Find related articles and learn more about our process at SPC.
Shin pain from running often returns when physical capacity rises faster than tissue and energy capacity. This mismatch drives shin splints and stress fractures.
Past Your Prime Podcast – Episode 53 Listen on:Spotify | Apple | Youtube “Tightness” is one of the most common complaints people describe after pain or injury. But tightness is a description, not a diagnosis. When someone is thinking about tightness vs stretching, there is an assumption that symptoms of tightness mean you need to stretch. In this episode of Past Your Prime, Craig and Alex discuss why the term “tightness” often causes confusion and why stretching is not always the solution people think it is. Using examples like hamstring tightness, the conversation breaks down what may actually be happening in the body. Instead of assuming muscles are simply short or inflexible, this episode explores the different systems that influence mobility and movement. Topics include: If you have ever felt stiff, tight, or restricted and wondered what your body is actually telling you, this episode explains why stretching alone often misses the real problem.
Why does one thing finally start to feel better… and then something else decides to hurt?
It can feel like you’re chasing injuries. Like you calm one fire down and another pops up.
Is that bad rehab? Or is that actually how complex systems work?
In this episode of Past Your Prime, Craig introduces the concept of Layered Pathology, the idea that injuries build in layers, and when one layer improves, the next one becomes visible.
Are deadlifts, squats, and upright rows really bad for you? We break down the biggest exercise myths and explain when controversial exercises help or hurt on this episode of Past Your Prime.
Why injuries keep coming back after the first one. Learn how tissue capacity, compensation, and the therapeutic gap lead to recurrent injury.
At Smith Performance Center, the home plan is a central feature of your rehabilitation experience. If you’ve worked with physical therapy in the past, you’ve probably been given a list of exercises to do on your own, most often called a ther-ex list or home exercise plan. Our approach is different. The purpose of your home plan isn’t just to give you something to do between visits — it’s to improve your tissue capacity and help you progress safely toward your goals. And the strategy often changes as you move from Phase 1, where we identify and outline what is causing your pain, to Phase 2, where you learn to manage your symptoms, to Phase 3, where we work to build your tissue capacity and progress your activity. Learn more about this process in our article “What are the phases at Smith Performance Center?“ Why the Home Plan Matters To
During recovery, there comes a pivotal moment when symptoms improve, and the client feels like they’ve turned a corner. Life feels good again, and naturally, activity levels increase. This change is often unconscious or unintentional—but its consequences can be significant. A rehabilitation flare-up is defined as a return or increase in the original symptoms that led the patient to seek care. The natural reaction to a flare-up is often to question whether the real problem is being addressed. Read: the diagnosis is wrong. But this reaction can lead to a critical misstep—focusing on the wrong issue and missing an opportunity for patient empowerment. Diagnostic Errors vs. Rehabilitation Flare-Up Mismanagement Achieving the correct diagnosis involves identifying potential tissue pain generators, noting local and regional contributors, considering central modulation, and uncovering triggers. This process requires careful collection, analysis, and prediction. And there can be many reasons that diagnosis is hard, but once
Recurring injuries derailed Alex’s triathlon training for years—until he adopted a structured, phase-based rehab approach. This case study shows how the Smith Performance Center Phase System helped him move from chronic pain to consistent performance by focusing on what most athletes overlook: building tissue capacity to match training demands.
The Evolution of Thought Around Meniscus Injuries Clinical practice is filled with successes and failures. For some reason, failures tend to linger in memory the longest and often drive the biggest changes in how we approach patient care. A significant moment in my clinical career involved a meniscus tear, knee pain, and the need for surgery. One of the most impactful shifts in my approach to knee pain, particularly in cases involving meniscus tears, came from a repeated clinical pattern: patients improving, then regressing, over and over. This frustrating cycle forced me to rethink my process and align it with a more structured framework—one that incorporates the Smith Performance Center Phases. This helped me answer the question, “Does a meniscus tear require surgery, or can it be successfully rehabbed without going under the knife?” The Traditional View: Meniscus Surgery vs. Rehab For years, meniscus tears were considered a primary cause
Confidence is even more important than strength. People come in with doubt and fear of pain. If they don’t believe they can move safely, they won’t move at all. My job is to assess not just their movement, but also their psychological acceptance of movement. The best exercise is the one you can do, so we start small, monitor the response, and slowly build from there
