2: It’s a sauna out here. Well not really as a sauna is typically 158-212 degrees Fahrenheit. It is toasty and humid along with lots of smog. So am thankful we had air filtering systems in most places we stayed.

3: Everything is spicy…and Magnus does not do spicy so we had to get really creative. The only thing somewhat spicy that he will eat are quinoa puffs, which are super yummy and quite sure Sprouts back in the states does not carry them. How dare them.

4: So many selfies and FOMO types. People being attached to their phone is not just in America but everywhere sadly. There is so much beauty around, and people’s heads are down scrolling through social media or reading. Anyway, despite this people are so incredibly kind, and Magnus is the little celebrity around all the towns we have visited here in India. It’s quite a scene with Magnus and his binkie with the attached red string that I jerry rigged to our back pack so it would not fall in the dirt, and his sippy cup being bombarded by Indians wanting pictures with him. He does not have a clue what they are doing but if they smile, he smiles back.

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5: Fitness centers are a rarity so you have create your own fitness wherever you can find a grid square. Literally I used patches of grass, a corner of a yoga studio, the area next to the swing set etc. Sets upon sets of sun salutations, to banded squats, toddler kettlebell swings, and crawling races is all we needed.

6: They take shavasana’s seriously here. Most of the classes I attended to include 1 on the beach of Cavellosim Goa was 20 minutes. I loved it. In the states you may get 2 minutes before people are rushing out of class.

7: I can squat over a toilet with my toddler on my lap without having to touch the toilet. Win!!!

8: Nighttime diapers in India are really not awesome as they are pull ups and if there happens to be a #2 waiting for you in the morning, it makes the process pretty messy. Scissors are really nice to have if your little one is not squirmy…so probably never. It pretty much took Per and I holding Magnus down to get his diaper off most mornings without making a terrible messJ.

9: It takes team work to make the teams work. I love being on the road working and playing…yes working AND playing. While playing is fun, the work my husband, team, and I get to do is very rewarding. The work we do fits our energy, how we want to help people, and gives us a challenge. We have some pretty resilient companies and all of that ability to withstand the test of time and challenges most small businesses go through is Per. You may ask how we could do this with a toddler….well we took turns during our off days of being on the road.

10: I CAN find peace in the midst of chaos. I do not turn to my phone for distraction, rather I turn to reframing my thinking, grounding meditation practices that don’t require a meditation block or quiet space, and being in the moments with Magnus, Per and the people we are with. It is part of my mind training.

The post 10 Ways I Adapted While Traveling with a Toddler in India appeared first on Dr. Theresa Larson.

We find that there are so many fitness professionals who want to train adaptive athlete individuals but don’t know how to get started. There is a general lack of confidence in speaking with, programming for and coaching individuals with permanent impairments. As a result the population that needs the most help, gets the least. To bridge this gap, yours truly and Max Conserva, an adaptive athlete of Goodlegproject.org, have come together to create an introductory course for training this population. With thousands of hours working with adaptive athletes, we have distilled the practice down to the essential knowledge needed for any professional to get started.

Having mentored coaches of all types on working with adaptive athletes, we have designed this course to answer all the most common questions:

• How do I talk to the disabled population?
• How do I adapt my programing to the impaired population?
• What are the most common types of impairments?
• What are the most common types of medical equipment?
• How do I adapt movement X, to an athlete with condition Y?

To answers these questions we start with a high level discussion of function and drill down all the way to adapting specific movements. The course starts with a general introduction to functional movement as a concept. We then explore what differentiates normal vs. abnormal movement. With the general foundation of normal movement in hand we can now focus on the adaptive athlete population in particular. First by understanding how to talk with and coach an impaired athlete, then secondly how to think about programming for that athlete. Once these general techniques are understood, we can next take a deep dive into the four major impairment categories: Lower Limb, Upper Limb, Wheeled, Traumatic Brain Injury & other Invisible Wounds . We then spend the remainder of the course detailing how each of the major functional movements interact with each of these impairments.

