The Role of the Diaphragm in Chronic Low Back Pain and GI Dysfunction

Pelvic floor physical therapy can be life-changing — but sometimes it only gets patients part of the way there. In this episode, I discuss a client who was referred to me by a pelvic health therapist after presenting with bilateral hip pain that pelvic floor work alone couldn't fully resolve.

Shoulder pain doesn't always start in the shoulder. In this episode, I break down a real client case where the true driver of persistent shoulder pain was actually coming from the lower extremity — not the shoulder itself.

Do you ever have patients or even yourself, that are chronically gripping their back? Using their back muscles for practically everything? It's fairly common, but can get in the way of a very strong and thoughtful rehab program. You've seen this before. Everything is braced, stiff and locked down — they are essentially planking through their entire day. In this episode, Erica breaks down this pattern, why it develops, and most importantly — how to change it. From using your environment and simple props to reduce guarding, to a practical exercise progression to retrain movement, this episode gives you a clear roadmap. This is a movement pattern we see frequently in clinical practice. But how do you train someone out of this habit? Take squats, for example. Then squats, holding a pillow in front of you. Same movement, but you're holding onto a pillow to reduce some of your back gripping. Erica talks about how to develop a reference for center and some strategies for weightlifting when you're on a incline bench in the gym. This is an important episode to listen to because this is such a common pattern and often prolongs rehab when not addressed early on.

Her back hurt. But her back wasn't the problem. This is where the nuance comes in. In this episode, I dive into a fascinating clinical case involving a hypermobile pole dancer presenting with low back pain — where the lumbar spine was the pain generator but not the driver. The real culprits? Her knee and foot. Surprised? I walk through the clinical reasoning process that shifted the treatment focus away from the low back and down the kinetic chain, and explore what that looked like in practice through progressive exercise programming geared towards her real drivers. This patient had a history of ACL surgery with lateral meniscus repair, along with a torn right AND left hamstring. If you don't think that is relevant to her low back pain, think again. Make the connection. Key Takeaways: ✅ Always ask youself: "Is this the pain generator or the driver?" ✅ In hypermobile patients, control and stiffness are often the missing ingredients — not flexibility ✅ Pilates offers an exceptional framework for graded loading in hypermobile movers when applied thoughtfully ✅ Treating distally can resolve proximal pain — trust the kinetic chain ✅ Know your patient's sport or art form — it shapes everything about your programming

If you have patients or are a person who "does all the exercises," gets stronger, and still doesn't feel better—this episode is for you. In this episode, Erica dives into how to advance exercise prescription for patients who are often labeled as "tough to treat." These are the individuals who don't respond well to traditional strengthening or mobility programs and may experience pain, guarding, or flare-ups with exercise. She explores how exercise positioning, load selection, and movement strategy can dramatically change outcomes. Rather than defaulting to more reps or heavier weights, she discusses how altering body position and the relationship to gravity can allow patients to move with less threat, better control, and more efficiency. One aspect of this episode is working with people who chronically grip or brace their low back muscles. She talks through practical strategies to reduce excessive tone and reintroduce movement without reinforcing protective patterns that limit progress. Erica also discusses the role of advanced exercise positions and Pilates-based approaches, highlighting how these methods can be used thoughtfully to improve load tolerance—especially for patients who need more than basic exercises but aren't ready for high-demand training. This episode challenges the idea that "tough to treat" patients need more effort or tougher exercises, and instead reframes progress around smarter positioning, intentional loading, and movement quality to help people move with confidence again.