My Story
Why I built The Strong Shift
I'm a board-certified orthopedic physical therapist, a distinction held by fewer than 10% of PTs nationwide, and a former collegiate tennis player. I earned my Doctor of Physical Therapy at Midwestern University after studying Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder, and I've spent my career helping active people recover fully and return to the things they love. I'm also trained in pelvic floor rehabilitation through Herman & Wallace, and some of my favorite work is walking with women through pregnancy and postpartum, teaching them how to return to lifting with strength and confidence.
I also know injury from the inside. I've dislocated my shoulder. I've torn my MCL with an avulsion fracture. I've sprained my ankles more times than I can count. I've even herniated a disc deadlifting. And I still deadlift, because I know what it feels like to wonder if your body will ever be trustworthy again. And I know, firsthand, that the way back isn't rest and caution. It's rebuilding, one smart progression at a time. It's not a coincidence that my programs start with the shoulder and the ankle: I've lived those comebacks myself.
In the clinic, I kept meeting the same person: someone who felt fragile in their own body. Joints that felt loose or unstable, a shoulder that clicked, a body that never quite felt trustworthy. I see this especially in hypermobile women, at every stage of life, from chasing a first pull-up to preparing for birth to rebuilding postpartum, who are so often told to simply avoid the things that scare them. Some have a diagnosis. Most have just always been the bendy one: double-jointed, flexible, but never quite stable. I believe the opposite of what they've been told: a hypermobile body doesn't need less strength training. It needs smarter strength training, with control, stability, and load built progressively. My mission is helping hypermobile women become the lifters and athletes they want to be.
That's why I named it The Strong Shift. The moment that drives me is watching someone stop protecting their body and start building it. That's the shift toward strong. Every program I write exists to spark that shift: not just pain-free, but capable. Pull-up capable. Deadlift capable. Do-the-things-you-love capable.