This course will help any fitness professional make their offering more inclusive. It is designed for athletic trainers & personal trainers who want to open their practice to the impaired population. For rehab professionalswho want to move from the clinic to the training room. And for group fitness coaches who want to incorporate the impaired population into their class programming.

If you want to work with the impaired population, this is the course to get started.

Learning Objectives

• Understand basic functional human movement as it applies to major permanent physical impairments
• Gain confidence initiating the conversation and building a relationship with this population
• Learn the fundamental strategies to adapt movements for all major impairments
• Be aware of all the most common impairments and medical devices
• How to safely and effectively adapt common training movements for all of these major impairments

To Sign Up for the Course, Click Here: Adaptive Athlete Course

The post NEW: Adaptive Athletics Course appeared first on Dr. Theresa Larson.

Warriors, ask yourself that simple question and scale the response 1-10. A one is happy, healthy, and pain free. A ten means, well I do not know what ten means.

It could mean that you are in excruciating pain from a knee injury. It could mean that you have never felt something this painful but it is not at the highest end of your pain tolerance.

How does it compare to someone else’s, “ten.”

If your pain tolerance is higher than someone else’s, that 10 now has some depth to it. It may actually be a seven to you but a 10+ to them.

How does your pain relate to an amputee that suffers from phantom limbs syndrome? A person that wakes up every morning and has to relive losing his leg, feeling the break, and knowing all along that he does not actually have a leg there anymore.

Pain Lives In Between Your Ears

Recently, at an adaptive athlete event, I was lucky enough to be introduced to an amputee that lived that story. He lost his leg in an accident. His brain, however, would run through the accident every morning and relive the pain he felt that day. The brain never fully comprehended that the leg was missing.

Instead of recognizing the missing limb, it created a story, replayed every morning as to why that leg was not there. The only way to make sense of it was to live through the accident every morning.

Through breathwork, he was able to train his brain and nervous system to calm his nervous system.

The breath is a tool you can use to change your mental and physical state through rewiring the nervous system.

I am deeply interested in understanding the breath and its role in mental and physical health. Please check out the article I wrote on training your nervous system by clicking here.

The post Insane in the Pain Brain appeared first on Dr. Theresa Larson.

Warriors, this time we were right.

As a Doctor of Physical Therapy, I live to ask questions. When someone comes into my clinic they are rarely 100% transparent. The conversation always starts with physical pain. It is the easiest pain to talk about. They feel comfortable talking about the physical pain because it seems more tangible.

This is only scratching the surface of where I am going with them. As soon as I start weaving my Warrior web, I know there is mental and emotional health dying to come out.

This is important because understanding pain is my job. It turns out, physical pain is just a symptom of the perception of the mental, physical, and emotional pain you feel. Having low back pain can be debilitating. The pain, however, is compounded by the emotional drain, mental stress, and poor self-worth that you feel by the lack of empowerment in your life.

The Warrior way is about holding yourself accountable. Knowing that physical pain is merely a symptom of your self-worth gives you more options. Changing your behavior is the first step to healing.

I have known this all along but this weekend, a chance encounter with an adaptive athlete solidified this belief.

Phantom Limb Syndrome

At a half marathon for the Challenged Athlete Foundation I met an athlete with a below the knee amputation. He suffered from phantom limb syndrome, a neurological condition that creates severe pain for amputees in a limb that no longer exists. The pain is excruciating.

As he described his story, the pain he dealt with every morning, feeling his leg snap in half even though it did not exist, sent me on a chase to understand the neurological component of pain.

I detailed this athlete’s experience, how it relates to chronic lower back pain, and why healing goes deeper than the joints and tissues.

Pain science is important to healing. You can read the full article by clicking here.

The post Power Over Pain appeared first on Dr. Theresa Larson.

Publishing a book, owning a physical therapy company, and starting a new business in the online rehabilitation space with The Low Back Fix allows me to draw comparisons to life, business, and the body.

Flexibility is the ability to change or shift directions quickly. The focus on your ability to stretch out of a current comfort zone. My physical therapy practice allowed me the flexibility to create online course, write a book, and explore options for my professional growth.

