The Health Lab

Strengthening > Stretching for Front-of-Hip Pain 🏋️‍♂️ Hip Flexor Loaded Exercise

When recovering from an injury or working through hip tightness, strength is almost always better than stretching — and lengthening a muscle under load is even better! 

If you’re dealing with pain in the front of your hip, it often needs strength over length, especially for higher-level athletes. 

How to do it:
1. Anchor your foot: Use a heavy kettlebell (e.g., 70 lbs) or any sturdy object to anchor the foot of your working hip flat to the ground. 
2. Setup: Sit on a bench, put your working foot into the anchor, and pull your other knee into your chest. 
3. The Movement: Lean back as far as you safely can, then work hard to lift yourself back up using your hip flexor. 
4. Volume: Perform 3 sets to near failure per side. 
💡 Pro-Tip: Hip flexors aren’t massive power-generating muscles like your glutes, but getting them fatigued under load will do far more for your hip health than stretching alone. 

Drop your questions or thoughts in the comments below! 👇

RehabTips StrengthAndConditioning CarsonCity TheHealthLab

Dry needling for the pelvic floor!!

It’s completely proven, highly effective, and surprisingly mild. 

It can be a game-changer for:
✨Constipation & leakage 
✨Period pain & endometriosis 
✨Erectile dysfunction & more 

Have an upcoming appointment? Get ready to hear all about it! Curious if it could help you? Send a DM or comment below—I’d love to chat! 📩

Fixing Front Shoulder Pinching (Part 2) 💥

More often than not, tightness in the back of the shoulder is the true culprit behind restricted rotation—and that restriction is usually what causes that annoying pinching sensation in the front.

Here is a simple mobility drill you can try at home to address it:
* Grab a Ball: Use a lacrosse ball or tennis ball.
* Find the Spot: Place the ball behind your shoulder blade and lie down on it until you locate a tender, achy spot.
* Work the Range: Slowly move your arm up and down into tension.
* Manage Pressure: Apply enough pressure that it feels uncomfortable, but not so intense that it’s unbearable.
* Reps: Perform 20–30 repetitions a few times a day until the tender spot subsides.

As the back of the shoulder becomes more mobile and lengthened, internal/external rotation improves, reducing forward compensation and relieving front shoulder pain.

If self-massage doesn’t fully clear up your symptoms, come see us at The Health Lab. We’ll perform a comprehensive 1-hour evaluation and treatment session to get to the root cause and get you moving pain-free!

📍 The Health Lab

📲 DM us or visit our link in bio to book your assessment!

Front-of-shoulder pain isn’t always what it seems. 💥👇

If you’ve been told your anterior shoulder pain is just “biceps tendinitis,” there’s a good chance that’s only half the story. More often than not, front shoulder pain is actually a victim of poor rotational mechanics.

In Part 1 of this series, Dr. Loren walks you through a simple self-assessment to pinpoint where your restriction or compensation is coming from:

1️⃣ Lie on your back with your arm out at 90°.
2️⃣ Lower your hand toward the floor (internal rotation) without letting the front of your shoulder dump forward.
3️⃣ Rotate your arm back (external rotation) and check your range.

🔍 What your results mean:
* Limited or painful on the way down? The issue is likely coming from the back of your shoulder.
* Stuck or limited on the way back? The restriction is likely coming from the front.

Give this test a try and drop a comment below—are you dealing with front-of-shoulder or back-of-shoulder restriction? 📱👇

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll dive into how to address these mechanics! 🎬
📍 The Health Lab | Carson City, NV
☎️ (775) 525-8681
🌐 nvhealthlab.com

BicepsTendinitis RotationalMechanics InjuryPrevention CarsonCityNV

Would you try dry needling for your pelvic floor? 🙋‍♀️

Dr. Sarah spent the weekend in Tennessee mastering pelvic dry needling—and had every tissue needled on myself first so I know firsthand what you’ll feel (spoiler: way less scary than is sounds).

Excited to bring these evidence-based techniques into the clinic. Stay tuned for pelvic floor pearls over the next few weeks!

Functional fitness - this is the reason for strength training. So that the things we need to do outside the gym (to keep warm in the winter) are easier.

Also, WOW, was this fun and totally harder than I expected 😅

Rest days work just as hard as sweat days. 🌿✨

Don’t sleep on the recovery—it’s where the real magic happens.

When should you start pelvic floor PT if you’re thinking about becoming or already are pregnant?

Truth is, the sooner the better. Even if you aren’t having any issues, pregnancy changes your body in a multitude of ways, and there is a LOT that we can do in pelvic floor PT to help prepare you for pregnancy, birth and postpartum.