About
I believe we can live well.
When you first hear about EDS and start looking it up, it can feel a little scary. You’re told your collagen is faulty, your connective tissue isn’t strong enough, and that connective tissue runs through your whole body. That can explain your years of sprains and aches, and it might also explain other weird symptoms you’ve written off for years, or quietly worried might be something more serious. All of that adds up to a lot of worry, and a lot of distrust in your body.
I got plenty of the standard advice, and it became more frustrating over time. “Push through it.” “Just exercise more.” “Have you tried yoga?” None of it touched the way I felt about my body, the fear that spiked with every new twinge, or the exhaustion and other symptoms that could spiral out of control, especially once I learned I also had POTS and started to wonder what it would mean for the career I had worked so hard for.
Over many years, I learned, practiced, tried, and adjusted, and I’ve come to know one thing for sure. When you have EDS, you have bad glue, and that’s not going anywhere.
You can’t change your bad glue, but you can change a lot of what surrounds it.
We can teach our nervous systems to find safety. We can build strength that supports our joints. We can create environments, routines, and relationships that hold us up on our hardest days.
That’s what I teach. I call it gentle strength: building a foundation in your body, your mind, and your life that lets you live well, even with bad glue.
My Story
I'm a physical therapist and educator who also lives with EDS, POTS, and some of the other fun things that come along for the ride when you have bad glue.
After many years of doubts, questions, and more ankle sprains than I can count, I was finally diagnosed during my final clinical rotation in PT school. I was learning to help other people's bodies just as mine began to fall apart. Everything I found online was either too clinical to use or too chaotic to trust, and I needed a bridge between research and real life, but I couldn't find one when I needed it most, so I built Bending Better.
I earned my Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Duke, with a focus on complex pain. I also have a Master’s in Education, because I believe how you teach matters as much as what you teach. Health information shouldn’t require a PhD to understand.