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If you've ever been part of a group fitness class, gym class, or team that required everyone to perform wall squats, you might have noticed something. No two people were doing the wall squat the same way. Some people had their feet really close to the wall, while others had them really far away. Some people had their arms on their laps, while others had them to their side. Some people had their legs really wide, while others had them really close together. The fact of the matter is that all of these people were doing a different exercise that emphasized different muscle activation patterns and fatigued different muscles more quickly. Zach and I are kicking around the idea of starting a "Principles In Movement" series that helps people to match the intent of the exercise with the execution of the exercise. If we are going to work our butts off working out and rehabbing, we better make sure we are accomplishing the things we set out to accomplish. So, let's take a look at the wall squat and figure out how to do just that. Intent: The intent of the wall squat is to train the muscles of the upper leg (hamstrings, quads, abductors, adductors, glutes, etc.) and core to work synergistically to support the upper body in hip flexion and knee flexion. When we train this properly, we can re-program the body to utilize muscles optimally, eliminate compensation patterns, and reduce stress/pain throughout the kinetic chain. In order to perform this exercise with intent, here's what needs to happen. Set-Up: Position your feet approximately the length of your thigh away from the wall. The goal is for your heels to be directly under your knees when you pull into your squat. The feet should also be approximately hip width. Click the image to watch a video designed to help you visualize proper wall squat form:  Execution:
Keeping your feet in this position, lean back to the wall (using your arms for support if needed). Once back to the wall, try to flatten your back against the wall to create a neutral spine (this may take a good deal of core activation/lengthening). Maintaining the foot position and contact with wall described, pull the hips down and back into the wall, activating the hamstrings. The weight should be distributed so that you can push straight down into the ground with both heels evenly. Work only in a range of motion in which you can maintain a neutral spine and the ability to push down through heels. Breathe through your diaphragm and keep the upper body relaxed. Possible Compensation Patterns To Look Out For (These will keep you from accomplishing the main intent of the exercise):
The most important take away from this article is to exercise with intent. Know what you are trying to accomplish, how you will accomplish it, and then work like heck to make sure you're executing. If you're not, slow down or modify your exercise. If you exercise in this manner, you will see gains in strength, mobility, and decreases in pain. If you like this article and would like us to write more like it, please let us know by emailing [email protected].
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Clients often ask me why the surgical recovery process is different from individual to individual. They've seen a few friends who never really recovered, while others they know have come out of surgery with flying colors.
Before going into surgery themselves, they want to know... "what are the things I'll need to overcome to improve recovery after surgery?" There are 3 things that happen right after surgery that might limit your recovery process. Keep in mind, I don't want this to be all doom and gloom - none of this is insurmountable. But I do want you to use this as an understanding for why a quality rehab program (and discipline and consistency on your end) is needed to improve recovery after surgery. 1) Scar tissue formation: Scar tissue is a rigid tissue that drastically affects the mobility of the tissue it covers. When scar tissue sets in, it can be extremely difficult (but doable) to regain mobility after surgery. Scar tissue also limits blood flow to the healing site, which can delay recovery. 2) Mobility becomes limited: Not only can scar tissue formation affect mobility, but the muscles themselves will become less mobile. Surgery introduces a trauma to the body, and when a trauma is introduced to the body, the nervous system becomes less comfortable utilizing the muscles in the affected area, reducing mobility. Being consistent with your PT routine is key to overcome these mobility challenges. 3) Compensations pattern develop: Due to the restricted mobility, the body figures out new ways to move. This works well in the short term, but long term, these new movement patterns will put more stress into other areas of the body that could lead to future injuries. Neuro Therapy technology is designed to overcome all of these hurdles, decreasing the chances of scar tissue formation, increasing mobility, and ensuring compensation patterns don't develop over time. And the best part is that you can learn to use the technology from home as a supplement to your existing rehab plan prescribed by your doctor and physical therapist. Clients who use the technology from home report increasing range of motion, gaining strength, and getting back to life at a quicker rate. If you want to learn more about how Neuro Therapy technology can complement and optimize your recovery after surgery, click the blue button below to schedule a free, 30 minute Neuro Therapy Orientation via Zoom.
