Welcome to the PT Rebels Podcast.

This is the place to learn how you can become a PT rebel and take charge of your own health and wellness. We will help you find answers to your questions about pain, injury, and the path towards healing in the most efficient and effective way possible.

I’m your host, Dr. Gina Fick.

During the trip, I think one of the things that I enjoyed the most was just the time that I was able to spend with our son and reflecting on some of these life lessons that we learned by being at the track and being with these elite athletes and their coaches and their staff, and the time that we spent together. I don’t take a second for green it because not only were we able just to enjoy the, the sport of track and field together. We were able to drive to the Oregon coast a couple of times, get our feet in the sand, you know, walk in the ocean. We were able to go drive up the Oregon coast and see a lighthouse. I’d never seen a lighthouse before. Hike up and, and be eye, eye level at this beautiful lighthouse that was built in 1869 to see the, just the beauty. Of, of Oregon and the coast, the bridges, the architecture to watch people watch our sun just enjoy running along the beach and running in the ocean and just have those, just times to reflect on all of these things that I shared with you I think is so important. And you know, the last. In my life, because I’ve been so busy trying to build this business and be successful in business, my life has been on. It feels like fast forward. Sometimes it feels like double fast forward, like when you’re pushing on the remote, you could push it a few times. Fast forward. It feels like that, and for me to have the opportunity to slow down and just. Enjoy hearing the ocean. Enjoy reflecting on these things. What about what life’s really about I think was really important for me and important for our son, Ryan and I, just to spend time together and enjoy that experience together. So some of the key takeaways that I have after this weekend of supporting Carmen at the USA Track and Field Nationals on this, this national stage. I just have some bullet points or key points I wanna wanna share with you. Number one would be just to enjoy and live in the moment. You know, for myself, I really tried to enjoy and just embrace every moment. I took a lot of videos, I took a lot of pictures. I sat and just tried to let it soak in of what it meant to not only be able to be at USA track and field. As a medical provider for this athlete, but also just to be there in that stadium surrounded by such amazing coaches and athletes and the support staff. I, I just was really in awe of. The whole experience and I tried to take every moment that I could just to really soak it in and live in the moment. And, you know, these athletes were doing the same, these, a lot of these athletes were coming off either, you know, a long professional season or college season. These college athletes have been competing, you know, indoor since January. If not sooner. And so they just finished NCAAs and are bouncing over to USA nationals and then to world championships. So that’s a very long season for them. So for them to be able to just enjoy and live in the moment as much as they can and soak that in was really. Important and critical, and that’s one thing I felt like Carmen did really well too. I felt like she was so thankful and so felt it such a privilege to be at that championship meet that she was really enjoying and living in the moment, and she had so much joy on her face and was smiling. It was very calm and composed, and I felt like she did a great job of just relishing the moment and taking advantage of the opportunity that she had. The second thing is, you know, adversity will come in our lives. Adversity will come as an athlete, and it’s how we respond to that adversity that will determine the next course of our life and not our, you know, for the athletes, the next course of their event, you know? Looking at my own personal life, I’ve had some moments of adversity over the last six months, and you know, we all face that, especially as you accept more challenges and you accept more opportunities, you’re gonna have probably more opportunities for adversity. And so how we respond to those challenges and adversity will help determine the future success that we have. You know, how much grit and how much resilience do we have? Under this adversity and, and do we fold under pressure or do we take these opportunities to really bounce back and really move forward and maybe move forward in a way that’s better than we could have ever imagined? So I saw that several times. I wanted to just, uh, in the mean, wanna just to. Highlight a few of the moments of adversity that I saw with these athletes. One of the, one of the biggest takeaways that I had, um, one of the events that I watched was with Kenneth Rooks, with the men’s steeple chase. He was an athlete from BYU and he fell during the steeple chase event and he was able to get up, keep running, and he just started. You could tell the determination in the way that he was running the look on his face, he wasn’t going to back down. He was gonna keep persevering and he fell and recovered and in the last 60 meters pulled ahead and actually won the race after falling during the event. Guarantee you he was in pain. Guarantee you he was frustrated for a moment. Guarantee you probably. Fear flash in front of him a little bit, knowing that like he just fell and he was gonna have to try to get up and, but all of that said like he got up, he was able to pull himself