Movement Logic: Strong Opinions, Loosely Held

In this episode, Sarah looks at two broad pain patterns, people who tend to push through pain and people who tend to avoid it, and explains how each one can shape your relationship with exercise. Before getting into those categories, she lays out a key foundation of modern pain science: pain is not a simple one-to-one signal of tissue damage. Instead, pain is a subjective experience shaped by the brain’s interpretation of threat, context, past experiences, beliefs, and emotions. She also explains why the common zero-to-10 pain scale is often misunderstood, what it is useful for, and why phrases like “I have a high pain tolerance” or “my pain is a 10 out of 10” may not communicate what people think they do.From there, the episode walks through the fear avoidance model, pain catastrophizing, and the avoidance-endurance model to explain why some people stop moving the moment something feels wrong while others ignore pain until it becomes a much bigger problem. Sarah breaks down the strengths and liabilities of both patterns, including how pain avoiders can become deconditioned by steering clear of normal exercise discomfort and how pain endurers can blow past clear warning signs and delay recovery. She also talks through how these patterns show up in real life, how to tell which direction you tend to lean, and how better pain literacy, gradual progression, and thoughtful exercise programming can help you recalibrate your response to pain without swinging all the way to the opposite extreme.FOLLOW @themovementlogic on InstagramFOLLOW @themovementlogic on YouTubeSign up here for the Movement Logic Free Barbell Mini CourseRESOURCESFear Avoidance Model revisitedPain Catastrophizing ModelAvoidance-Endurance ModelPain Catastrophizing ScaleAvoidance-Endurance Questionnaire

Dr. Vanessa Komarek, PsyD joins Laurel for a conversation about strength training, trauma myths, gymtimidation, training through pregnancy, and what it actually means to be trauma informed as a coach. They talk about how lifting can support mental health, why fear-based messaging can backfire, where coaching ends and therapy begins, and which evidence-based PTSD treatments deserve more attention than social media trauma narratives.FOLLOW @TheMovementLogic on InstagramWATCH @TheMovementLogic on YouTubeSign up for our Free Barbell Mini Course HERERESOURCESDr. Vanessa Komarek, PsyDInstagram @HeavyLiftingPychologistWebsite www.weightsforwellbeing.com

Amanda Thebe, menopause educator, author, and Naya Health co-founder, critiques venture-backed telemedicine and wellness pivots in menopause care. She highlights marketing that oversells hormone therapy, the move into unproven longevity and weight-loss offerings, and how profit motives reshape clinical priorities. Practical tips for finding ethical, evidence-based care are discussed.

In this episode, Dr. Sarah Court unpacks scoliosis from the ground up, what it is, how it is diagnosed, the different types, and what we actually know about why it happens. She explains the Cobb angle, idiopathic versus congenital, neuromuscular, and degenerative scoliosis, and why muscle imbalances, heavy backpacks, or “bad posture” are not the root cause. Drawing on her own experience living with scoliosis and her time observing medical care in a pediatric hospital setting, she walks through current medical interventions, including observation, bracing, and spinal fusion, along with the real-world tradeoffs that come with each.The episode then turns to exercise. Do you need scoliosis-specific methods like Schroth or SEAS, and do they meaningfully change outcomes? Sarah reviews the current evidence, which suggests small to modest short-term changes at best, with limited high-quality data, especially in adults. She makes the case that most adults with scoliosis do not need to chase curve correction or cosmetic symmetry. Instead, the focus should be on building strength, addressing meaningful side-to-side capacity differences, supporting breathing where needed, and improving function and confidence. Heavy lifting, including deadlifts and squats, is not inherently dangerous for people with scoliosis, and getting stronger is often the most practical, evidence-informed path forward.FOLLOW @theMovementLogic on Instagram Movement Logic: Free Barbell Mini CourseRESOURCES:The Schroth Method The SEAS MethodVIDEO: Schroth in action

