131 | How Trauma Impacts Biomechanics, Movement and Pain with Dr. Liz Letchford

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. 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! Do you know all the ingredients labeled at the back of your go-to snack? In this episode, PalleoValley is mentioned. Containing 100% grass-fed beef with a higher omega 3:6 ratio, antioxidant-rich fruits, and seeds, and some of the best anti-inflammatory whole food ingredients, PalleoValley has got your sweet or savory tastebuds covered with beef sticks or protein bars. Use code 'OPTIMAL' to get 15% off (affiliate link). 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://www.docjenfit.com/podcast/episode131/ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Optimal Body Podcast. If you haven’t done so already, please take a minute to subscribe and leave a quick rating and review of the show! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tobpodcast/message