Ask Coach E
Episode 4

Aug 2023 diagnosed with Ca of prostate.
Stable on med cancer treatments + radiation.
Jan.2024 diagnosed with moderate osteoporosis.
Minimal low back pain (2)
Any specific exercises you could recommend to manage osteoporosis?
At present doing DMT and low back foundation 1 & 2
Exercises feel great, but more specific advice would be greatly appreciated.

Love your programs.
Hip bridge, marching hip bridge, 4 point opposites, side plank, glut strengthening are favourites.

On October 25th 2025, I had a reverse shoulder replacement on my left shoulder. On January, 31st, I tripped and fell. I did not want to land on my new joint so I dropped to my right knee and my right extended arm. I had wrist pain, knee pain and front shoulder pain. I am concerned about my right shoulder as the pain has gotten worse. I do not want anymore surgery and was hoping for a plan to repair a tear. I still have range of motion but it aches when I sleep on it.

I wake up in the morning and in the middle of the night with a sore lower back. I have to sleep on my side and can only sleep on my back for short periods.

What are some of the common causes? What can I do before and after sleep to alleviate the pain and tightness?

Hi Coach E, I have been following PM for over a year now, doing SPS, FML, FPS, EPS, and DMT. One inconsistency that bugs me is the 4 point scap circles. You and Dr B teach us not allow the scap to rotate naturally upward on overhead movements, and I see and agree with your logic. In the 4pt scap circles however we have our arms at 90 deg, so in the impingement range I believe, yet we move thru the range of retraction depression in the circle. Is this not going against what you teach elsewhere? Thank you for all you do to help us heal injuries.

Here's the video I mentioned: LINK

I still have trouble to figure out how (ilio)psoas activation feels like. Is it more in the groin, in the front outer hip, or perhaps in the low back, perhaps a combination of those?

I am receiving rolfing. My rolfer identified that over time—"My spine has flattened, losing all three curves. We have been working deep to recreate a lumbar curve with some success. But, similar to Blaz's plight some questions back, I am struggling to create a healthy thoracic curve, in my case, without flattening my cervical and lumbar curves even more. Can I just perform jefferson curls and curl-ups but actively engage lordosis of my neck and lower back at the same time, or would this be dangerous in some way. Thanks

Here's a video that clearly shows the basic nerve flossing technique I recommend: LINK 

I herniated L4/L5 disc (1 cm, down the left side) and had a bulging L5/S1 disc 8 years ago at 22 years old from gymnastics and ignoring back pain for far too long. Paid the price fully! Received multiple opinions which encouraged no surgery - a decision I will forever be thankful for. Took 1 full year to recover through chiropractic ART (my savior!), PT, massage, strength training. Have had flare ups throughout the years, but know how to get back on track. Typical areas of tightness that cause back pain are hips and adductors. Walking, ASMR, foam rolling, and strength training (especially glutes) keep me essentially pain-free. Love your channel! I have followed videos for adductors, glutes, hips, shoulder mobility, upper back, and acute low back pain. New ROM subscriber, and I am currently doing the DMT, Strong for Life Program, Hip Foundations, Full Body Flexion. All have worked excellently for me, especially the videos to get out of flare ups. Worst flare up was 1 year ago, which felt very close to original excruciating pain - assumed tear or re-herniation. Doing well now!

Two questions: As a result of the herniation, I experienced drop foot on my left foot about a year after first herniation. It has returned about 70%, but fatigues rapidly. In addition, there is either a nerve tugging down the left hamstring into calf (does not feel like sciatica, I know that pain very well), or it is a very tight muscle (unsure). 1) What are the best exercises to reduce fatigue from drop foot and potentially get it back to 90%? 2) I cannot do a forward fold, standing or sitting (sitting is worse) due to the left hamstring tug. In your opinion, is a forward fold never in my future?

Sincerely, a former gymnast who still does cartwheels and handstands in the living room and dreams of attending adult gymnastics classes in the future but is terrified of potential re-herniation (wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy)

All my life, I’ve walked “duck toed” and it didn’t bother me much besides from appearing less graceful. However, in the last 5 years or so it has become much more severe on my right side foot. Feel clumsy overall and it really impacts single sided leg exercises more than ever. I’m concerned that as I age my balance and risk of falling will increase due to this issue. When I try to “walk straight” everything is impacted including the way my hip feels on that side and the way my foot hits ground. I simply have to slow down to a turtle pace. Would one of your programs be beneficial? Is this a problem with internal hip rotation?

Bethany

I've had a bone on bone knee for 30+ years resulting from an ACL tear and 10 year delay having a patellar tendon reconstruction/stabilization of the knee during which time I continued playing sports and partly subluxating the knee repeatedly. During the ACL repair surgery- I already had advanced arthritis and meniscal damage. Fast forward several decades and now I have some degree of constant pain. I would like to be able to play pickleball but if I did so now, my knee would swell and be extra painful for several weeks afterwards. Over the years I've had several steroid injections and Synvisc with good effect but on this last one- it only helped for 1 week. My orthopedic surgeon, who does not perform knee replacement surgery, told me that is what I need to have done. I have done your shoulder pain solution program to good effect. So, my question is what do you suggest I do to both maximize my knee/leg strength pre-surgically and what do you suggest for maximizing the speed and completeness of my post surgery recovery. Thanks very much!

I often feel knee pain when wearing a backpack (even a pretty light one) going downhill while hiking (even short one-hour hikes) - does it mean I'm wearing out my cartilage? I want to hike more but I'm worried it will hurt my knees long term. Do you have tips around this? Thank you!

Context:

I started having knee pain 13 years ago when I was 19. I did physical therapy around that time, and since then my knees are generally pretty good, though I've had painless crackling sounds in my knee ever since I was a teenager (they usually crackle kind of like bubble wrap when I squat, but it doesn't hurt). But when I use my knees more, like when I've done cross country skiing, or when I wear a backpack when hiking, I have often gotten knee pain behind my kneecaps.

The pain is usually around a 4 or less and fades within a day or two (sometimes it fades in just an hour or so after movement). My main fear is that it will get worse as I age if I don't address the pain now. Sometimes I get a similar pain after doing my dance cardio workouts (EMKFit HIIT on YouTube).

I am about a week into the foundations 1 phase of the hip pain solution on ROM Coach, and I have done a few DMTs. I have also done the "tennis elbow" Precision Movement video many times in the past month. (Since I've also had some pains in my hips and elbows.)

I also have been doing Yoga with Adriene videos multiple times per week since 2018. I'm still trying to figure out how much of each kind of movement to do, and how often, to keep my body happy and healthy long term (cardio, body alignment work, yoga; and I imagine I should get more muscle/bone building movement in there but I'm not sure how yet).

Thank you!

Hi Could you suggest a 3 minute series of foot and ankle movements that I could do anytime anywhere with shoes on? I enjoy your 3 minute Full Body Isometric Muscle Activation. So something similar to that? The Neutral Hip ISO is a good example of something you can do anywhere with shoes on. I don’t walk properly right now so I was looking for something I could do to realign the feet ankle throughout the day . Thank you - if there isn’t anything that’s fine I’ll just keep on with what I am doing , your exercises are really wonderful Thank you so much