She thought it was a leg problem
The pain was in her leg, but the pattern started upstream
She came to me with a persistent pain on the outside of her leg, thinking it was an “IT band problem”, (a connector from our hip to our shin).
That’s what she’d been told. That’s what it felt like.
Constant pain along the outside of her leg, sometimes traveling all the way down towards the inner part of her knee.
Every workout became a question mark, “Will this make it worse today?”
And a lot of times, it did.
It got bad to the point it affected her confidence and trust in her own body.
Because Sharon was doing everything “right”:
Yoga. Pilates. Strength training. HIIT.
Trying harder. Tweaking form. Pushing through.
But the more she pushed, the more her body pushed back. She started feeling frustrated and scared.
Scared that if nothing changed, she’d have to stop training. Scared she’d feel weak, stuck, unhappy in her own body.
Deep down, she just wanted to feel strong again. And trust that her effort would actually make a change.
When we met, we started with an assessment, and what I saw immediately was this:
The pain was showing up in her IT band, but the pattern started upstream.
Her pelvis wasn’t getting the support it needed, her ribcage and breathing weren’t helping her move efficiently, and her nervous system was living in a “brace and push through” mode.
Something had to give, and in her case, it was her leg.
So, instead of chasing the painful area, we worked with the whole system that was creating the overload. We worked on everything that was creating the problem:
I assessed and re-assessed, we never “guessed” our way through.
We improved her breathing. Our breath is how our ribcage, core, and pelvis organize.
We regulated her nervous system. An always braced body doesn’t adapt to life.
We built pelvic stability and real core strength. The kind that stops hip flexors and low back from hijacking everything.
Then we started posture-focused strength training, progressively and sustainably.
Her IT band pain is gone.
She can feel her core in a way she couldn’t before.
Now she has actual stability.
And she lifts, heavy.
But even bigger than that… she trusts her body again.
She’s not afraid of pain. She’s not trapped in the “no pain, no gain” nonsense.
She trains less, recovers more, and gets better results.
She also told me something that I’ll never forget:
“I appreciate the range of work you do… I can show up no matter how I feel, and I know I will leave feeling better.”
I know you’ve been stuck in a similar loop.
Trying harder, doing more, and still battling with recurring pain. Please:
You don’t need more intensity. You need a plan that matches your body, and someone who can see the pattern underneath the symptom.
I’m that someone!
Start Your Unconditioning Path with a Body check-in: https://hedishah.com/body-check-in-hedi-shah/
Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,
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Hedi Shah
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👁️ Mindfulness Teacher & Bodyworker
🐉 Nervous system regulation, breathwork, and posture-focused strength training to target the cause of what keeps you stuck and in pain, not just symptoms.
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