In this episode, Laurel and Sarah are joined by Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Director of the Office for Science and Society at McGill University and one of the most experienced science communicators working today. They explore why pseudoscientific health claims spread so effectively, even among educated and well-intentioned people, and why wellness culture is so drawn to simple explanations for complex biological problems.The conversation moves through three dominant narratives shaping modern health messaging: the obsession with finding a single root cause, the moralization of food, chemicals, and health behaviors, and the pressure to optimize every biological variable imaginable. Dr. Schwarcz explains how these narratives distort public understanding of science, create unnecessary anxiety, and distract from the few behaviors that reliably matter for health, like movement, nutrition, and basic risk management.They also discuss how science actually works, including why it changes over time, how peer review can fail, how industry funding complicates research interpretation, and why cherry-picked studies and observational data are so easily weaponized in marketing. The episode closes with practical guidance on how to evaluate health claims, how to think about trust and expertise, and why asking better questions is often more powerful than finding definitive answers.FREE Barbell Mini Course—SIGN UPFOLLOW @MovementLogicTutorials on InstagramVerse Agile Rack, Foldable Home Barbell Rack coupon code MovementLogic50OFFRESOURCESDr. Schwarz's radio showMcGill University blogMcGill University YouTubeBook: The Certainty Illusion, by Timothy Caulfield

In this solo episode, Sarah takes the “doctor vs brand” framework that went viral on Instagram and runs it as a real-time case study on a real company. The target is Cadense, an adaptive shoe that claims to help with foot drop, toe catch, and neurologic walking difficulties using “variable friction” tech, basically a glide-to-grip outsole design meant to reduce toe snagging while still giving traction during stance and push-off. Sarah breaks down what foot drop is, who this type of device might help, who it might put at risk, and why any rehab-adjacent product should be judged on more than vibe, testimonials, or white-coat authority.Then she gets into incentives, the part everyone wants to ignore until it’s their wallet. She walks through Cadense’s ambassador, coach, and affiliate pathways, and uses the full checklist to evaluate where Cadense lands on the clinician-led spectrum, including what they disclose well, what they oversimplify, and what they should tighten up if they want to be truly “do no harm” about a product that can literally change someone’s fall risk. Finally, Sarah looks at the actual research (yes, it exists, no, it’s not robust yet), explains what a five-person pilot study can and can’t prove, and lays out the line she personally won’t cross, recommending a product case-by-case versus becoming financially tied to a medical-ish purchase decision.FREE Barbell Mini Course—SIGN UPFOLLOW @MovementLogicTutorials on InstagramVerse Agile Rack, Foldable Home Barbell Rack coupon code MovementLogic50OFFRESOURCESInstagram Post: When a Doctor Becomes a BrandCadense, Official WebsiteCadense Coaches Program, Clinician PartnershipPilot Study of Cadence, A Novel Shoe for Patients With Foot Drop, Evora et al. 2019NIH Clinical Trial, Variable Friction Shoe vs AFO (NCT06234124)Global Wellness Economy Reaches $6.8 Trillion, Global Wellness Institute

In this episode of the Movement Logic Podcast, Laurel Beversdorf revisits the advice to eat 30 different plants per week and explains why it sounds scientific while resting on a much shakier foundation than it appears. She reflects on encountering the claim, why her and Sarah’s initial reaction was skepticism, and how listener feedback led to a closer look at where the idea came from and how it spread.Laurel breaks down what the American Gut Project actually showed: an observational association between self reported plant variety and gut microbiome diversity in a specific, self selected, largely affluent cohort. She explains why this type of research cannot identify an optimal number of plants or justify turning a statistical cutoff into a universal lifestyle rule, especially given the limits of how plant intake was measured.She then examines how the venture backed consumer health company Zoe translated this association into a prescriptive target and built products around it, arguing that the clarity and certainty of the message functions as marketing rather than sound, science backed health advice. Finally, Laurel zooms out to the emotional and social impact of this advice, explaining how moralized wellness claims turn health into a performance metric while ignoring access, instability, and other social determinants of health.FREE Barbell Mini Course—SIGN UPFOLLOW @MovementLogicTutorials on InstagramRESOURCES113: Debunking Menopause Grifters118: How Should We Eat To Be Healthy? with Abby Langer, RD102: Moralizing MovementAmerican Gut ProjectMcDonald, 2018; PMID: 29795809Book: The Certainty Illusion, by Timothy CaulfieldGuardian Article: ‘Personalising stuff that doesn’t matter’: the trouble with the Zoe nutrition appZoe + Science + Nutrition interview with Prof. Tim SpectorPost: Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple's infographic on scientific processPost: What Peter Attia gets wrongPost: Attia & 30 plants/weekPost: Doctor vs. Brand