The traditional functional movement model places a lot of emphasis on two things:
Mobility and strength. But no one ever stops to ask the most important question: What caused the mobility and strength deficits to begin with? Was it a previous injury? Surgery? Or learned movement pattern over time? Without asking this question, you'll never truly understand what's driving the mobility and strength problem... and without truly understanding the driver, you won't understand your pain. Check out the video below to learn more about the important piece that must be in place for all of your mobility and strength work to matter (hint... it has to do with the nervous system). Want to learn more about how you can use Neuro Therapy to get to the root cause of your pain? Click here to schedule a free, 30 minute Neuro Therapy orientation via Zoom. Click the blue button below to apply for a free Neuro Therapy Discovery Session. This session can be completed in our clinic (just outside of Baltimore) or virtually from the comfort of your own home. Therapists, doctors, and clients are always amazed at how quickly Neuro Therapy starts working to fix pain. What's the secret? Neuro Therapy utilizes a cutting edge technology that helps you to identify and efficiently correct the root cause of pain. If you're interested in learning more about how the technology works, click the link below to watch a video on the Premier Neuro Therapy Instagram page. Keep an eye on the red pad and pay attention to how the client's body language changes while the pad is moved around the body. While you're there, don't forget to hit the follow button :-) Click here to head to the Premier Neuro Therapy Instagram page  Click the blue button below to apply for a free Neuro Therapy Discovery Session. This session can be completed in our clinic (just outside of Baltimore) or virtually from the comfort of your own home.
This week's blog piggy-backs off of one of the exercises we talked about last week in The 10 Minute Self Check To Help Relieve Shoulder Pain - the front delt raise. The directions to that exercise are shown below not only as a reminder on how we would like to see the exercise performed, but also as a segue into our topic of this week, the truth behind the hurt. Directions: Stand with your feet 6-8 inches apart, toes pointing straight ahead, and upper body erect with your chest separated from the sternum. Your head should be kept in line with the body and your eyes looking straight ahead. Your arms are resting at your sides holding onto a broomstick, PVC pipe, or a wooden dowel (or something similar) with wrists directly below the shoulder. This is the ideal starting position. From this position, raise the arms with extended/straight elbows (no bend) until they are directly over your head. Pause for 1 count and then reverse the movement by using your lats to pull the arms (with elbows extended/straight) back down to the starting position. Easy right? Well, the picture below depicts a client with shoulder pain (AC joint injury) going through this exact exercise and this is the end product – definitely not part of the directions.  I know what you are thinking - that can’t possibly be helpful to relieving her shoulder pain. Oh, but it is :-) So why is she standing in that position? Faulty movement patterns. Faulty movement patterns are at the core of shoulder injuries and pain (and really any type of injury and pain). Naturally, the body learns ways to compensate as a means to guard and protect the shoulder, making it extremely difficult to execute even the simplest movements. These faulty movement patterns can start as early as our adolescent years without even knowing it. Before you know it, you’re going on 50 years old, dealing with a nagging shoulder injury that’s been around for years, you can’t find relief, you feel like there is no fix, and you look like that picture when being asked to do a simple overhead movement. Not good! So let’s rewind that picture a little bit, break it down a little just as we would at Premier, and try to provide a little more substance as to why faulty movement patterns are such an important piece to helping you get rid of your shoulder pain once and for all.  Picture 1: Not bad. But upon a deeper glance, that PVC pipe is definitely not parallel to the ground. Her left hand naturally sits a little farther away from the body. Immediately, we know there is an imbalance somewhere and it needs to be addressed. Crazy right? Even before actually moving, a faulty movement pattern exists in her resting position. If anything, it’s possible it could start with pulling the left shoulder down and back as it appears her left trap is sitting just a tad higher than the right. If we were to take a look at her from the side, we would probably see the left shoulder incorrectly rolled forward actually. Furthermore, you can even tell the musculature of the traps are not even.  Picture 2: Without being cued through the movement, she made an adjustment to align both arms (nice!), elbows are extended (perfect!), head is kept in line with the body (yes!), and even the wrists and hand grip look great (let’s go!). When searching for absolute symmetry, you could get a little picky with the right shoulder sitting a little higher than the left, but I was trying to keep it more positive with this picture so we won’t go there ;-)  Picture 3: The shot is taken at the point of what I would say is extreme compensation. We see that when her arms hit this particular point in the exercise, there’s a slight shift to the left (easily detected by the spacing between each ear and biceps). We also see that the left biceps INCORRECTLY shortens, causing elbow flexion (it’s not straight). There is also a slight bend in the right elbow, as well.  Picture 4: As she pulls overhead, she is still unable to straighten both elbows fully and now there is a significant shift to the right. Although her body is dead center, we start to lose sight of her forearm in the picture. Interesting….  Picture 5: At full range of motion, things begin to center a little more but it appears the biceps begin to take over a little more as a means to help her pull into full range and back to more of a centered-looking position. However, it’s more of a false centering as the right forearm is still really far away from where it should be.  Picture 6: Seconds later, as she attempted to counter the right shift to a symmetrical position as well as lengthen the biceps so as to extend the elbows (straighten arms), her body doubles down on the guarding/protecting and we are now in faulty movement pattern city.