Stability, is your current comfort zone, where there is not much shifting or changing. The stability of my physical therapy practice makes it challenging to move on because of the financial stability it provides my family.

There is an internal struggle of dreaming big, pushing myself, and being pulled back into my stable PT practice.

There is a never-ending balance between growth, risk, and the safety of life.

A Universal Principle

In my physical therapy practice, this balance shows itself in the form of physical pain in the joints and tissues.

Every joint in your body has an optimal range of motion. This optimal range means the joint flexes, extends, and rotates for it to behealthy and pain free.

Tissues surrounding a joint are too flexible, you will feel pain because you are unable to stabilize the joint.

If the tissues lack flexibility, the joints will not be able to reach the end of these optimal ranges.

There is a constant balance in life, and in the human body, of flexibility and stability.

Coach Anders, head coach at The Low Back Fix, takes a deep dive into flexibility, stability, and joint health.

Being aware of the constant battle between flexibility and stability allows you to connect with how you feel professionally, mentally, and physically.

To learn more about the relationship of flexibility and stability, CLICK HERE.

The post Lower Back Exercises for Pain Relief Using Stretches appeared first on Dr. Theresa Larson.

Strength is a word I am constantly using to describe Warrior wellness. It is an all-encompassing term and I am greedy about strength,

I want to be strong in mind, body, faith, friendships, and family. I want my external relationships and the relationship with myself to be strong and empowering.

My memoir was one of the most empowering moments in my life by giving me an outlet to discuss mental strength and resilience. Without my struggles, I would not have the experience and confidence in myself to thrive in life as I do today.

Physical strength is also important to me. I recently had my first baby boy, Magnus. My body has changed and so have my goals. Strength use to be about winning competitions, finishing first in every race, and letting the physical be a symbol of my self-worth.

With the new addition of my son, my goals have changed dramatically. Physical strength is an expression of my motherhood, ability to play, and experience life with Magnus. I do not want to be the strongest or fastest. I want to be the most present and capable to experience life to the fullest. I do not want to miss out on opportunities because my body will not allow it.

I was recently invited with Coach Anders Varner onto the Brute Strength Podcast to discuss strength training, longevity, and longevity.

Topics of discussion:

[10:37] Assessment & correction

[19:29] Why you should be doing unilateral work

[37:47] Working with Military personnel

[49:47] “What is the worst piece of advice?”

[1:00:00] CrossFit Specialty: Adaptive Athletes

Be sure to stay tuned until the very end when I drop some real knowledge on the RICE (rest, ice, compress, and elevate) protocol and the misinformation that surrounds injury rehabilitation.

To listen to the complete episode and learn more about healing your low back pain, click here.

The post Warrior Strength Training with Brute Strength Podcast appeared first on Dr. Theresa Larson.

There is a reason you are supposed to change the oil in your car every 3,000 miles. I am not saying I do, but at least that is what they tell you. Let’s be honest, I am not perfect. However, in my physical therapy clinic, I make this reference to my patients all the time. They come in complaining of pain, yet, structurally there is nothing wrong with their joints, tendons, or muscles. Structurally, they are completely healthy, but they are suffering from chronic lower back pain. They have tried every stretch and exercise in the book with no luck.The reason goes deeper than the tissues and joints. It even goes deeper than movement patterns and muscle activation. The cause of their pain is inflammation of the nervous system and the compression of the nerves that run throughout your body, neural tension.

Nervous System Sludge

Your brain and spinal cord fire directions to your body through neurons. The body is filled with receptors that accept the messages, perform the actions, and then report back to the brain how the body feels. This process is happening millions of times throughout the day without you thinking about it. Stress, or any external stimulus that your body must combat, creates inflammation in the body. This inflammation is stored in the tissues. As the inflammation grows, it compresses the nerves that run through and around your joints. The result is called neural tension and acts like oil sludge clogging your nervous system. Compressed nerves block neurons from reaching their end receptors and your brain recognizes danger. The brain’s response to danger, since it wants you to be safe, is to stop you from completing that action. The easiest way to do this is send the pain signal and make that movement hurt so you do it less. At The Low Back Fix, my online rehabilitation project, my colleague Anders Varner has taken a deeper look into neural tension, its relationship to pain, how you can lower inflammation in your body.