together, be gritty, be tough, and he was able to pull ahead and actually win the event, which was extremely cool to see. And time and time again, we see athletes and, you know, sports do this sort of thing and that’s what is so inspiring, I think. And I was so glad that our own son was able to see that. Because that’s what athletics is all about sometimes is just the ability, the life lessons that it teaches you and the ability to overcome adversity in any capacity like that is so important in in life as well, not only just on the track or during athletics. And so I was really inspired to see that. Another example of just. Toughness and grit. Abby Steiner, those of you. You know Abby, she is a world-class sprinter now. She was, she came from University of Kentucky and is an elite level sprinter who ended up finishing fourth in the 200. She had hoped to finish higher and make the world’s team, but Abby, after the event. Shared that she’s been dealing with Achilles tendonitis for probably two years. She’s had been dealing with a heel spur for about the last six to eight months, so. Probably every step that she takes as a sprinter has some degree of pain. And so she’s been dealing with that, fighting through the pain adversity of just trying to manage, uh, you know, dealing with this injury, recovering, trying to judge. How much she should push it. I’m sure she has phenomenal physical therapists who are, who are helping her in that. And so just for her to be able to be at the US National Championships and compete at that level and still finish forth on an Achilles tendon that probably feels horrible most of the time is a real testament to her grit and toughness. And it was, um, after I listened to her talk after her event, and she said. That her takeaways after running in the 200 and running at U-S-A-T-F Nationals were that she’s just learned to be grateful for every opportunity and to see every opportunity as a learning experience, especially for these athletes who are transitioning from college into the professional realm, it’s next level, and so. It’s a learning experience for people, for athletes like Abby Steiner and they’ve had, you know, Matt Bowling and another example from Georgia, you know, they’ve had. Extremely impressive resumes and success in college, and now they’re moving to the professional level and just learning how to navigate training schedules and recovery schedules and navigate through injuries and just the pressure being on an on a professional stage. Now it’s. It was very inspiring to see someone like Abby Steiner just say, you know what? It’s not what I wanted to, not where I wanted to finish, but here’s what I’ve been dealing with and here’s how I’m going to move forward. The third thing I wanted to highlight is just the importance of who you surround yourself and who is on your support team. I think it’s essential to have. A strong support team, whether you’re a youth athlete, a high school athlete, a co college athlete, or even at the professional level. I think it becomes even more important when you get to the professional level and you have, you know, a very intense training schedule and the need for recovery intensifies. And you know, some people that you can look at in terms of your support staff team would be. A good athletic trainer, a good physical therapist, a good chiropractor, a good nutritionist, a good sports psychologist, all of those. And number one, an excellent coach. An excellent coach who you have a connection with, who you feel like you can trust is essential in order for you to have success in your sport. And sometimes those things aren’t easy to find and sometimes you have to, you know, I know professional athletes who. Have who go through a lot of different types of providers to find that right team for them. And there are a lot of great providers out there, but doesn’t mean they’re the right people for you. So surrounding yourself with people that are excellent professionals and who know how to help you at that level is extremely important. But also, you know, it’s kind of a good point in life too, who we surround ourselves with, like who I surround myself with in business, who the. Who I decide to hire, the people I decide to partner with, that’s extremely essential to my success in my life and my business as well. And in all of our lives too, we decide to surround ourself with, will help determine the path and course of our life moving forward. So. I think that was something that I really noticed when I was at U-S-A-T-F Nationals because I realized the importance of Carmen’s team and the coaching staff that she has, the coach, her, Julie Benson, the coach that she has, and her husband, and having me there, she said, was really critical in her success at this event. I think the next point that I have is just. That we need to be realistic and stay focused. Our lives and as athletes, you must be realistic and stay focused on your goals, not only your short-term goals, but your long-term goals. A lot of these athletes have had long-term goals of being at USA Track and Field Nationals or worlds or Olympics for a long time. Those are very long-term goals and they’re short-term goals along the way that they had to meet to get there. And so it’s important to take obviously one day at a time and stay laser focused on your why. And then with that long-term goal in the future of what you’re trying to accomplish, when you have success, I think it’s important not to fall into sort of a unconscious complacency, but that you keep doing things that get you to the point of success. And