To quickly recap what I’m pulling from this…even at resting position (picture 1), her body is in a guarding/protective state. Her faulty movement patterns pick up just a bit when moving towards a position overhead, and stay decently consistently in the wrong position throughout the movement until things go absolutely crazy at the end range of motion when she is really trying to achieve a perfect position. Ultimately, her body just does not like to move correctly. If you have experienced Neuro before, you know how much our technology can easily elicit your compensations and faulty movement patterns. For those of you who have not yet experienced Neuro, I know what you are thinking – “Why in the world did her arms move that way? That is not normal. Maybe the patterns she is showing in pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4, and 5 are normal, but definitely not 6”. Well, you are right! Sometimes it is very difficult to use the naked eye when looking for faulty movement patterns causing shoulder pain or injury, so our technology does a tremendous job in aiding that process. Essentially, as she is moving, our technology is being applied to her simultaneously, helping to really draw out her faulty movement patterns. Once we are able to successfully elicit these patterns, the re-education process can really start to take place, resulting in an adaptation for change. In her case, that change was specific to not being able to do a dip exercise prior to the session because of pain levels reported at an 8 out of 10, to immediately afterwards being able to execute multiple dips in succession without pain. And how is that possible? We were able to eventually work through those faulty movement patterns to a point where she was able to lift the PVC pipe overhead head WITHOUT any compensation. This is precisely the reason as to why she didn’t have any discomfort afterwards – her patterns were changed and it carried over into executing her dips. Exploiting and changing faulty movement patterns is such an important piece to recovering from shoulder pain and injury and I hope that I’ve been able to provide a little window into the how’s and why’s behind that concept. At the end of the day, you don’t need the fancy technology to elicit some of the faulty movement patterns that are causing your shoulder pain and injury (although it certainly makes it extremely easy and efficient). However, if you, a friend, or family member are struggling with identifying your faulty movement patterns, how to properly re-educate your body to move correctly, and not seeing pain relief or a change in recovery, let us know by clicking the link below. We would be more than happy to help! Shoulder pain affects our ability to workout, sleep, compete, and even do every day tasks around the house. It’s amazing what simple tasks can be affected when our ability to reach overhead or across the body is limited. It’s even more frustrating when it feels like nothing (rest, ice, heat, massage and even in-home exercises) is helping the shoulder pain start to feel better. If you have ever experienced Neuro Therapy for your shoulder pain, I’m sure you are well accustomed to a few of these exercises that we do at our clinic. If you have not, you might be wondering if there is anything you can do to relieve your shoulder pain short of working 1 on 1 with a qualified health professional - I'm sure there is someone out there in the Towson, Lutherville-Timonium, Cockeysville, or Hunt Valley area willing to help ;-). Or, perhaps you are not looking for a 100% fix to the shoulder pain, but maybe something that will at least treat the shoulder pain (perhaps help sleep a little better) until you can actually make moves on a real shoulder therapy program. If you can relate to any of those things, you are in for a treat as the 2 exercises we will discuss are some of the most basic, yet useful movements you can perform at home to learn more about your shoulder pain as it relates to potential:
Ultimately, whether you find yourself really struggling with these exercises or cruising through the movement with minor difficulty, my recommendation would be to work these two exercises 3-5x per week in a range of motion that you feel most comfortable. As far as duration, aim for 5 minutes of extremely focused, active work for each exercise (total of 10 minutes). Exercise #1: Teeter Totter Stand with your feet 6-8 inches apart, toes pointing straight ahead, and upper body erect with your chest separated from the sternum. Your head should be kept in line with the body and your eyes looking straight ahead. Your hands are holding a broomstick, PVC pipe, or a wooden dowel (or something similar) horizontally with a straight elbow and wrist (knuckles aimed at ground). This is the ideal starting position. To start the movement, use your lats to pull the left shoulder down and lengthen the arm (no bend in elbow) at the same time. Doing so will cause the opposite shoulder to rise slightly creating a teeter-totter motion. Pause for 1 count and then reverse the movement by pulling your shoulder back to the starting position as described above. Once you have returned to the starting position, you will repeat the same movement with the right arm. Continue to alternate between the left and right until 5 repetitions of the teeter-totter movement have been completed with proper movement on each side. Sounds simple right? Well, let’s dive in a little while thinking about the educational part of this process from the list above. Questions to ask yourself:
