (i.e. getting up from the floor, picking up your toddler, picking up heavy items) will be easier with your gained strength. The pelvic floor muscles do not work in isolation and strengthening the external pelvic muscles will help reduce symptoms and increase quality of life!2 3 Modifications to Try
By now, you can see there are plenty of options to try to keep you doing your workouts even though you may have a prolapse. Our goal in physical therapy is to keep you doing your loved activities as long as possible and feeling your best. People often ask if they need surgery for their prolapse and it depends on how much this taking away from your life in terms of bowel/bladder/sexual function and overall quality of life.3 Some individuals do well with a pessary fitting, which is an internal device that can help support the vaginal walls, or anecdotally, some women find relief with wearing a tampon, menstrual cup or flex disc while exercising to decrease symptoms successfully. I am helping women overcome their pelvic heaviness or bulge symptoms at our clinic in Decatur, GA. Having a specific plan for your unique situation will lead to the best results. Give us a call to schedule your appointment! In health,
Krystal Fannin PT, DPT, CMTPT, RYT-200 1Gorji, Z, Pourmomeny, AA, Hajhashemy, M. Evaluation of the effect of a new method on the pelvic organ prolapse symptoms. Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms. 2020; 12: 20– 24. https://doi.org/10.1111/luts.12277 2Maher CF, Baessler KK, Barber MD, Cheong C, Consten ECJ, Cooper KG, Deffieux X, Dietz V, Gutman RE, van Iersel JJ, Nager CW, Sung VW, de Tayrac R. Surgical management of pelvic organ prolapse. Climacteric. 2019 Jun;22(3):229-235. doi: 10.1080/13697137.2018.1551348. Epub 2018 Dec 21. PMID: 30572743. What do you think of when you hear the word core? I think of something that is central, vital, or the most important part of something. We can also think of the innermost layer, take fruit for example. Cutting an apple and removing the core, or coring a pineapple. You get the idea. Commonly, when people refer to their core, they touch their abs, their front abdominal wall. And that is just one piece of our innermost muscular layer. What is your core? It consists of four major muscle groups that work together through our movements. Beginning with the obvious is our front abdominal wall, however the deepest layer is the transverse abdominis muscle. This muscle has horizontal fibers parallel to the ground that wrap around to the back. There they meet one of the deepest layers of spinal stabilizers called the multifidus muscle or multifidi for plural. I imagine that these two muscles make an internal corset around our trunk for stability. If we think of the core as a cylinder shape similar to a soda can, we’ve described the sides. The top consists of the diaphragm, a thin flat muscle, which relatively moves up and down with our breath. The bottom of the cylinder is our pelvic floor muscles. What is your pelvic floor? This is a trampoline like structure, consisting of three layers of muscles at the bottom of the pelvis and our cylinder. The pelvic floor functions to stabilize the spine and pelvis, support the abdominal organs including our reproductive/urinary/bowel systems, controls sphincters that prevent leaking of urine/feces/gas, allow healthy sexual function, and circulates blood flow back up to the heart. How do they work together? When we breathe in, our diaphragm contracts, descending down into the abdominal cavity, which is why we may feel our belly rise or our bottom ribcage expand. As we exhale, our diaphragm returns back to its original dome shape into the thoracic cavity. Our diaphragm and pelvic floor muscles work together in functional movements like a piston. As one descends, so does the other and vice versa. This creates stability and protection to all of these muscles and structures.  Why should you care? The pressure that we manage in our intra abdominal cavity will go to the area of weakest support. In this image, the front abdominal wall commonly begins to lengthen and without proper counterpressure, that can lead to increased stress to the tissues surrounding our linea alba where our abs attach. If this is left unchecked, this can lead to a diastasis recti (DR), hernias, pelvic floor dysfunction, low back pain, and hip instability to name a few things. Having balanced forces across the torso with our everyday movements is vital for protecting your body and keeping you moving your best. However, after periods of not training, pregnancy/postpartum, prolonged sitting postures, can leave us vulnerable for these issues listed above.  If you feel like you’re experiencing the symptoms above, difficulty getting your body to “bounce back” postpartum, leaking with running and workouts, give us a call to identify your specific imbalances and begin a path toward recovery. In health,
Dr. Krystal Fannin PT, DPT, CMTPT, RYT-200 [1] The “pop can” core. Digital Image. J Smeaton. Apr 2019. [Accessed 2022 August 30]. Available from: https://www.depthtraining.ca/the-pop-can-core/. [2] Breathing variations. Digital Image. S. McLaughlin. Aug 2019. [Accessed on 2022 August 30]. Available from: https://www.alignforhealth.com/self-care-for-pain/category/core%20stabilization  Did you know that our bladder is one of the most trainable muscles in our body? This is for the good or the bad. Not that anything is that black and white, but sometimes with our lifestyle and behaviors, we can teach our bladder habits that are holding us back. Does this sound like you?
