The Divergent Edge - February 2025
Step Into Comfort: Understanding Pain & Choosing The Right Shoes
Issue #2: February 1st, 2025
Thank you for subscribing to our monthly newsletter! 🎉 We’re thrilled to have you as part of our community, and even more excited to be a part of your unique health and wellness journey! Every month you can look forward to us sharing some information regarding the topics below!
🗒️ Business Updates: Stay informed about the latest news and announcements from our cash-based physical therapy clinic.
💪 Movement Health Tips: Get expert advice to improve your mobility, build strength, and elevate your quality of life.
📚 Pain Education: Gain simple, practical insights into understanding pain and strategies to address it effectively.
🙌 Community Highlights: Meet our trusted health and wellness partners and discover how they can support your goals.
📆 Workshops & Events: Be the first to know about our interactive workshops and learning opportunities to help you take charge of your health.
🏆 Our Recommendations: Explore products we trust for optimizing health, along with exclusive discounts and links.
NOW LET’S DIVE IN 🎉
Business Updates:
Some Of Our Client Testimonials From January:
“My experience here was so far beyond my expectations. Dr. Murphy listened intently and then responded by helping create a program that has truly made a difference in my pain level and ability to do whatever I want to. I was afraid of what a torn meniscus might require in terms of surgery and recovery time, but now I am not having surgery at all. I appreciate the care and concern expressed by Dr. Murphy and will be recommending him to my circle wholeheartedly!” ~ D.S.
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“I highly recommend d Divergent Rehab! I came to Divergent after spending a lot of money, and time, at other places, trying to fix an issue with my toe. Not only did Dr. Alex work to alleviate the immediate pain, he also worked with me to ensure I could correct the underlying cause. I am now aware of what will aggravate the issue, and I am more mindful of my day to day activities. While I still need maintenance for the pain, I feel so much better and I’m hopeful to be back to 100% soon.” ~ J.T.
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I am so glad my doctor referred me to Physical Therapist, Julie Rudolph! Julie has helped me tremendously with various pain issues~ and along the way she has structured an easy to follow personalized plan of exercises to build strength and mobility. I can easily complete the exercises at home~ and with the app Divergent Rehab uses with its clients, I don’t have to commit each exercise to memory. I was able to really concentrate during each session with Julie, without having worry about remembering exactly how to do each exercise back at home. Julie posts short video clips of her performing the exercises in my personal plan~ this makes it very easy to complete the schedule of exercises at home, on my own. And Julie is very responsive and easy to reach with questions between sessions, checking in with me regularly. My work with Julie has been invaluable and I’d highly recommend her!“ ~ K.T.
WE ARE SO THANKFUL TO BE A PART OF OUR CLIENT’S LIVES AND UNIQUE JOURNEYS…THANK YOU FOR TRUSTING US ❤️
We have launched a newsletter for the cycling community - The Revolution Report! If you, friends, or family are interested in learning more about the importance of a bike fit, the bike itself, gaining access to education and resources, or simply want access to the best tips around to increase your comfort, performance and experience on a bike…SUBSCRIBE HERE
Movement Health Tips
Choosing the Right Shoes: Supporting Your Feet, Supporting Your Whole Body
Your feet are your foundation — they are the first thing to make contact with the ground and communicate with your body — they support your weight, keep you balanced, and play a crucial role in how your entire body moves. THE SHOES YOU WEAR MATTERS! Unfortunately, many conventional shoes aren’t designed to work with your feet naturally. Instead, they can restrict movement, weaken muscles, and contribute to problems like pain in the knees, hips, and lower back…and even further lead to the development of bunions, hammer toes, and plantar fasciitis.
Most modern shoes prioritize style or cushioning over function. Features like narrow toe boxes, excessive arch support, and elevated heels may feel comfortable initially, but they interfere with the way your feet are meant to move and engage. These design elements can prevent the natural spreading of your toes, limit proper foot and ankle mobility, and even alter your posture. Over time, this can lead to decreased strength in the intrinsic foot muscles, instability, and alignment issues that ripple throughout your body.
