CALL/TEXT: 206-327-9880

Matt and I have been doing a LOT of walking on the weekends. Some of you know that we are avid sailors and some of you might also know that we are in between boats right now. Since selling our boat I have been struggling to find a good hobby for the two of us. Finally I hit upon walking/ hiking and running. This has been great for us because we can do it together (Matt has to slow down to match my pace when we run but he otherwise he is doing okay with it :) and also bring Murphy (our dog) with us.

The past 2 weekends we walked an average of 6 miles per day. Yesterday, after our walk, I decided I needed to steam clean and vacuum my floors. (I had neglected this task for several weeks and it was getting bad! so I finally decided I need to get this down).

After doing all of those things I was experiencing intense low back pain due to muscle fatigue in the hips and back muscles. It was rough. Standing was challenging but most noticeable was that slight forward bend that I needed to do when brushing my teeth or doing the dishes.

It was after experiencing this that I remembered this is something a lot of you are struggling with so I wanted to address what you can do to treat this problem when it occurs.

1. Don't Panic!!! While this is an uncomfortable experience it is really not due to trauma or injury and can absolutely just be because your muscles are fatigued. This can occur after lots of cleaning (as I experienced) or the most common is yard work or shoveling/ raking activities.
2. Stretch your hips and back muscles (there are so many great exercises for this and which ones are right for you would depend on which ones are tight but performing cat/cow yoga stretch can be a good first place to start.
3. Strengthen your hips, butt muscles, hamstrings, back and core muscles so that you are better prepared to do the activities you want to do (check with us on which ones are right for you but if you already go to the gym then use the machines there and slowly get going).
4. Grade your exposure to the activities you want to do--try to avoid marathon sessions of any activity if you haven't worked up to it. My big mistake was doing ALL the walking then doing ALL the vacuuming and ALL the steam cleaning because I was determined to get it done. Luckily I woke up this morning feeling fine but last night was a bear!

Are you having too much pain to start a strength program? Call the clinic at (206) 327-9880 or request a visit at www.painsciencept.com You can work directly with one of the PTs on addressing your concerns before starting a strength training program.

Our fitness programming is up and RUNNING!!! You can now join our CLINIC GYM for a small monthly fee ($55 per month). Do you want to build strength but don't know how to do this OR don't have any equipment/ space at home?

You can join our gym to work on building strength. You can cancel at any time. You will need 'gym-exclusive' footwear if you want to wear shoes in the clinic (this means you don't wear these shoes outside of the clinic so they stay clean and continue to adhere to our 'no-shoe policy'.) But otherwise you just wear what you feel comfortable exercising in.

The gym is open during our business hours which are the following times:

Monday-Thursday 7:15am-6:30pm and Friday 8am-4pm.

Go HERE to sign up for the monthly gym membership.

Not sure what to do in the gym? Want to have some guidance ahead of time? Sign up for one-on-one fitness training sessions with one of our PTs. These sessions are 45 minutes in length and will give you an opportunity to tailor your gym workouts to your personal goals.



You can purchase sessions to workout with the PTs HERE.

MASSAGE THERAPY AVAILABILITY FOR APRIL

And speaking of self care...Amy Matthias has availability on the following days/ dates/ times for massage. Please contact her directly at amymatthias75@gmail.com or (206) 939-3024 to schedule a time. She can see a client for as little as 15 minute-120 minutes!! Did you know that she also does pilates and personal fitness training? She does it all! Schedule an appointment to meet with her to reach your fitness and self care goals.

Monday April 8th from 2-6pm

Friday April 12th from 11:45-6pm

Saturday April 13th from 1:15-4pm

Friday April 26th from 3:15-6pm

Monday April 29th from 1:30-6pm

**Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for any last minute openings with Amy**