There is definitely a lot to think about here but finding out these answers and doing something about them can provide so much information in regard to what’s contributing to your shoulder pain. Ultimately, these questions are exactly what we focus on when going through a session at Premier to help relieve your shoulder pain. The only difference is that we use technology to make the process more efficient :-) Let’s now take a look at our second very basic movement that you can perform at home to learn more about your shoulder pain. Remember, keep in mind the educational piece we just discussed and use that as your lens to navigate through the second movement, as well. Just incase, here they are again (from above):
Exercise #2: Front Delt Raise Stand with your feet 6-8 inches apart, toes pointing straight ahead, and upper body erect with your chest separated from the sternum. Your head should be kept in line with the body and your eyes looking straight ahead. Your arms are resting at your sides holding onto a broomstick, PVC pipe, or a wooden dowel (or something similar) with wrists directly below the shoulder. This is the ideal starting position. From this position, raise the arms with extended/straight elbows (no bend) until they are directly over your head. Pause for 1 count and then reverse the movement by using your lats to pull the arms (with elbows extended/straight) back down to the starting position. Easy, right? Not so fast…. Questions to ask yourself:
It’s definitely possible that by reading this list of questions, you are overwhelmed and even more frustrated than when you started. That is completely ok and completely expected. You have to start somewhere and if you are truly looking to relieve your shoulder pain or find the ultimate fix, it requires an attention to detail that was not previously there and a very deep understanding of how your movement patterns could help get rid of your shoulder pain. With that being said, everyone is different and will experience a different recovery rate and path to improving the shoulder pain so do your best to stay focused on you and your path to getting rid of your shoulder pain. If you run through this list, your form is perfect, but yet still experience shoulder pain, it’s possible it would just require a deeper dive into all of these questions by a qualified health professional. Sometimes (and I am even guilty of it!), we think everything looks good until someone else gets their eyes on us and within seconds, we are brought back down to reality ;-) But let’s keep it simple for now - start with the ideal starting position. Can you hit the cues for the ideal starting position? If you can, great. Move on to the next cue. If you can’t, that’s great too - start by perfecting the ideal starting position and DO NOT move on until your form is perfect. Lastly, don't forget the recommendation on frequency and duration: 3-5x a week for a total of 5 min on each exercise. Good luck! Local to the Towson, Lutherville-Timonium, Cockeysville, or Hunt Valley area? Friends & Family receive a FREE
Discovery Session at Premier! Family and friends play a critical role in rehabilitation after surgery, neuro therapy, physical therapy, and any kind of other recovery process. They help shape the mindset of their loved one during the recovery process, and mindset can significantly affect how efficiently a recovery goes. In many cases, we hear about family and friends that are extremely supportive during the rehab process, uplifting spirits and helping to keep the focus on progress and the end goal. In other cases, we hear about family and friends who cause their loved ones to actually feel WORSE about their progress. Without the support of family and friends, mindset turns negative, and the recovery from surgery, injuries, or chronic pain actually becomes slower. Here’s 7 ways you can avoid being the latter of the two and help your loved one to stay motivated with a focus on progress and the end result. 1. Stay Positive. This will be an overarching theme to this article. Rehabbing from surgery, injury, or chronic pain can be a mentally grueling process, whether it’s with Neuro Therapy, physical therapy, or by other means. Your loved one is constantly asking themselves questions like “Will I ever feel like I used to?”, “Am I wasting my time?”, and “Am I doing this correctly?” Trust me, they’ve got enough work to do on the mental side to stay positive and focused on the end result. The most beneficial thing you can provide is POSITIVE support. Heap it on, go over the top, and make sure you believe that they can accomplish the end result by any means necessary. 2. If you want to ask questions, stay positive with your tone. If your curious enough about your loved one’s progress that you want to ask questions, use a positive tone. Instead of asking “Why do you think that will work?”, say something along the lines of “That sounds really interesting! Did the doctor (or therapists) explain how it’s been so effective for others in the past?” Remember, lay on the positivity and go over the top with it. If your loved one feels like they’re being investigated, they’ll start to doubt their decision to trust their provider, and doubt that they’ll be able to make a full recovery, and I know those aren’t the intentions we want to have with our questions. 3. Go to an appointment with them. Going to an appointment with your loved one can be a great way to show support and learn about the game plan directly from the provider. It’s always better to hear it right from the horse's mouth than putting the pressure on your loved one to remember the practitioner’s exact words. 