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The Path To Wellbeing

Sabbatical Lesson: Know Thyself childhood trauma limiting beliefs meaning mindfulness purpose subconscious mind thepainfreeathlete May 08, 2024

Upon taking my sabbatical leave last June, I left you and myself with this question: What do you want in the next phase of your life? (Blog: Taking a Pause to Reflect, Redirect, and Reinvent)

After posting my sabbatical blog, a wise reader from the Pain Free Athlete community wrote to me with a...

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What would you do without your pain? chronic pain goal healing pain preoccupation recovery thepainfreeathlete vision statement Apr 03, 2024

As discussed in my last blog, being preoccupied with pain can be all-consuming. For several of my clients, pain is the first thing on their minds in the morning. As soon as they wake, these clients actively seek out their pain, scanning their body for it and, if/when it is found, judge the...

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How to End Your Preoccupation with Pain boulder back pain study chronic pain neural network neuroplastic pain neurotag nociplastic pain pain neuroscience pain reprocessing therapy persistent pain thepainfreeathlete Mar 05, 2024

Do you continually worry about and focus on your pain? Do you put pressure on yourself to figure out how to fix your pain and become frustrated or angry when the pain doesn’t go away? Do you degrade yourself because you’re still hurting? Do you fight against the pain and fear that it...

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Unlearn Chronic Pain with PRT boulder back pain study chronic pain neural network neuroplastic pain neurotag nociplastic pain pain neuroscience pain reprocessing therapy persistent pain thepainfreeathlete Feb 23, 2024

Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is a research-based treatment approach for healing neuroplastic pain. These techniques were found to be highly effective for chronic back pain in a 2022 study. Refer to my blog, New Research on Back Pain, for all the details. Earlier this month, I completed a ...

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4Islands MTB Croatia: No Pain No Gain? 4islands epicseries nopainnogain painfreeathlete painscience thepainfreeathlete Jun 15, 2023

4Islands MTB Croatia is the fourth cycling stage race I have completed. It all started In 2016 when my husband Ken suggested going to South Africa for a nine-day mountain bike stage race to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. We loved it! So we continued the tradition this year--in Croatia!...

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Taking a Pause to Reflect, Redirect, and Reinvent painfreeathlete sabbatical self-care self-compassion thepainfreeathlete May 25, 2023

In January 2022 I listened to the Wellcoaches’ continuing education (CE) class–“The Urgency of Sabbaticals” by DJ DiDonna, founder of the Sabbatical Project. I recall that before I took the class, I had recently talked with an excited client about his sabbatical and was...

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Pain as My Teacher - I can't shoulder it all chakras grief meridian letting go mind body syndrome painfreeathlete psychogenic pain shoulder pain shoulder tension thepainfreeathlete Apr 05, 2023

Two weeks ago, I developed severe right shoulder pain and stiffness. It was excruciating to move in any direction, and I couldn’t get into a comfortable position to rest. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to meet with clients, teach my class, or ride my bike.

The timing of my...

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The Perfect Storm of Chronic Pain chronic pain david butler lorimer moseley pain science painfreeathlete persistent pain thepainfreeathlete Mar 22, 2023

A perfect storm, like chronic pain, emerges when numerous factors combine simultaneously. Merriam-Webster defines “perfect storm” as “a critical or disastrous situation created by a powerful concurrence of factors.” Let’s substitute chronic pain into this definition:...

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Healing Chronic Pain - what will it take for you? chronic pain healing mind-body painfreeathlete thepainfreeathlete Jan 10, 2023

Chronic pain is a complex experience. I like to say that it is a whole person experience affecting many aspects of one's life that goes far beyond an unpleasant physical sensation. 

On my client intake form, I ask, “Do you have any ideas about what it is going to take for you to...

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3 Exercises to Relieve Neck Pain kyphosis lordosis military neck neck pain neck tension posture alignment posture exercises spine thepainfreeathlete Dec 15, 2022

This is the second blog in a two-part series on neck pain. Read the first blog: Neck Pain and Posture. This is a collaboration with Dr. Michael L. Rothman, M.D. Dr Rothman is a former orthopedic surgeon and Advanced Exercise Therapist (AET), certified by the Egoscue Institute. 

 

Neck...

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Join the Pain Revolution! gothedistance lorimer moseley painfree painrevolution painscience thepainfreeathlete Oct 18, 2022

The Pain Revolution is a grassroots movement that strives to change people’s understanding of chronic pain. The genesis of this evolution in our understanding of pain is based in Australia. Specifically, the Pain Revolution started in South Australia, in the city of Adelaide at the...

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Why Stress Feels Good and Relaxing is Hard parasympathetic nervous system pns relaxation response relexation sns stress stress management stress relief stress response sympathetic nervous system thepainfreeathlete Sep 13, 2022

While I was recently talking with a client, she remarked, “I don’t know how to relax. And when I try, I worry that I am doing it wrong. After a few minutes (of sitting still and breathing) I get antsy and start doing something. It is uncomfortable to be still.”

Not surprisingly,...

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