How to Fix Chronic Pain and Improve Your Surfing w/ Cindy Lai
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Cindy Lai (@Cindylaifitness) is a New York-based fitness coach with over 20 years of experience helping people work through chronic pain. She's also a surfer who makes regular surf trips to El Salvador. In this episode, we get into why pain rarely starts where you actually feel it, and how something as small as an old ankle injury can end up affecting your body years later. Cindy also breaks down the posture issues she sees constantly in people who sit at a desk all day, and the simple practices that can help alleviate issues. She gets honest about being skeptical the first time she heard about the Basis Paddle Trainer, and what actually changed her mind thereafter. She talks through what happened after paddle training and how she felt when she finally got in the water in El Salvador. Her body felt different, her confidence increased, and her surfing changed for the better.
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Chapters
1:57 Cindy Lai's Background: 20+ Years as a Pain & Movement Coach
2:16 Cindy's Approach: Movement Quality First
3:27 How Uneven Hips Create a Ripple Effect
5:51 The Kinetic Chain: Feet, Knees & Hips
6:49 Why Surfing Wrecks Your Body Symmetry
9:32 Desk Posture & the Hunched-Forward Trap
13:11 Spine Mobility Drills: Cat-Cow & Rotation
16:07 Patience, Prevention & Small Daily Fixes
19:31 Diagnosing Van's Hips, Feet & Ankles
22:17 "Just Get Strong" Squats, RDLs & Mind-Muscle Connection
26:55 Training in All Planes: The 90/90 Hip Drill
29:40 Feet-Up Theory & More Hip-Strengthening Moves
33:12 Cindy's Surf Journey: Rockaway to El Salvador
39:02 Skeptical No More: Learning Proper Paddle Technique
45:29 Feeling Lighter in the Water & Final Advice
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