4. Learn the guidelines the therapy team is asking to be followed outside of therapy and help them stick to it. An added bonus to step #3 is that you’ll be able to learn the guidelines the provider is telling your loved one to follow outside of therapy. Whether its Neuro Therapy, physical therapy, or something else, these guidelines are important to optimize recovery and you can help make sure they stick to it! 5. If you notice progress, tell them about it! This one’s simple. If you notice your loved one is progressing (getting around easier, seems to be complaining about pain less, etc.) tell them about it! Celebrate these successes with them and you’ll multiply the chances that positive results will continue to unfold. 6. Do the exercises with them. If a physical therapist has prescribed home exercises, do your best to learn the ins and outs of the exercises. When you have the opportunity, do them with your loved one to show your support and comment on how challenging they are even for you. 7. Ask them how they are feeling about their progress (or lack thereof)… and then just listen. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to just listen. Ask them how they feel about their progress (or lack thereof) so far, and don’t speak again until they finish talking. When they do, ask a follow-up question and listen again. You may learn a lot about how they are handling the recovery process mentally, which will put you in a better position to provide support and take their results to another level. Local to the Towson, Lutherville-Timonium, Cockeysville, or Hunt Valley area? Friends & Family receive a FREE
Discovery Session at Premier! The trip started off the same way any trip did for us in 2016. One of our clients, for privacy reasons we’ll call him, “Cinnabons” (to be explained later), had a former teammate go down with an injury. His name? "Frank Underwood".  Cinnabons felt that, because of his rapid recovery from a quad injury (nagged for roughly 6 months during the season before spending a week with us for it to go away for good), that we could help. So Cinnabons pursued Frank and was able to persuade him into giving our On-Call Travel Therapy a shot. It wasn’t easy, however, for Cinnabons, as he previously played for Frank’s team, the New York Mets. He knew the clubhouse staff was highly skeptical of bringing in someone from outside the organization to help, but ultimately, he was able to make it happen. Frank had been dealing with a very significant injury that severely impacted his performance and ability to play at high levels, let alone even move at times. “Let me fix you,” is how Cinnabons started the text conversation with Frank. (As an aside, we’re calling our client by the nickname of Cinnabons because we want to protect his privacy and throughout our time together of getting in sessions after games at his house, he would crush sweets and baked goods. His routine was essentially this: Get home from the game, check in on the kids (who were already asleep), watch the end of any baseball games around the league on TV, look up videos/stats of the upcoming, opposing pitcher on his iPad, talk about launch angles, eat a little bit of a post-game meal, and then crush what was most often times available, which at the time were Cinnabons. Perfect combo for getting primed and ready to go for a Neuro Therapy session, right? :-) ) So anyways, Frank reached out to me and we set things up. His team, the New York Mets, were in Washington DC for a three game road trip against the Nationals, so I flew up to DC from Jacksonville, FL.  Local to the Towson, Lutherville-Timonium, Cockeysville, or Hunt Valley area? Friends & Family receive a FREE Discovery Session at Premier! When I entered the hotel, I was instructed to ask for, “Frank Underwood”. A call from the front desk was made to Frank’s room, Frank answered, gave the front desk manager the green light, and I was escorted to the elevators. We had worked on some pretty high profile guys in the sports world to this point, but having to use an alias definitely upped the ante a little bit - a first time experience for me. Although it was probably 2 minutes, it seemed like a 20 minute walk from the elevator to his door. If I told you my adrenaline didn’t spike, that would be a complete lie. I could feel my heart beat in my throat, and it was the type of feeling you get as an athlete when the nerves are just through the roof before a game. At the end of the day, you just never know how these things are going to go. That walk was the perfect time for the Imposter Syndrome to kick in. You know, that moment where you instantly regret everything up until that point and doubt everything about your ability to get the job done? I’m sure there are some of you who can relate to that feeling… Who am I to be doing this for a guy like Frank? A year ago, I wasn’t even doing this at all. How did this happen? This is ridiculous, I shouldn’t be here. What have I got myself into? What if he doesn’t like me? What if we don’t get along? What if he hates the session? What am I doing right now? Just getting a result with someone like this was enough pressure in itself, the long-time golden boy of the New York Mets, a guy who hasn’t seen any real relief or increase in performance for quite some time, and someone who is potentially starring down the barrel of surgery after surgery after surgery. Helping him meant that it could potentially save his career. Above all, just the added stress of wanting to put my best foot forward to make true of Cinnabons’ words of, “Let me fix you,” was plenty to think about. No pressure. My knock at his door was greeted with a handshake, a big, warm smile, and an invitation to join him in the living area. He instantly made