Feel like your chronic pain is never-ending? Completely ignoring your emotions? Wondering why you can’t quite let go of struggling past experiences? Dr. Liz Letchford, Athletic Trainer with a P.h.D in Kinesiology, uncovers the current perspectives on how trauma impacts pain and performance. Through a holistic health approach, Dr. Liz speaks to the importance of staying curious, honing in on how emotions and past traumas can mold our movement patterns and persistent pains. Through a simple explanation of the mechanism, highlighting the nervous system, Dr. Liz shares an empowering story of her work with a client and how they found newfound strength after addressing their hidden and deep-rooted trauma. Nonetheless, Dr. Liz speaks to common egoistic characteristics in clinicians, and the need to allow space for clients to be listened to as the starting point to any rehab process. Finally, she provides her top tips to understanding if your pain has a deeper emotional root cause, and what to do, because “it likely does.” Step up your rehab game and get back to optimal health Dr. Liz!

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What You Will Learn In This Interview with Dr. Liz

4:23 – What drew Dr. Liz to helping people

5:55 – Differences between Athletic Training Certified & Physical therapy

9:31 – Origins of Liz’s passions

14:45 – How did Liz’s P.h.D Impact her

20:43 – Current perspectives on bodily responses to emotions.

25:31 – Encouraging & staying curious about the deeper root cause of pain

31:38 – Clinicians & their ego

35:32 – Impact of Trauma

39:22 – How emotion manifests through movement

42:02 – How to recognize if your pain has a deeper emotional root cause.

43:38 – Learn more with Dr. Liz

About Dr. Liz:

Dr. Liz Letchford is an Athletic Trainer and strength coach who takes a holistic approach to improve mechanics, posture, and pain. With a Ph.D. in Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Science, her research interests focus on injury risk reduction and the relationship between biomechanics and human emotion. She is the creator of The Release, a self-massage and movement experience designed to help students get out of their heads and into their bodies. Liz is a founding coach for Tonal, a connected fitness company where she is also part of the research and innovation team. 

Items mentioned:

Dr. Liz’s Release Method

Dr. Liz’s Instagram

Dr. Liz’s Website

To learn more about Dr.Liz and view full show notes, please visit the full website here: https://jen.health/podcast/131

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