To read the full article, click here.

The post Oil Sludge for the Brain and Body appeared first on Dr. Theresa Larson.

It is so simple to get stuck in a downward cycle of self-doubt. You set our expectations high, aim for the top, and when the results are not exactly what you expected, you start to think you did something wrong. It was your fault and you are the failure. The mental stress that you carry throughout the day is stored in your tissues. The brain and the body are not mutually exclusive, they are partners. A healthy mind combined with a healthy body creates an empowered life of wellness.

As a doctor of physical therapy, I see the results of mental stress exposing itself in physical pain daily. Far too often, low back pain is the symptom of excessive stress stored in the body as inflammation. This inflammation wreaks havoc on nerve structures, connective tissues, and the way the brain communicates with the body. As the problem compounds, the physical pain becomes its own source of mental and emotional stress, increasing the physical pain is a vicious cycle. The brain and the body are a cohesive unit that flow together through the communication channels designed by the nervous system.

Physical and Mental Freedom

The brief, “I can’t, that hurts my back,” Is the very first step in a slippery slope of tearing away your freedom of mind and body. The Warrior way is the way of freedom. Freedom of mental and physical suffering. To achieve this freedom, you must start at the base of the Physical Freedom Pyramid, start with healing the mind, body, and its communication device, the nervous system. By beginning with the nervous system, focused on the breath and down regulation, you can eliminate the inflammation created by the mental and emotional stress.

As you gain confidence, developing an understanding of tissue and joint health, strength, and conditioning will empower you take accountability for your health and wellness. The Warrior way is wellness in mind, body, and spirit. My colleague, Anders Varner, has published an article discussing the healing process in search of physical and mental freedom. The path starts with wanting to be your best self, not perfect, but showing up truly caring about your self-development. This article is mandatory ready for connecting and healing the mind and body.

Click Here to read the full article.

The post 4 Steps to Mental and Physical Freedom appeared first on Dr. Theresa Larson.

Warriors, mental and physical health is not done individually. Wellness requires a full team. Dealing with chronic pain requires a back pain exercise treatment plan that is more than just the physical, but mental too.

What is your first reaction when your body or mind experience trauma or injury?

Of course, you go to Google to find the answer.

Have you ever found an answer you liked? For me, I instantly get freaked out by the pictures or the harsh language as attempt to “self-diagnose” my symptoms.

Injury + Google Self Diagnosis= FREAKED THE “F” OUT!

It only took me a short, five years, but I have solved the curse of the Google self-diagnosis. The answer to fixing 96% of all musculoskeletal injuries, general anxiety, or depression is mindful movement.  Only 4% of all injuries are traumatic and non-preventable (Dr. Kelly Starrett).   Your injuries and anxiety have been lurking in the background for months. They did not appear overnight. Repetitive, poor movement patterns and lack of self-care creates increased injury risk and chronic stress.

If you had a weak link on your team, would you say something?

Would you transfer them to a different department and push the problem to someone else?

Or would you sit down with them, find out why they are not doing a good job?

In my business, I want to lead from the front and would create an action plan to help fix their behavior.

Back Pain Exercise Treatment Plan

Your body is the same way. When injured, do you want to rest and do nothing, put a band aid on it with pills and injections, or take action and find out why it happened? If you want the latter, keep reading.

It is not the pills, rest, ice, massage, e-stim, needles, adjustment, or endless talk therapy that is going to give you long term healing. It is identifying and fixing the faulty movements and thoughts. From there, taking physical action to fixing the cause of your mental or physical injury.

Read more to find out what the research says about movement, mindset, and YOUR low back by clicking here.

The post Building a Team to Heal Your Physical and Mental Injuries appeared first on Dr. Theresa Larson.