me feel at ease. I got this… my confidence was instantly restored. Within seconds of entering the room though, that feeling would change, and the tension could be cut with a knife. As Frank led me to the living area, I noticed we weren’t alone. There sat two members of the New York Mets training staff. This was a first for me – providing a session in a hotel room for a client has always been a 1 on 1 situation. Always. It’s important that this time is spent asking in-depth questions and really, truly getting to know this person on a very deep level. It’s a huge part of our success and something that cannot be compromised. Well, I guess there’s a first for everything, and Cinnabons did forewarn me of how skeptical their staff would be about the whole thing going down. So, no big deal, right? These guys were different than Frank. No big, warm smiles. They didn’t stand up to shake hands or say hello. Nothing. I felt as if every move I made or word I said was under the world’s largest microscope. One of the awkward highlights to that session was when I was voicing something about our process foreign to the Mets trainers. They would instantly clear their throats. This happened multiple times, to the point where I felt myself eventually waiting to listen for it and wanting to ask the question, “Do you have something you wish to say?” I did my best to go about the session as I normally would, but the awkwardness of having two men who have been in the sports recovery game for probably 30 years to my 1, sitting 5 feet from me for 90 minutes and not saying a word, is a little strange. The only thing they questioned is how something like Neuro Therapy would help with Frank’s symptoms.  It’s definitely a good question. However, when there is no follow up to my answer, no real conversation, no vested interest in understanding, and an understanding on my end that they already have their doubts, it’s typically an indication that they don’t really care about my response. Combine that with the idea that they had no idea what Neuro Therapy is in the first place, and it’s not exactly the best situation for Frank, which is a little troubling. One of the best things for anyone who is recovering from injury, pain, limitation, or any other symptoms for that matter, is that the entire support team is on the same page, ready to collaborate in a helpful, supportive, and empowering way. Unfortunately, this just wasn’t the case. Local to the Towson, Lutherville-Timonium, Cockeysville, or Hunt Valley area? Friends & Family receive a FREE Discovery Session at Premier! At the end of day, I was there to do nothing else but help Frank. I wasn’t there to step on anyone’s toes and definitely not to take anyone’s job. I was brought in to do one thing, and that’s help fix Frank. And if we are being frank, no pun intended, they had their shot for the past year. There’s a word people use to describe doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result…. Long story short, that was the last time I saw them. Oddly enough, no follow ups, no random pop ins – a much different experience than some other experiences I’ve had with really quality, supportive medical providers in the MLB. Frank and I would bounce back and forth over the next day and a half for sessions at the stadium and his hotel room. The Nationals were nice enough to put us up in a private room at the stadium, so he could get some work in before the game, and then we would follow that up with a late-night session at the hotel.  So there we were, 4 sessions and two days in, and he reported no symptoms. We were rolling. But that next day, it all came to an abrupt stop. This was an injury that he had been dealing with for almost an entire year. I feel like I should say that again… 4 sessions later and two days in, Frank reported having no symptoms. We still had a lot of work left on the table so we could reinforce this changes for good, but the future for Frank was looking promising. The even more amazing thing about the situation was, that in both games following our sessions, he hit home runs. It was truly incredible to witness. Finally, after a year of battling this thing, his body was shifting from a protective/guarded state to a performance state. You could argue that the post-game smiles were even bigger than when I was greeted for the first time on day 1. We started to unleash the power of his nervous system, and it was a beautiful thing. Cinnabons could even tell things were looking up. As Frank trotted around the bases after his second home run at Nationals Park, Cinnabons says to Frank, “I told ya.” The next night, Frank went yard again! Three games, three home runs. That’s unheard of, especially for Frank at this point in his injury. He had not accomplished that type of feat during his entire career and not many Major Leaguers have.  