Pain Academy

10/15/2026

When movement hurts, it’s easy to fall into one of two patterns.

You either push through the pain, hoping you’ll eventually get better, or you start avoiding the things that hurt altogether.

But there’s a third option…finding your shallow end.

A starting point that’s manageable enough to explore movement without feeling like you’re constantly fighting your body.
Because rebuilding confidence isn’t about proving how much pain you can tolerate. It’s about giving your body new experiences it can actually learn from.

And if you’ve been stuck between pushing too hard and avoiding movement altogether, I’d love to help you find that starting point.
This is the work our members are doing every day inside the Pain Academy App.
Learning how to move with more confidence, rebuild trust in their bodies, and gradually return to the activities they love.
Download The Pain Academy App today and feel the difference for yourself.

10/15/2026

Some people with severe arthritis barely notice a storm, while others report significant flare-ups. Even within the same person, the relationship isn’t always consistent.
So what does the research show?
1996 Redelmeier & Tversky
Researchers tracked 18 people with arthritis for over a year. Despite participants strongly believing their pain was connected to weather, researchers found no statistically significant relationship between pain and the weather conditions they identified.
2019 Cloudy with a Chance of Pain
Researchers analyzed daily data from 2,658 people with chronic pain. They found associations between pain and humidity, atmospheric pressure, and wind. But the effects were modest, not nearly as serve as most people with chronic pain report.
2024 Systematic Review
A review involving over 15,000 participants found no overall association between weather and flare-ups of rheumatoid arthritis, knee pain, or low back pain.

10/13/2026

10/06/2026

10/02/2026

Can you pass this 3-second hip test? Most people can’t, and it tells you a lot about how your hips handle every single step you take.

Here’s how to do it. Stand with your back against a wall, heels touching the wall, equal pressure on both feet. Put a stool or a chair in front of you. Now lift one leg up and place your foot on the stool without shifting.

What you want to see: your pelvis stays level, your shoulders stay level, and you can organize the motion with very minimal deviation. That’s functional hip stability.

What a lack of stability looks like: you have to shift your trunk off to the side just to lift the leg. That means the hip isn’t strong or stable enough to support your body, so your spine moves to make up for it.

Try your left leg first, then switch and try the right. Ideally both feel the same. If one is a lot easier than the other, think about what happens with every step you walk: your upper body shifts, you rotate more one way, or you twist one hip more than the other.

If the test gave you a hard time, start with a side-lying exercise to strengthen each hip on its own.

My program has hundreds of exercises plus more assessments like squatting, bending and walking. Try it free, link in my bio.

10/02/2026

Lower back pain that just won’t quit? 😩 Your back might not be where the problem starts.

After breaking my back, I spent years chasing the painful area—stretching it, strengthening it, and trying almost every lower back exercise I could find.

What I eventually learned was that movement is a team effort.

Your ankles, knees, hips, pelvis, shoulders, and spine all have a role to play. When one area stops contributing enough, another area has to pick up the slack.

And very often, that overworked area is the lower back.

So if you’ve been doing back exercise after back exercise without lasting change, zoom out. 🔍

Your painful area may be the place working the hardest—not necessarily the place that needs the most attention.

If you’re tired of guessing what exercise to do next, worrying about what might hurt, or scrolling through dozens of saved exercises trying to build your own plan, that’s where Pain Academy comes in. 📱

Think of it like having a chronic pain expert in your pocket—helping you understand your body and guiding you day by day toward what to do next.

Take the Pain Academy Assessment at the link in our bio to better understand your pain pattern and find a clearer place to start. 💙

09/29/2026

Runners, are your ankles, calves, hips and lower back always tight, no matter how much you stretch them?

As a corrective exercise specialist and ultramarathoner, here’s what I’ve learned: tension from endurance running is an adaptation. Your body tightens up to keep you stable when you move, so some tension is a good thing. But too much tension becomes maladaptive. That looks like a longer warm-up before your legs feel loose, slower recovery after long runs, and a higher risk of injury.

The goal is the sweet spot: stable, strong running without the stiffness that makes everyday life harder.

Try this mobility exercise for tight runners:
1. Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, toes slightly pointed out.
2. Bend forward with straight legs.
3. Lower yourself into a deep squat, as low as you comfortably can.
4. Hold for a second or two.
5. Straighten your legs again, keeping your upper body relaxed.

We’re trying to restore motion in the legs so you don’t become too adapted to running.

If you’re a runner who wants to improve your running and your mobility, Pain Academy can help you build a plan. Click the link in my bio. I’d love to help.

09/28/2026

Home exercises from physical therapy flaring you up? Before your next appointment ends, ask your PT this one question.

After breaking my back, I spent years going to physical therapy, and I even worked at a clinic. The question I wish I had asked sooner: what am I learning to do when you are no longer here to guide me?

Good PT can absolutely teach you this. But when appointments get rushed, coverage ends, or you get handed off to someone else, those conversations get squeezed out of your care. A printout can show you a movement. It can’t tell you what to do when something hurts, when to progress, or what progress should even look like.

So slow down and ask: What’s our plan for helping me do this independently?

Want the full conversation? Bring these four:
1. Where am I starting?
2. What are we working towards?
3. How will we know I’m progressing, other than just my symptoms?
4. What should I do when my symptoms change?

If you need help finding your starting point, our free assessment takes about 4 minutes and gives you a recommended program level. Link in my bio.

What did your PT send you home with?

09/23/2026

What actually works for low back pain? I get asked this every day, so I ranked the things people try, from probably wasting your time to where I would put my effort.

D tier: randomly switching exercises and routines every few days. You never establish what helps, what needs adjusting or what you can build on. I call it circling the drain, and I did it for years after breaking my back.

C tier: repeating the same stretch because it feels good briefly. Temporary relief can be useful, but the same thing with no progression does not increase your capacity. It is a reset button, not progress.

B tier: massage, adjustments, chiropractic. Hands-on relief can change your nervous system state on the spot. The question is what happens between the appointments. Often, not much.

A tier: walking, strength training, Pilates, yoga, any activity that is simple to start and easy to sustain. Exercise in general beats no exercise for lower back pain.

S tier: a tailored, adjustable plan you understand. A starting point, progression, education, guidance for when setbacks happen, and medical care when needed.

If you are in the D, C or B tiers and not feeling a change, the Pain Academy app builds the A and S tier plan around you. Link in my bio.

09/22/2026

Your back hurts… so naturally you work on your back.
But what if the problem starts all the way down at your feet? 🦶
Your feet and ankles are your first point of contact with the ground. Every step you take sends force upward through your ankles, knees, hips, pelvis, and spine.
So when one ankle is stiff, weak, or simply moves differently than the other, your body still has to keep you moving.
It adapts. 🔄
Your knee may compensate.
Your hip may change how it moves.
And eventually your lower back may start picking up work that was supposed to be shared by the rest of the system.
That’s why chasing the place that hurts doesn’t always give you the answer.
Try this ankle series and pay attention to what you notice:
👉 Does one direction feel harder?
👉 Does one ankle have less range?
👉 Does one side feel shakier or less coordinated?
Those differences are information.
Your body is connected—and sometimes the best way to help the area that hurts is to look somewhere else entirely. 🧠💪
If you’re tired of guessing which body part to work on or scrolling through saved exercises hoping you find the right one, that’s where Pain Academy comes in.
Think of it like having a chronic pain expert in your pocket 📱—helping you understand what your body is telling you and giving you a clear path for what to work on next.
Take the Pain Academy Assessment at the link in our bio to understand your pain pattern, identify your imbalances, and find a clearer place to start. 💙