If you haven’t heard, Ivy and I are training to run a half marathon in November and throughout that process, Ivy is going to share how she designed my training program. Intermittently, I wanted to provide some insight from my perspective as a relative novice in distance training. 

For my first three weeks the biggest lesson I can attest to is that cliché phrase we use all the time: “Everything is connected.” I see it constantly in my practice but it’s another thing to experience it. Last year I sustained a pretty severe sprain to my left ankle after (very gracefully, of course) slipping on ice. It took a while to recover but I no longer have pain in my ankle.

Despite no longer having pain in my ankle, I have seen how the remaining deficits from that injury are affecting my training. This week I started to notice some consistent right low back pain. I quickly was able to pinpoint it as muscle pain from my right quadratus lumborum. Ivy was able to give me a quick tune up with dry needling in exchange for food (because that’s often how I pay people).

The real question was why my back was bothering me. It all came back to looking at my movement and knowing my injury history. We decided that due to my limited left ankle mobility I was pulling myself over my right leg prematurely through the use of my right quadratus lumborum.

Despite returning to my pain-free status after my tune-up, I now complete about 5-10 minutes of ankle mobility drills prior to my runs. This should prevent the return of my back pain. So when you come see us and we want to treat your hip instead of your knee pain or your back instead of your shoulder just know, you aren’t the only one. Everything in the kinetic chain really is connected.


Dr. Kristen A Lattimore, PT, DPT, CSCS, CMTPT

Doctor of Physical Therapy, Certified

Dr. Lattimore is a Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and a Certified Myofascial Trigger Point Therapist. She has also had experience as an athlete and coach of the speed and jumping side of Track and Field. She is passionate about integrating her knowledge and experience with fast and powerful exercise into the practice of physical therapy. She also enjoys working with patients whose concerns and complaints have been overlooked and perpetually deferred to the next medial professional. 

Kristen continues to challenge herself with varied exercise including interval running, weight lifting, yoga, and Pilates. She is passionate about making her patients their best selves and adding power and intensity back into physical therapy. She can be reached at [email protected].

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