What Should You Look For in Shoes?
To support natural foot health and prevent pain, consider choosing shoes that encourage healthy foot mechanics:
Wide Toe Box: Allows your toes to spread naturally, promoting stability and balance.
Zero Drop Sole: Ensures the heel and toes are on the same level, supporting natural alignment of your feet and posture.
Flexible Sole: Encourages your foot to move dynamically and engage its muscles.
Minimal Cushioning: Enables your feet to sense and respond to the ground, improving proprioception (your body’s awareness of movement and position).
Transitioning Mindfully
If you’ve been wearing conventional shoes for years, switching to more natural footwear is a process. Transition slowly to allow your feet and muscles to adapt. Start by wearing them for short periods and gradually increase your use while incorporating exercises to strengthen your feet and ankles.
Taking care of your feet means taking care of your whole body. Choosing the right shoes can be a simple but powerful step toward preventing pain and improving overall movement health. Your feet deserve the same care and attention as any other part of your body—treat them well!
For another great resource to learn details about shoes, check out the Correct Toes Shoes 101 Education Section HERE
BONUS: Wear patterns on shoes tell some pretty cool stories, and even more so let us know how we tend to move on a consistent basis…how do your shoes wear??? The past client below learned a lot about how they move asymmetrically and inefficiently just by looking at their shoes!
Pain Education
Understanding Your Body’s Stoplight System
Pain is our body’s natural communication system—a built-in stoplight that helps guide our actions and protect us. By understanding this system, we can better interpret what our bodies are telling us and take the right steps toward recovery and wellness.
Let’s break it down:
Green Light: Go!
When your body trusts that it’s safe, strong, and moving well, you’re in the “green zone.” In this phase, there’s little to no pain, and your body is signaling that everything is functioning as it should. Keep moving, stay active, and maintain good habits to stay in this zone!
Yellow Light: Proceed with Caution
The yellow light represents a “slow down” or “pay attention” signal. This is when your body starts to feel off—maybe it’s a dull ache, stiffness, or mild discomfort. Pain here isn’t necessarily harmful; it’s your body’s way of saying, “Something feels different—let’s be cautious.” It’s a great opportunity to evaluate your movements, posture, or workload. Sometimes, small adjustments can keep things from progressing to a red light.
Red Light: Stop!
The red light is your body’s alarm system. This is when pain becomes more intense, sharp, or debilitating—your body is essentially shouting, “Something is wrong, stop now!” Ignoring a red-light signal can lead to further injury or prolonged recovery. When you experience this level of pain, it’s time to seek guidance and address the root cause.
Here’s Where It Gets Tricky: Yellow vs. Red
The body doesn’t always know the difference between yellow and red—it just knows something is wrong.That’s why many of us treat every yellow light like a red light, stopping all movement at the first sign of discomfort. But here’s the problem: when we stop moving completely in response to yellow-light pain, we can actually make things worse.
Movement is essential for recovery. While some discomfort might signal a need to adjust, it doesn’t mean you have to come to a full stop. In fact, gentle, intentional movement can reduce pain, improve circulation, and rebuild your body’s trust in itself. Physical therapy helps you navigate that balance—guiding you through safe movements that address yellow-light signals without tipping into red.
The Takeaway
Pain isn’t just a stop sign—it’s a conversation with your body. Your body only has one way to communicate with you to pay attention…and that is PAIN. By learning to interpret your stoplight system and working with experts to respond appropriately, you can keep moving, heal faster, and stay stronger.
Disclaimer: There is ABSOLUTELY a time and a place for imaging, surgery, medication, etc…our goal is to help educate you to make the best decisions for yourself on your health journey. The information provided in this newsletter is for educational purposes only, and is not a substitute for individualized professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please seek a qualified healthcare professional when it comes to your unique pains, case, findings, health, etc.