Testosterone is everywhere in menopause conversations right now, often framed as a solution for everything from low energy and brain fog to bone health and longevity. In this episode, Dr. Sarah Court, PT breaks down what actually matters when it comes to testosterone for menopausal women, separating social media hype from clinical evidence. The real questions are not whether women have testosterone or whether levels change with age, but whether testosterone should be prescribed, for whom, and what the data truly supports.Using current consensus guidelines, this episode explains why testosterone has one narrow, evidence-based indication, hypoactive sexual desire disorder, and why claims about mood, energy, cognition, bone health, and longevity are not supported by high-quality research. Dr. Court also walks through how testosterone is prescribed in the real world, why the lack of FDA-approved products for women creates problems, and what the safety data does and does not tell us about long-term risks. If you have heard confident claims about testosterone as a menopause cure-all, this episode provides the context you need to evaluate those messages with clarity and skepticism.FOLLOW @MovementLogicTutorials on InstagramMovement Logic: Free Barbell Mini CourseInstagram: Professor Susan DavisInstagram: Dr. Kelly CaspersonGlobal Consensus Position Statement on the Use of Testosterone Therapy for Women — Davis et al., 2019, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & MetabolismISSWSH Clinical Practice Guideline on Systemic Testosterone for Women — Parish et al., 2021Testosterone Therapy for Women, Systematic Review & Meta-analysis(Lancet Review) — Islam et al., 2019Androgen Therapy in Women, A Reappraisal — Davis & Wahlin-Jacobsen, 2015Kelly Casperson blog post — Testosterone Can Help With Libido, Energy, Focus, & More During MenopauseYou Are Not Broken Podcast — Kelly Casperson, MDYouTube Short: Testosterone and Bone HealthYouTube Short: Testosterone, Motivation & Vitality

In this episode of the Movement Logic Podcast, Laurel and Sarah talk with registered dietitian and longtime myth buster Abby Langer, RD, about what it actually means to eat in a healthy, sustainable way. Abby brings clarity to some of the most confusing and overhyped nutrition messages online, explaining the meaningful difference between dietitians and nutritionists, why food guidelines get so much misplaced blame, and why simple habits like eating more fiber, plants, and whole foods still matter far more than clean eating, hormone-balancing diets, or supplement-driven solutions. She breaks down ultra processed foods, weight gain misconceptions, what causes overeating, and why carbs, fruit, sugar, and seed oils have all become targets of unnecessary fear.The conversation also explores protein needs, plant versus animal protein, the role of fiber in digestion and satiety, what gut health is and isn’t, and why probiotic claims are often overstated. Abby shares how her decades of experience in hospitals, primary care, and private practice have shaped her evidence-based approach, and she offers grounded advice on how to build a sane, less anxious relationship with food in a culture that thrives on extremes.SIGN UP for our FREE Barbell Mini CourseFOLLOW @MovementLogicTutorials on InstagramRESOURCESabbylangernutrition.comSubstack: Bite MeInstagram: @abbylanger

In this episode of the Movement Logic Podcast, Sarah discusses two primary methods for measuring bone density: DEXA (Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) and REMS (Radiofrequency Echographic Multi-Spectrometry). The episode explains what each method measures, their technologies, reliability, and practical applications. It compares their availability, cost, accuracy, and limitations. DEXA is recognized as the clinical gold standard but has some limitations, while REMS, although newer, shows promise with advantages in certain clinical situations.Movement Logic Site Wide Sale now on!Follow Movement Logic on InstagramReferences:77: Are You Getting DEXA Scammed?FRAX toolBest Practices for Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry Measurement and ReportingNew technology REMS for bone evaluationCould radiofrequency echographic multispectrometry (REMS) overcome the overestimation in BMD by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at the lumbar spine?DXA beyond bone mineral density and the REMS techniqueCost-effectiveness of radiofrequency echographic multi-spectrometry for the diagnosis of osteoporosis in the United States