Author: Zachary Cohen

Dr. Zac began his career working in professional sports. He noticed a large discrepancy between the quality of care that elite athletes receive when compared to the normal active public. This inspired him to create Cohen Health and Performance, a place that treats everyone as if they are a professional athlete! He graduated summa cum laude from Northeastern University in 2011 with his Doctorate in Physical Therapy, and also became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). While at Northeastern he worked as a Physical Therapy Graduate Assistant for the New England Patriots, and served as a strength and conditioning coach for Northeastern University athletics. Prior to moving to Maryland, Zac was a Performance Physical Therapist with EXOS (formerly known as Athletes' Performance) in Dallas, TX where he treated and trained the world's most gifted athletes from throughout the NFL, MLB, NBA, MLS, and various Olympic teams.

How Physical Therapists and Running Coaches Collaborate: An Interview with Coach Lisa

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Coach Lisa, an accomplished and inspiring figure in the running community. As an experienced Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) certified coach, Lisa brings decades of personal and professional expertise to her work with runners of all levels. In our conversation, we explored the powerful relationship between physical therapists and running coaches, and how they can work together to help athletes reach their goals while staying injury-free.

A Quick Look at Coach Lisa’s Athletic Journey

Before diving into the insights from our interview, it’s worth highlighting some of Coach Lisa’s impressive accomplishments. Her athletic journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. A competitive distance runner, cyclist, and multisport athlete, Lisa has been recognized both locally and internationally for her talents. In November 2016, she was inducted into the Bender JCC of Greater Washington’s Sports Hall of Fame for her duathlon achievements. She also earned a gold medal in the half marathon at the Pan American Maccabi Games twice, once in 2003 in Santiago, Chile, and again in 2023 in Buenos Aires, Argentina—20 years apart!

Coach Lisa has completed over 40 marathons, including an astonishing 20 finishes at the Boston Marathon, and she has raced as an elite athlete at prestigious events like the ING New York City Marathon. Her experience as a member of Team USA at the World Duathlon Championships and earning All-American honors in Duathlon demonstrates her deep knowledge of both running and multisport training. But what sets Lisa apart is not just her personal success, but her passion for coaching and helping others.

Along with her best running friend and fellow certified coach Julie Sapper, Lisa co-founded Run Farther & Faster in 2010. Together, they’ve built a community where adult and youth runners of all fitness levels can thrive. Lisa has a special love for working with new runners, guiding them as they discover the joy and rewards of running.

The Power of Collaboration: Coaches and Physical Therapists

During our interview, Coach Lisa and I discussed how physical therapists and running coaches can work hand in hand to support athletes, particularly those recovering from injury or working toward performance goals. Both disciplines are essential to helping runners stay healthy, maintain proper form, and achieve longevity in the sport.

Lisa explained that one of the most significant benefits of this collaboration is the comprehensive care that athletes receive. A physical therapist’s role is to assess, diagnose, and treat injuries, addressing the biomechanical issues that may be contributing to pain or dysfunction. A running coach, on the other hand, focuses on form, training plans, and mental and physical endurance. Together, they provide a holistic approach that can prevent injury before it starts and ensure a safe return to running after an injury.

The Benefits of a Holistic Approach

The synergy between a running coach and a physical therapist goes beyond injury management—it enhances performance, too. Lisa emphasized that her goal is to help runners reach their full potential, and that often means addressing both their training and any physical limitations that could be holding them back.

If you’re a runner looking to improve your performance, recover from an injury, or simply start running safely, the partnership between a running coach like Lisa and a physical therapist can make all the difference. Together, they’ll help you run farther, faster, and healthier.

Why Your X-Ray Or MRI May Not Be As Helpful As You Think

As physical therapists, we often view the imaging results of of our patients.

Many times, these images (X-Rays or MRIs) cause people to feel as if they are broken and need fixing.

Maybe you have had an X-Ray or MRI that made you feel that surgery is inevitable, or that your pain is something that you will always have to deal with. Perhaps you are thinking that you are no longer capable of performing the sport you love, or exercising at a high level.

X-Rays are used to gain information about bones and general information about joints. For example, the X-Ray of someone with lower back pain will give us information about how much space this person has between each vertebra, and if they have any fractures in their lower back. However, this will not provide information regarding the state of soft tissues (muscles, tendons, ligaments), or much information about intervertebral discs.