But something else was at play…. Here we are, seeing real results, feeling real results, discussing real results, and my time with Frank came to a stop. I’ll never know the true reason as to why that trip ended, but I’ll never forget the last thing Frank said to me as he escorted me to the hotel lobby doors, “I can’t thank you enough, you have been great – really, you truly have been.” Maybe I was wrong with thinking he was a good candidate for Neuro Therapy in the first place? Perhaps the hope he felt during those couple of days scared him a bit? Perhaps it was a show for his former teammate, Cinnabon, in that he didn’t want to say no to the help, but really didn’t have a desire to become better? Maybe he was happy with his role on the team of not playing that much, still getting paid, and eventually having to end his career because of the injury? Maybe he enjoyed not feeling like himself and experiencing the “paralyzing” type of pain that makes you not want to move? As I type all of those thoughts out, they all sound highly unlikely. But what else could it be? I wonder what the experience would have been like if the entire Mets staff was on board, supportive, and maybe even the least bit empowering to keep going with Neuro Therapy. But I guess we’ll never know. In the end, sadly Frank Underwood would go on to battle this issue for the next two years and ultimately be forced into an early retirement. Call his results with us just a coincidence, call it luck, but seeing these types of results are almost expected for people who participate in Neuro Therapy. According to The International Journal of Critical Illness & Injury Science, the team-based, community approach that we emphasize with all clients (and didn’t receive from the Mets) can actually help optimize care and provide a framework for an accelerated post-injury rehabilitation course – the benefits are significant and the disadvantages are few. If you are like Frank, perhaps the first step in your return to excellence is making sure your team (your home-support, spouse, partner, significant other, friends, etc) is on the same page. Get them involved as much as possible, tell them exactly what you need from them, share your successes, share your failures, and maybe even bring them along to your sessions. Their support is 100% needed and they need to understand that. It might be uncomfortable, but I can guarantee that you will thank yourself down the road once you reach the finish line. Maybe you are on the outside looking in – perhaps you are the mom, dad, brother, sister, friend, spouse, partner, or significant other, trainer, psychologist, nutritionist, doctor, therapist, teacher, co-worker, boss. Don’t let this story not serve it’s purpose. Get involved, ask what they need from you, take vested interest in the journey, volunteer to go to a session. Your support is 100% needed and if they don’t understand it, eventually they will. This might be uncomfortable for you too, but I guarantee the same outcome from the previous paragraph – how sweet it will be in the end. Local to the Towson, Lutherville-Timonium, Cockeysville, or Hunt Valley area? Friends & Family receive a FREE
Discovery Session at Premier! It’s not every day you are asked the question, “What were three things that made you happy today?”, but it’s something that’s asked of each #PremierFamily client every day before their session. With the holiday season officially upon us, it’s a great reminder to appreciate the things in our lives that we may start to overlook if we aren’t mindful about them. So, I ask you... What were three things that made you happy over Thanksgiving? It’s possible Thanksgiving means nothing to you and you didn’t do anything at all. Don’t worry, we have a question for you too: What are three things that made you happy over the weekend? I challenge you to respond to this email or comment below with what made you happy. I’m not looking for the surface level, materialistic types of things either. Let’s get deep people! I’ll start and combine both questions to form my answers
Whether it’s quality time with family, a new promotion at work, the sunrise, a goal scored in your most recent game, knocking out your To-Do list, or just getting a good night of sleep, the “things” to be happy about are endless. I showed you mine - what are yours? ;-) Local to the Towson, Lutherville-Timonium, Cockeysville, or Hunt Valley area? Friends & Family receive a FREE
Discovery Session at Premier! It was the summer of 2006, and a group of my high school football teammates attended a football camp at Penn State University. This is where I first crossed paths with Erik Harris (outside of competing against each other on the field), a student-athlete from New Oxford High School in Pennsylvania.  While I attended the camp with a group of teammates, Erik came on his own, so we ended up hanging out quite often and getting to know him. Whether it was participating in drills, stopping by the pool in between sessions, or eating at the commons before and after practice, we made sure to include him in as much of it as possible. Erik was an extremely likable guy, and he came across very genuine. I think everyone knows the type of person who you just meet, but somehow it feels like you have known them for much longer – that was Erik at that camp. Physically, it was clear early on that Erik had a natural ability to compete and play at a high level. It’s not every day that you come across someone with such natural ability and an incredible work ethic, but that’s Erik. His play was so great that he caught the eye of one of Penn State’s football coaches at the time, Mike McQueary. Mike was crazy about him – he had Erik demonstrate drills, he verbally praised him more than any other defensive back at the camp, and he called Erik out in front of the entire camp to do 1-on-1 drills to shut down the best wide receivers. It was a huge deal for a camp attendee to receive such a spotlight. It meant that Erik had a high chance of being recruited by Penn State and eventually receive an offer. But, I’ll never forget a conversation we had while eating lunch one day at the commons. It was towards the middle of the camp, and Erik told us about a talk he had with Mike. Mike pulled him aside and asked him about his 40 yard dash time. Erik responded with something to the tune of “4.6”. Mike seemed less than satisfied with this response, Erik said. During the ensuing days at camp, it was clear Mike’s