The Pain-Free Life
The Pain-Free Life
Matt Elam
Gravity is like a casino in Las Vegas, eventually, it wins. A casino takes your money, but pain from an injury can rob your quality of life. Raised in the fields of strength & conditioning and physical therapy, I know a thing or two of what performance enhancement and injury rehabilitation is all about. This podcast is about living a pain-free life. My mission is to rid the world of movement system pain. I know, small goal, right?
Rib Pain: It sucks & it's complex!
In today's episode, I walk you through the functional anatomy of the ribs as well as share some real case studies I've been fortunate enough to resolve.  The take home message here is that no two rib cases will respond exactly the same way - that's what makes the ribs a bit trickier to successfully treat than say, the low back or SIJ. Also, because I don't script anything in my podcasts, I may tend to misspeak.  The head of the rib that articulates to the costocartilage of the sternum is "concave" not convex.  and with my last case example, I placed my fingers (index, middle, and ring) into the margins between left ribs 9 and 10 and applied some novel stimulus to that specific region during the patient's respiratory cycle, which did the trick.  
Dec 30, 2020
12 min
Got Pain? Mobilize Thy Tissues
Instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization/manipulation (IASTM) has become all the rage in the past decade, but the concept is very ancient.  In today's episode, I take you through the origins of tissues scraping and follow up with a practical way you can use the IASTM tool for pain management. 
Dec 6, 2020
6 min
Low Back Pain: Take it to end range!
In today's episode, I cover a couple different models of approaching low back pain (LBP).  And while models and theories are fine, actually applying the information is what this episode is all about as I take you through my thoughts on the benefits of taking your HEP (home exercise program) movements to end range.
Nov 6, 2020
5 min
Hamstrings or College Football
In today's podcast, I talk briefly about my rehabilitation protocols for minor-to-moderate hamstrings strain.  Next, I go on a bit of a tangent about College football during the pandemic season and why guys are dropping like flies.
Oct 18, 2020
9 min
Episode I: START HERE
In this episode, I talk about how I came to embrace the movement sciences (physiotherapy) & how a pain-free life wasn't always something I possessed but I found my way out of a really bad pain cycle and so can you.
Oct 14, 2020
9 min