If it does, these are extremely common sentiments. However, there are ways to overcome them and treat our bladder and pelvic floor in the most compassionate way. As a pelvic floor physical therapist, here are my recommendations in accordance with the American Urological Association guidelines:
Consider making these adjustments and see if they help your symptoms. I will say that specific adjustments are needed for each individual depending on their lifestyle or where you fall on the incontinence spectrum. Seeing a local pelvic floor physical therapist, like myself, can assist you on the right exercises to be performing and steps to overcome urges or stress related leakages you experience. Thanks for reading! Krystal Fannin PT, DPT, CMTPT, RYT-200  For some, that “four months pregnant” appearance can last for months to years. It is a common question that postpartum moms ask from an aesthetic standpoint, but as a pelvic floor therapist it can indicate the integrity of the abdominal wall. The timing at which this appearance can improve hinges on your genetics, daily posture, the degree of physical changes (and trauma) your body goes through, what your current health, nutrition and fitness levels are like. This blog will not go into how to lose that baby weight or achieve a flat tummy, rather how to rehabilitate the abdominal injury that is diastasis recti (DR). What is a diastasis recti? DR occurs when the rectus abdominis, your 6-pack muscles, separate in the front of the body. This commonly occurs during pregnancy affecting over 60% of childbearing women, but can also be found in persons with stomach obesity. As the abdomen increases in size, it stretches the front abdominal wall leaving the linea alba (connective tissue between your abdominal muscles) vulnerable to separation. The degree and severity of DR are unique to each individual and with each pregnancy, however, this can lead to a bulge or “pooch” in the abdomen. This is noticed more so when doing sit ups or crunches. Why should I care? Although it is normal having to have degrees of abdominal separation, if it is large enough and does not resolve on its own it can lead to recurring low back pain, pain during sex, constipation, pee leakage and other pelvic floor issues. This can spill over into your workouts, playing with your kids, etc. How do I check for DR? You can lay on your back with your knees bent. Place two fingers at your belly button pointing down toward your spine. Lift your head slightly to engage the abdominals like you are initiating a crunch. If more than two fingers can fit in the gap, then you likely have DR. Repeat this check two inches above the navel and 2 inches below. I have DR - What now? I would recommend pausing on activities that put undue stress on the abdominal wall like crunches, any plank variation, full push ups, toes to bar and pull ups. That does not mean that you will not be able to do these activities again, rather it will improve your capacity to load your body once the abdomen is working better. If not, the chances of experiencing the above symptoms are great. Based on your unique presentation, we will go over specific exercises to enhance the function of your entire core (bonus, it may aid in flattening the tummy!), breathing techniques, posture hacks, and ruling out related pelvic floor dysfunctions. We will build a plan together to not only get you to feel your best, but to move your best! Thanks for reading,
Dr. Krystal Fannin  As a physical therapist, my job is to interact with pain and discomfort all day long. Most people don’t come to see me when they’re feeling great! They come to see me when they are injured, sad, and without a clear path forward. They come to see me when pain is not only slowing them down, but possibly taking away something that they love, such as running or sport! The pain they feel is a warning light that is flashing bright, and every patient I’ve ever seen has needed some guidance on how to interpret the signals that their pain is trying to convey. Seeing as every experience of pain is unique to the individual, I won’t go into specifics on these subjective experiences, as they are so varied! What I do want to share is what we now know about pain science that we didn’t know even just ten years ago, and more importantly what can we do with this knowledge of pain science! As it turns out, there are reasonably well-performed studies that support the use of short bouts of mindfulness to manage pain tolerance.(1) A huge review came out in 2020 that may be worth looking through if you have the time (see citations). Now, within my treatment room, I’ve seen tons of evidence that mindfulness helps pain tolerance! Any time I perform any type of manual therapy treatment -- dry needling, voodoo band application, Graston, or cupping -- I’m very aware of my patient’s pain tolerance. It is very important that my patients be able to relax while I’m performing these techniques. I’ve seen time and time again, if a patient is not breathing deeply in a relaxed state (or at least attempting to!), the technique is less effective. This makes sense. In one of my favorite books on pain science, “Explain Pain,” by David Butler, the “fight or flight” system is the sympathetic nervous system. This system can be triggered by various stimuli, such as loud noises, fearful emotions, and other things that we determine as possible threats. Once this system is triggered, our muscles tense as we are getting ready to fight or run. This is the exact opposite system we want triggered when we are receiving physical therapy treatments! What we would like to trigger is the parasympathetic nervous system, as it is the system responsible for our “rest and digest” capacity. As a side note, if you have any interest in pain science, I’d highly recommend you purchase the book, “Explain Pain.” It has been incredibly formative in my practice and is written in an approachable, well-explained manner that can give you a great understanding of our pain system. Ok, back to the systems! If