again, looking at, okay, what is my why? Why am I trying to accomplish this? What am I trying to accomplish out of this experience? Set micro goals to meet that long term major goal. One thing that an athlete that I just. Obviously I’ve known since high school and I highly, highly respect and look up to is Anna Hall. I’ve known Anna since she was at Valor Christian High School. Had the opportunity to work with her a few times in high school and after her injury at the US Olympic trials. One thing about Anna is she’s always writing her goals down. And she has, I’ve seen her put sticky notes on her mirrors and she has really lofty goals, right? And, you know, Olympics World Championships, she’ll put certain times that she wants to accomplish she’ll. She keeps track of. Not only those long-term goals that she has, but she keeps track of her success and practice. She knows exactly what she needs to accomplish and the the numbers she wants to hit in her practices. And those relate to the short-term goals that she’s trying to accomplish for the ultimate success in the longer term, big events that she’s trying to have success at, like Olympics or national Championships. So I think, you know, if we can stay realistic. Focused on just the day to day, what we’re trying to accomplish moment by moment, day by day, and to try to hit that bigger target of the why and what we’re trying to accomplish long term. I think that is a good benchmark for success in our lives and in and in the lives of these athletes. The next thing that I wanted to highlight is just when trials come and we know they’re gonna come as athletes and as just individuals. I think it’s okay to just take time and process those trials. You know, for someone like Abby Steiner, she’s, you know, processing all that she’s been through with this injury process with her Achilles and with the heel spur, take time to mourn and grieve. You know, I think, you know, it’s important for athletes or important for us to be, take time to go through that initial disappointment. You know, disappointments and trials will come in our lives, but to be able to process through and then once we take. The time that we need to go through and process that, then it’s time to move on. Then it’s time to bounce back. Then it’s time to look at the why again and, and, and refocus and look at that target and pick ourselves up and then tackle the next task ahead. I think a lot of times what can happen is. We face adversity or trials and we can get caught up in the negativity, we can get caught up in the disappointment to the point where we really can’t move forward and be successful. You know, I know for a lot of these athletes, you know, they’ve been competing for a long time, so there’s no way that these athletes haven’t at some point or many points, faced significant adversity to get where they are now. And so I think. Just having the grit, the mental fortitude, the toughness to accept life and the challenges that life throws at us, and to be able to process through that and rely on our support staff and team when we need, and then to pivot and to move forward and keep. Laser focused on our why and keep plunging ahead and keep trudging ahead and, and, and working towards that goal. I think that is one of the key measures to success and the, the people that are able to do that more effectively are the people that tend to be more successful, and that’s true in athletics, and that’s true in life. I think the next takeaway that I had is just to be flexible. I have a plan A, B, and C and be willing to pivot when you need, you know, and for these athletes, many of them. Had, because I was in the medical tent, I was able to hear of different injuries or challenges that they were having that they maybe weren’t expecting or, and they had to, you know, rely on their support staff and be flexible and maybe, you know, change the course of what they were going to do in terms of their event. Or change how they were gonna prepare for their event or change the number of events they were going to run. They just had to pivot and rely and trust on their team, their coaches, their support staff in order to, to move forward from that point. And so I think it’s, I. Again, the, one of the keys to success in life and in sports is just to be flexible and to have these different plans and know that, okay, if this doesn’t go right, this doesn’t go as planned, then I’m gonna do this. And when you don’t know, that’s why it’s really important to have a support staff and a team that can help guide you in the, in the right direction. I think the last, and probably one of the most important things that I’ve. Learned over the last six months, just individually. And one thing that I saw in a lot of these athletes was just having an attitude of gratitude. And one thing that I did on the plane on the way to Eugene was to start a gratitude list. Because it can be easy when we’re stressed or when we have a lot going on to fall into just patterns of anxiety or patterns of just fear or different things. And I thought, you know what? I’m gonna write down everything I’m grateful for because I just have so many, um, incredible gifts around me and things that I’m grateful for. And that list started at maybe two or three things, and before I knew it, and in several couple minutes, it was probably up to 25 things and I could have just kept going. When you focus on having attitude of, of that gratitude and focusing on the positive things in your life that you can point towards, it brings a lot of joy and it brings peace and it brings focus to your life.