Pain management is the initial goal. If it hurts, it’s wrong. The goal for the initial phase of therapy is to decrease and prevent pain with your exercise. There is no reason to start new fires when you’re trying to put other fires out. Our goal is not to sacrifice one body part for another but rather restore proper pain-free motion as quickly as we can utilizing specific movement patterns and biomechanics.

Activation of the correct musculature in order to avoid compensations is what solidifies our new movement patterns. Our body likes to use the least amount of energy for a specific motion. Correction of your muscle activation patterns helps reinforce the pain-free movement patterns to keep you healthy.

When your pain no longer needs to be managed and you are activating the right muscles, you have reached the performance and prevention stage. The goal is continued strengthening for optimal physical performance and injury prevention. This is where you can decide to go on maintenance or continue to be challenged in order to reach your physical activity goals for long-term injury prevention and health.