my patients are able to tap into this parasympathetic system, their muscles relax and absorb the treatments that I am providing. So, what is the best way to access this parasympathetic system? While I wish we could access this system with a light switch, we cannot. But, the most effective way to coax it into action is through deep breathing and mindfulness. Many times, I can simply hold onto a trigger point and ask my patients to breathe deeply, and with no motion and the proper application of pressure, we work as a team to access their parasympathetic system, thereby allowing the trigger point to release more rapidly than if I were to be fighting with their sympathetic system! So, the next time you’re on that foam roller, lacrosse ball, or receiving dry needling, do your best to breathe deeply. You’ll be accessing your parasympathetic nervous system, getting more results more rapidly, and getting yourself to where you want to be with your muscle tissue. If you have any questions on this mechanism in our body or think you would like to experience the effect that breathing and “downregulation” has on physical therapy treatments, reach out and schedule a session with me today! Thanks for reading,
Dr. Marcus Rein PT, DPT 1. Shires, Alice, et al. “The Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Acute Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Pain, vol. 161, no. 8, 2020, pp. 1698–1707., https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001877. 2. Butler, David S., et al. Explain Pain. Noigroup Publications, 2019.  Halloween is this weekend, which means there are going to be a lot of tricksters out there (and maybe one giant treat...I’m looking at you Braves!). While harmless pranks and scary decorations are all fun in games, there is no place for scaring people with bad, dated medical information. Our bodies are incredibly resilient and some of the common “scary” comments our patients have heard from other providers, or seen on imaging, really aren’t anything to be afraid of at all. Okay, I know we’re all busy getting costumes and candy ready, so let’s jump right in. “Worst case of bone on bone I’ve ever seen!” If I’ve heard this once, I’ve heard it a thousand times. “The doctor said I’m bone on bone!” “Worst case of arthritis he has ever seen!” Most often your physician or other healthcare provider is referring to something called osteoarthritis (also called Degenerative Joint Disease or DJD) in situations like this, and guess what… It is totally normal to have arthritis! More and more studies are coming out that show many active adults have some form of DJD and that calling this a “disease” is incredibly misleading. While DJD cannot be reversed, it’s often not the main pain generator and can be easily managed with education on symptoms, appropriately prescribed exercise, and just good ol’ fashion exercise. Walking the dog, playing with your kids, gardening… all great examples of non-exercise based movement that keep your joints moving. As cheesy as it may sound, the old adage of “motion is lotion” is spot on and is the reason that “worst case of arthritis I’ve seen” shouldn’t get you weak in the knees. Torn Meniscus This one hits close to home. At the young age of 14, I actually had two knee surgeries. One to attempt to repair my meniscus and one to remove it once the repair failed. Looking back on it and relating the symptoms I was having to what the research is now showing, I had no business getting either of those surgeries and you most likely don’t need one either. Once again, a torn or frayed meniscus is a normal sign of aging and is often found on imaging with people who have knee pain at all. Even in an acute situation where a tear is found on an image after injuring your knee, as long as you don’t have a physical “block” in your knee, where that meniscus has essentially turned into a door stopper and impeds normal motion at the knee, you will be absolutely fine without surgery. In fact, research consistently shows that conservative treatment will have equal to (or better) results as surgery AND you won’t be setting yourself up for future complications associated with missing portions of your meniscus. Herniated Disc I’ll keep this one short. Simply put, in most situations, herniated discs do not require surgery. In fact, multiple studies have demonstrated that you can take 10 random people off the street with no back pain, give them an MRI, and an average of 7 out of 10 people’s images will come back with some variation of a herniated disc. In fact, “large low-risk-of-bias trial between surgery and usual conservative care found no statistically significant differences on any of the primary outcome measures after 1 and 2 years” (Jacobs et al). Our bodies are incredibly resilient and, in most cases, will heal just fine with appropriate treatment. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3065612/ “You’ll never be able to do ‘X’ again.” This is the most frustrating thing for me and the rest of the staff here at Athletes’ Potential. We are constantly hearing people come in and say something like, “My doctor said I’ll never be able to deadlift again,” or, “My physical therapist said I shouldn’t do CrossFit.” This is absurd and is a fallacy you shouldn’t fall for. We constantly get people coming into our office and we are constantly getting them back to the activities they love. A provider quickly dismissing an activity you do without any context is lazy, myopic, and an easy sign that you need to get a second opinion. So, in review, there are a lot of scary phrases out there that, in reality, have no right to be scary. New research is being pumped out every day that our bodies are readily adaptable. If you’re in the Atlanta area and you’ve heard one of these phrases before, give us a call or fill out the contact request form by clicking the button below. We’d love nothing more than to help you get back to what you enjoy. Thanks for reading, Dr. Jacob, PT, DPT, CSCS |
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