interest in Erik completely dropped off. He no longer pursued Erik the way he had leading up to that discussion. From our perspective, it was a terrible thing to witness, because we knew a 40 time isn’t everything. There are plenty of tremendous athletes who can’t touch a 4.6 40 time, yet still have really great careers. It was clear Erik was one of the most gifted athletes at the camp, and deserved to receive an offer. But for some reason, the coaches decided that his 4.6 40 time meant he could not play at Penn State, and would not receive an offer. Given Erik's highly competitive nature, you just knew being overlooked only added more fuel to his fire. The ensuing year, interest to play at Division I schools on a big stage dramatically decreased. In the end, Erik would eventually attend California University of Pennsylvania, a division 2 school. Local to the Towson, Lutherville-Timonium, Cockeysville, or Hunt Valley area? Friends & Family receive a FREE Discovery Session at Premier! Settling for a Division 2 offer was not the first time Erik had to battle through adversity over the course of his life. He was one of five children, and grew up in a single parent household with no father figure. He was used to living with a chip on his shoulder, and that chip certainly carried over to the field. Erik continued to demonstrate his abilities when, in 2010, he was named First Team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (All-PSAC). He followed up those accolades with a second team selection in 2011. Only 1.6% of ALL college football players make it to the NFL. For Erik, a division 2 player, those prospects became much less. By most people's standards, it would be foolish of him to even THINK of a career in the NFL. But Erik isn't most people. After graduating from college, Erik didn't receive any invitations to NFL tryouts and was not drafted. He started working as a "corn mixer" at the Utz Chip Factory. The drive to continue playing football at a higher level was still very much there - it just wasn’t yet his time. “You see what life can be if you don’t make the most of your opportunities,” said Erik during an interview special about his life path (see full video here: https://www.raiders.com/video/safety-erik-harris-untraditional-road-to-the-nfl). This realization came from Erik after some self-reflection of his current situation - extraordinary athletic talent being used to stir corn at the local chip factory. One year after starting work at Utz, Erik decided to go back to school, continue training for a football career, and took a part-time job working the night shift at UPS. The goal? “To give this thing one more run.” That next year, Erik paid $80 to drive up to Buffalo, New York for a tryout with a Canadian Football League (CFL) team, the Hamilton Tiger Cats. Erik would make the team and be a part of the team from 2013-2015. Eventually, he was able to make such an impact in the CFL that his name reached the front office of the New Orleans Saints. The Saints invited Erik to try out in February of 2016. That same day, they offered him a position on the team. He had finally reached his goal of making an NFL roster, but his journey was only just beginning. The first year with the Saints, Erik tore his left ACL and meniscus, requiring season ending surgery. Yikes. But what was his mindset? “Another opportunity to grow as an individual.” Once again, Erik would overcome all odds and battle back from the surgery. Eventually, he worked his way back on to the field and earned substantial time playing on special teams and defense. This comeback would eventually lead to another NFL opportunity with the Oakland Raiders. After playing most of 2017 on special teams, Erik earned more snaps as a safety in 2018, which led the Raiders to sign him to a 2 year, $6.5 million extension (not bad for a corn mixer)! And then there was last Thursday... ….29 years removed from his father abandoning his family, ….13 years removed from being told you are too slow to play at Penn State, ….12 years removed from being told you are not good enough to play at the division 1 level, ….7 years removed from being undrafted, ….6 years removed from working at the chip factory, ….5 years removed from working night shift at the UPS store, and ….3 years removed from a potential career-ending injury. Erik Harris not only started for the Oakland Raiders, but had two interceptions and a touchdown. It goes without saying, but there is are a lot of lessons one can take away from this story and apply to our daily lives. I personally love the fact that he took all of the failure, hardships, and adversity, and turned them into opportunities. In the face of adversity time and time again, he just kept putting one foot in front of the next. With his relentless pursuit of his dreams, Erik held on to hope when most people would just shut it down. He refused to let society dictate his future, becoming an inspiration to many. I challenge you to take this story and apply it to your life. Some 29 years from now, I look forward to hearing your story :) Local to the Towson, Lutherville-Timonium, Cockeysville, or Hunt Valley area? Friends & Family receive a FREE
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About the AuthorEvan Lewis is a nationwide leader in Neuro Therapy and founded the Baltimore area's only specialist Neuro Therapy facility. 
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Premier Neuro Therapy specializes in helping people overcome nagging pains and injuries, avoid surgery and injections, and transform the body to a state of peak performance.
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