Walk past any park in Portland these days and you will hear it. That distinctive plastic clack of a paddle on a ball, followed by laughter, mild trash talk, and someone yelling “kitchen!” Pickleball has officially gone from something your retired neighbor told you about to the fastest growing sport in the country. It is fun, it is social, and you can be reasonably good at it within a couple of weeks. Here is the part nobody puts on the brochure: at our clinic, we are seeing a

Spring is here, and if you’re anything like most of our patients, the weekends are suddenly full of digging, planting, weeding, and hauling bags of soil that somehow weigh twice as much as the bag says they do. The garden looks beautiful in your head. Your back, unfortunately, is about to have opinions about the process. Gardening is genuinely good for you. Fresh air, movement, stress relief, something that actually grows instead of just sitting in a cart. But every spring, w

There is a particular kind of frustrating that comes with an injury that simply will not go away. You stretched it, rested it, iced it, maybe tried a cortisone shot. And yet, here you are, still limping off the first step in the morning or nursing that shoulder after every workout. If that sounds familiar, you might be a perfect candidate for one of the most exciting tools in sports medicine today: shockwave therapy. So, What Even Is Shockwave Therapy? Shockwave therapy, or E

Whether you’re a young athlete throwing your hundredth pitch of the week or someone who has spent the last five years glued to a keyboard, elbow pain has a way of showing up uninvited and completely overstaying its welcome. The frustrating part? Most people either push through it until it gets serious, or they rest completely and wonder why it keeps coming back. Neither approach actually fixes the problem. The good news is that elbow pain is one of the most manageable conditi

You lace up, head out the door, and somewhere around mile two, that familiar ache starts creeping in along the outside of your hip. Maybe it’s been building for a few weeks. Maybe you’ve been quietly hoping it would sort itself out if you just stretched a little more, foam rolled a little harder, or willed it away through sheer stubbornness. Sound familiar? You’re in good company, and also, we need to talk. That pain on the outer side of your hip has a name: Greater Trochante

Low back pain is one of the most common reasons people seek healthcare. Nearly everyone experiences it at some point in their life. When pain shows up, many people worry that something serious is wrong with their spine. Fortunately, most cases of low back pain are not caused by major injury. More often, the pain comes from irritated muscles, joints, or connective tissues that simply need the right kind of movement and support to calm down. Recent research published in JAMA

Waking up with neck pain is frustrating. It can affect your mood, your day, and your overall well-being. The good news is that your sleeping position plays a big role in preventing neck pain. By adjusting how you sleep, you can reduce strain on your neck and wake up feeling refreshed and pain-free. In this post, I’ll share practical tips and advice on the best sleep posture for neck pain, so you can rest easier and move better. Understanding Sleep Posture for Neck Pain Your n

Spring is here. The weather is warming up, the trails are calling, and you’re lacing up those shoes after a long winter of telling yourself you’d “start running again soon.” We’ve all been there. Whether you’re brand new to running, returning after a break, or gearing up for a race this season, there’s one thing the research is very clear about: running is one of the best things you can do for your health, and also one of the most reliable ways to hurt yourself if you’re not

If you wake up in the morning and your first few steps feel like you are stepping on a nail or glass, you are not alone. Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of heel pain in adults. About 1 in 10 people will experience it at some point in their life. Runners get it. People who stand all day get it. Even people who are not particularly active can develop it. But here is something important most people do not know: Plantar fasciitis is not primarily an inflammator

If you are over 40 and your MRI report mentions a rotator cuff tear, tendinopathy, or degeneration, it can sound serious. But what if I told you that nearly everyone over 40 has some form of rotator cuff “abnormality” on MRI? A large 2026 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine examined this exact question. What Did the Study Actually Do? Researchers randomly selected 602 adults aged 41 to 76 from the general population in Finland. These were not just patients seeking care