First, the Marine Corps and all military services are a small entity of society. All its members are pulled from our civilian ranks at some point. What has happened with the face book group and nude pictures recently is NOT new news, and honestly is a direct result of how we see women in our society- sex objects, less than, weak, not as powerful, easy to abuse.  Most boys are raised to be macho, brave, and are trained to think throwing, jumping, being like a girl, or beat by a girl in anyway is stupid , weak, and not acceptable.  Most girls are raised to feel more fragile, in need of more protection, and not brave. If a girl does beat a boy in some physical battle, she is seen as heroic, if she loses it is seen as typical.

It is no different in the military, just more exaggerated as there are far few women in the military than men.  It has been ok for a very long time to undermine, put down, and see women as the weaker gender (and I am not talking just physical).  Look at the battle of the integration of women into combat roles.  The Marine Corps drug their feet for a while before they accepted this change. With the group think mentality that is STRONG in most military services, the domination, degradation, and mentality of putting a seen weaker gender down is the norm. When this does NOT happen it is an amazing thing. Unfortunately few  leaders have taken initiative to actually make it a priority to change this way of thinking.

#1: Changing this sexist mentality towards women must start with how we raise our children. You better believe I will raise baby Larson to respect women and see them as an equal.

Second, this current episode of online criminal activity is due to a lack of troop welfare in the military, specifically the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps takes mission accomplishment seriously, yet troop welfare not so much. Last year, the Marine Corps and all other services integrated women into all combat arms units. This integration has not been easy. This is history in the making, yet the Marine Corps has not taken it seriously and fought tooth and nail to not have this integration happen.

Inevitably by not making the integration of women priority, such as having specific training’s Marine Corps wide on the importance of equality, counseling individual Marines and units on the Code of Conduct and creating space to work on the integration of women was and is a huge mistake. The Marine Corps and even our society still does not fully respect the abilities women have to make a company or unit successful. Studies show having women in executive or leadership roles lead to more diversity which also lead to higher performance and increased return on equity.

Despite the success women bring units and companies, the most important thing to think about is women are human beings; human beings who want to serve their country, company, or provide for their family like everyone else. If the Marine Corps truly did care about the human beings they say they are making into leaders, then they MUST put the well being of their Marines first.  I would hope that the Commandant of the Marine Corps General Neller has personally reached out to every woman who was exposed in this latest criminal activity. If not, he is NOT brave in my book and has no regard for the human beings who fight and work for him.

#2: The Marine Corps – like our society – needs to make equality and the care for the human beings, more specifically the women, who represent them a priority.  If they do not do this, they will continue to fail and hurt the very people they promised they would take care of.

Third and final point,  I am personally saddened and feel betrayed by my own family -o the Marine Corps. These 30,000 men in this facebook group have no excuse (and PTSD is NOT an  excuse).  I am a health professional who works with those who have PTSD and mild traumatic brain injuries from their time in service.  Unless they have a frontal lobe dysfunction or level V on the Rancho Los Amigos TBI scale of function then there is absolutely no reason for this behavior.  As a matter of fact, someone with a PTSD, depression, service connected disabilities other than what I have mentioned previously have no excuse. They have full control of their ability to demean others and do ignorant and hurtful things.

#3: Having PTSD is NOT an excuse. I am personally saddened as the Marine Corps is a part of my family.

Sadly, the young women exposed will suffer severely with or without the comorbidity of PTSD due to this gross act of injustice. So what about these women?  Has the Marine Corps reached out to them?  Has there been extensive effort to get these women the MENTAL health care they deserve? If not, the Marine Corps has failed yet again.

While this latest episode of injustice is NOT surprising to me,  I do believe change can happen, but at the motivation must come from God or faith, bravery, and the respect for human kind at its core.

Photos/ References: 
1. Little Girl: http://bit.ly/2mjYYRH
2. Business Insider Article: http://read.bi/1V19GU7
3. Woman at Conference Table: http://bit.ly/2n42PRi
Women in Iraq/Afghanistan: http://bit.ly/2ncfTDo

The post Dr. T’s Deep Thoughts for the CNN Nightly News on the Latest Marine Corps Scandal appeared first on Dr. Theresa Larson.