If your Achilles tendon looks “damaged” on an MRI or ultrasound, that finding may have nothing to do with why it hurts. This trips up almost everyone with Achilles tendinopathy. Research shows that tendon abnormalities on imaging can appear in 0 to 80% of people with no symptoms at all. One study found tendon pathology […]
Achilles Tendon Pain: Why Your MRI May Not Be the Problem Read More »
The biggest mistake people make with front-of-shoulder pain is assuming that a special test or MRI can tell them exactly what’s wrong. Usually, it can’t. If you’ve had a shoulder exam where someone pressed on a specific spot or performed a special test to “confirm” biceps tendon pain, you should know that research shows these
Why Front-of-Shoulder Pain Isn’t Always a Biceps Tendon Problem Read More »
Stretching more, resting more, and waiting for the pain to go away is a common approach people take when dealing with proximal hamstring tendinopathy. Unfortunately, this strategy often does not address the actual problem. The missing piece is usually progressive loading: gradually rebuilding the tendon’s ability to tolerate stress and return to normal activity. Where
Proximal Hamstring Tendinopathy: The Hip Pain That Feels Like a Sitting Problem Read More »
The advice many people with neck pain and nerve symptoms receive, whether from a well-meaning family member, an online article, or even a healthcare provider, is some version of “fix your posture.” Keep your shoulders back. Sit up straight. Stop slouching. For people dealing with neck pain and nerve symptoms, this can be one of
Sitting Up Straight Is Not Going to Fix Your Neck Read More »
Resting until your knee feels better is one of the most common mistakes people make with quad tendon pain. It seems logical: pain means something is wrong, and if something is wrong, you should stop doing the activity that hurts. The problem is that tendon pain does not always follow that logic. If you have
The Boom-Bust Trap: The Most Common Mistake People Make With Quad Tendon Pain Read More »
An abdominal muscle strain and a hernia can feel surprisingly similar. However, treating the wrong condition with the wrong approach can make things much worse. If you’ve been searching for answers about your abdominal pain and found yourself somewhere between “pulled muscle” and “I don’t know what this is,” this article will help clear things
Your Abdominal Strain Is Not a Hernia — And the Difference Matters a Lot Read More »
Core muscle strain recovery often fails for one simple reason: people return to activity before the muscle has rebuilt the capacity to handle the demands being placed on it. The tissue may feel better, but feeling better does not always mean it is fully prepared. Understanding why the strain happened in the first place is
The Reason Your Core Strain Keeps Coming Back Is Not Bad Luck Read More »
When someone has dealt with radiating leg pain for weeks or months and nothing seems to be helping, surgery can start to feel like the obvious answer. Remove the disc problem. Free the nerve. Finally move on. That thought process makes sense. But research on sciatica surgery tells a more complicated story; one that is
Surgery for Sciatica Gets Similar Long-Term Results to Physical Therapy Read More »
Many people come into the clinic thinking something like this: “I’ve been doing exercises for a few weeks, but they’re not working, so I probably need surgery.” The problem is that this way of thinking has it backwards. For most rotator cuff problems, exercise therapy is the primary treatment, not just something you try before
One of the most counterproductive things you can do with knee pain is stop loading the knee entirely. It feels like the safest option: rest it, avoid anything that hurts, and wait for it to heal. But patellofemoral pain doesn’t usually improve with complete avoidance. In many cases, removing all load actually reduces the knee’s
Knee Pain: It’s Not About Bad Exercises, It’s About Capacity Read More »