An MRI, will give us much more detailed information. This image provides more specific information about the state of intervertebral discs, or damage to soft tissues. Despite, all of this great and detailed information, many times it is not useful.

Research shows that many of us have meniscal tears in our knees, labral tears in our shoulders, and damage to the discs in our lower backs, without any idea that these issues are even there!

In other cases, people have X-Rays or MRIs for a painful area of the body, and nothing significant is found!

In fact, research shows that 90% of lower back pain is non-specific. This means that according to images, we have no idea what causes 90% of lower back pain! The moral of the story is that findings on images are not always correlated with the pain or the limitations that you may be experiencing.

So, does the image even matter? In these cases, the answer is….not really.

This is not to say that images are useless. X-rays and MRIs are extremely useful when the findings coincide with the symptoms you are experiencing. The images and your symptoms should fit together and contribute to tell the same story.

If you have had an X-Ray or MRI, take that with a grain of salt and understand that it is just one piece of the puzzle. A decision to have surgery, or another invasive procedure should not be made solely on the findings of an image.

Even if an image shows a large amount of damage, it is still possible to feel great and remain active by addressing what caused the damage to build up in the first place! As physical therapists, and strength and conditioning professionals, this is of greatest concern to us.

Damage does not accumulate in a tissue without a reason for doing so, and it is our job to figure out this out! If you have an X-Ray or MRI that is of concern to you, it may be most useful to figure out why these findings have occurred, and learn what you can do to address it!

This will help you get out of pain and back to performing the activities you enjoy, despite what your X-Ray or MRI says!

CHP Spotlight Interview: Coach Lee Sommers

Behind the scalpel: Spotlight interview with Dr. Eve Hoffman

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Hoffman, a spine surgeon from Summit Orthopedics, in the latest edition of the CHP Spotlight Interview Series. The mission of the CHP Spotlight Interview Series is to provide you with valuable insights from leading experts in the fields of sports medicine, physical therapy, personal training, and performance. With the overwhelming amount of information available today, it can be challenging to find the most credible advice, especially when it comes to managing back pain. We’re here to help by bringing you the best information from top professionals in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, DC, McLean, and Northern Virginia.

If you or someone you care about is dealing with chronic back pain or has suffered a spine-related injury, you won’t want to miss this interview! Dr. Hoffman shares her expert perspective on managing back pain, from non-invasive treatment options to when surgical intervention may be necessary. She explains how patients can take control of their back health, what factors increase the risk of injury, and what you can do today to reduce your chances of developing serious back problems.

As a highly skilled spine surgeon, Dr. Hoffman specializes in treating a wide range of spinal conditions. Her approach prioritizes non-surgical treatments whenever possible, such as physical therapy and lifestyle modifications, to help patients manage pain and improve function. However, when surgery is the best option, Dr. Hoffman is experienced in performing complex spinal procedures, including minimally invasive surgeries and advanced reconstructions.

If you are experiencing back pain, whether you’re an athlete, someone with an active lifestyle, or simply trying to manage daily activities, this interview is for you. Dr. Hoffman offers valuable insights into how to prevent, manage, and treat back pain for long-term relief.

Spotlight Interview with Nutritionist, Dana Monsees

How Do We Protect Our Lower Back When Lifting Or Playing Sports?

We had a blast hosting the CHP deadlift lab right here in Bethesda!

During the workshop we learned how to optimally create internal pressure in order to protect our lower back when lifting weights. This is one of the first things that we teach in physical therapy and is of particular importance for people that lift weights or play sports.

As human beings, we protect our lower backs by creating intra-abdominal pressure. This is the pressure that we create within our abdominal cavity and increases the stability of the spine.

As an example, imagine that you are going to lift the heaviest object that you can off of the floor. What is the first thing that you do?

Most people take a big breath in and then brace their abs.

The purpose of this action is to create as much pressure as is possible within your abdominal cavity, thus creating the maximum amount of stability possible for the spine.

This is a great thing to do as you are performing one repetition of an activity with maximal effort, however is not sustainable for a longer period of time.

In the video below, Dr. Cody is teaching us how to most effectively create pressure when deadlifting so that we can protect our lower back. The principles Dr. Cody is teaching applies to all activities that we perform in the gym, and many out of the gym as well!

How to brace effectively

The next time you are lifting something, it may be worth asking yourself if you are feeling your lower back. If so, attempt to exhale fully to find your abs before inhaling to build pressure. In addition to abdominals, you should be feeling hamstrings and glutes.

Now give it a shot!