Community Highlights
We have some amazing people around us in the surrounding communities, and we love highlighting our partners! Check out our Partners Page to see who we collaborate with, and if you want to learn more about someone not sponsored in this month’s newsletter please reach out to us and we will connect you to more information…or to them!
Our February Spotlight! 🎉
Body Outfitters is located in Zionsville, Carmel, and coming this Spring of 2025 will be at Keystone at the Crossing! This community is expertly and passionately led, and truly is a motivating and welcoming space to any and all ready to take their health and step forward!
Hiring a trainer doesn’t have to be intimidating, and when your trainer meets you where you are at like they do here you will only be excited to prioritize your health!
Body Outfitters personal trainers all have degrees from accredited universities. All totaled, they have over 40 years of combined experience. The certified personal training team understands every body is different, and they use their experience and expertise to create custom personal training programs for clients.
This is such an amazing community, and in the month of February they are running the promotion below…Check it out!!!
🔥 Promotion 🔥 Fitness Consultation and Assessment workout, plus 6 solo sessions for $225 ($400 value). Must be new client to Body Outfitters.
Workshops and Events
We are excited to be offering virtual and on-site workshops at our Zionsville clinic! 🎉 Stay tuned for an update on dates and topics coming soon!
Some of our most recently requested topics incliuded:
Knee Pain
Foot Pain and Proper Shoe Wear
Pre-Postnatal Health: Pelvic Floor 101
WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! WHAT TOPIC WOULD YOU LIKE US TO COVER???
JUST REPLY TO THIS EMAIL AND LET US KNOW AT [email protected]!!!
Our Product Recommendations!
Correct Toes
Correct Toes® are the highest-rated toe spacers, endorsed by doctors and athletes. They're uniquely customizable to fit your feet perfectly and are designed by Dr. Ray McClanahan, DPM, to promote natural toe alignment, strength, and pain relief.
TFC SoleMate
Looking for a relationship that brings you balance, stability & strength?
Want a companion that stretches you, keeps you focused and aligned?
Meet your new SoleMate
Crossover Symmetry
One of my absolute favorite exercise tools to use for core strength, hip strength, shoulder strength…and most importantly train stability and control with movement!
Timbar Protein Bars
Our protein bars are made with plant based high powered protein, naturally sweetened with honey (no refined sugars) and are free from gluten, dairy, eggs, whey, preservatives and artificial ingredients. We are committed to creating products that most people can enjoy by using simple, clean, healthy ingredients that are non-GMO certified. Our protein bars are carefully crafted to be nutrient dense and are an excellent source of protein, healthy fats, dietary fiber and good carbohydrates to help you feel satisfied and provide you with energy. All of our products are made in dedicated gluten free facility and are certified gluten free.
Use the code DIVERGENT for $2 off your order!
Dr. Doug’s Balms
Dr. Doug originally created this company to help people that he's encountered throughout his OCR (Obstacle Course Racing) journey. As the idea blossomed into the Dr. Doug's Miracle Balms brand, Doug continued wanting to help people. Thus, he created different lines of balms with different ingredients to help achieve the three main goals of Dr. Doug's Balms: Protect, Heal, & Restore.
Use the code DIVERGENT for a 10% discount
Muscle & Motion Apps, Courses, and Education
“Muscle and Motion’s comprehensive apps and online courses are designed to empower a diverse range of individuals and professionals worldwide. By providing in-depth insights into the anatomy and mechanics of movement, we equip our users with the knowledge to excel and lead in the fitness and movement industry.”
ONE I USE TO EDUCATE AND VISUALIZE IN CLINC!
If you have topics you would like to learn more about, or have questions you want us to address in this newsletter/blog… LET US KNOW!
The more we can provide what you want, the better the experience will be for everyone!
Thank you for trusting us on your unique health journey!
To your health and success,
The Team at Divergent Rehab
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