Loving My PT Exercises — And How I Got Here

I’ve hurt myself a couple of times — mostly from overdoing exercise and lifting my daughter in awkward positions.

📍 London: Overdoing It at the Gym

Just before I turned 40, we moved to London. The city was fantastic — full of beautiful places to walk and endless ways to stay active. I was excited and threw myself into it all. I joined a yoga studio, went to Zumba classes, signed up for barre, swimming, and a gym membership at Virgin Active. I loved that place — it had such a wide variety of classes, a cozy café, and child care, which made it easier to fit workouts into mom life.

But I overdid it. One day, I took a high-intensity GRID class and then headed straight to the gym.

That combination didn’t go well with my hip. Pain started to build, and eventually I had to see a private doctor. She suggested painkillers, ordered an MRI, and referred me to an osteopath

🩻 MRI, Sciatica, and Discovering Osteopathy

The MRI revealed a labral tear in my hip and tendinitis. Around the same time, I started experiencing sciatic pain, especially while driving — it was intense. Thankfully, osteopathy helped a lot. My osteopath performed a side-lying HVLA technique (similar to a chiropractic adjustment), and it made a huge difference. My sciatic pain went away completely.

I also appreciated that each visit came with a massage and personalized advice on how to exercise safely. I became a big fan of osteopathy. A few months later, I was told I could ease back into exercise, so I started boxing, bodycombat, yoga, and Pilates. Everything was going smoothly, and I kept up my osteopathy sessions regularly.

💥 Back to California — And Back Pain

Then we moved back to California — and I injured my back badly.

My preschooler would often fall asleep in the car, and I’d carry her inside while juggling my keys and twisting awkwardly to open the door. One day, that exact movement triggered a sharp pain that left me trembling, lightheaded, and in tears. I ended up in the doctor’s office, where they gave me a cortisone shot and steroids. A second MRI revealed a bulging disc.

There were no osteopaths nearby, so I started physiotherapy. I really liked my therapist and the exercises were helping, but then COVID hit and the sessions stopped. Still, I stayed consistent with the home program and became very disciplined about doing the moves every day.

The most valuable advice I got was to keep engaging my pelvic floor muscles while walking. It was hard at first, but over time it became second nature. Even now, if my back starts to hurt while I walk, I just remind myself to activate those muscles, and it helps right away.

🏠 Home Rehab and Moving Again

After we moved to Washington and clinics began reopening, I found a new physiotherapist nearby. I was given a new set of exercises, which I added to the ones I was already doing. My back gradually improved, and eventually, I stopped going to therapy.

About six months later, however, I developed chest pain. My doctor diagnosed it as costochondritis, and I returned to physiotherapy—this time at a different clinic, since the first one had closed.

Later on, I began treatment again at another clinic to learn new techniques—this time for my shoulder, which had started to develop mobility issues.

I was advised that resistance bands and bodyweight exercises are more effective for recovery, so I stopped lifting weights. That was a big shift for me, as I had been in the habit of going to the gym regularly since I was 16.

🧘 My Best Workout Yet — Built from Recovery

After all of that, I ended up with the best exercise routine I’ve ever had.

Over time, I gathered so many exercises from different physiotherapists that I built my own full-body routine. I started by doing part of it every day, then switched to every other day. Eventually, I had so many moves that I turned it into my own form of circuit training.

The best part? I haven’t needed a gym membership. With all the physiotherapy-based exercises I’ve learned, I’ve actually gotten better results than I ever did at any gym.

Press the button below to learn more about the PT exercises I do.