Frequently Asked Questions

It sounds counterintuitive. How can online be better than in-person? But, here's what I (Dr. Abe) have learned after working in both traditional physical therapy and chiropractic clinics and now online:

In-person feels more personalized, but it's actually more limited.

When you go to a clinic, they see you for 45 minutes at most, and maybe 2-3x a week. That's 3 hours max, out of 168 hours in your week. When I was seeing people in person, I had no idea what's happening the other 165 hours.

Online, we see everything.

My clients send me DAILY updates: pain levels, exercise feedback, videos of their workouts, questions as they come up. NOT just twice a week when they show up to their appointment.

I support them at the gym, on business trips, on vacation, or even at night when they have a question. I can adjust their plan immediately based on what's actually happening in their life.

Another key difference:

Your local PT or chiropractor sees everyone and every injury... knee pain, shoulder issues, post-surgery rehab, sports injuries, you name it. They're generalists.

I ONLY work with active adults, like you, with herniated discs and sciatica who want to get back exercising, being active with their kids, or just being able to go on a vacation without fear of reinjury.

That's why our clients get better results online than they ever did in-person.

We get it, you've invested time, money, and hope into treatments that didn't get you back to your life. So why would this be any different?

Here's the truth: PT and chiro didn't fail you. The model failed you.

You went to PT or the chiro for 6-8 weeks. You did bird dogs, clamshells, and did some stretches. Maybe it helped a little, you felt 60-70% better. But then you got discharged because your insurance stopped paying.

Or you went to the chiropractor twice a week for months. The adjustments felt good temporarily, but the pain kept coming back.

This is what was missing:

Neither approach gave you a customized plan to progressively rebuild your spine's capacity to handle load. They treated your symptoms, not the root issue. You were given generic exercises and the same adjustment each week, but they didn't teach you how to manage this yourself long-term.

Here's what we do differently:

We provide you with education, instead of just exercises. You learn WHY you're doing each movement, WHEN to progress, and HOW to listen to your body so you understand what to do next.

We don't stop at bird dogs and clamshells. We create a customized plan for you to reach your goals to help you go from: "I'm scared to bend over" to "I just hit a PR."

Our goal is NOT to keep you around forever.

It's to teach you to manage yourself so you never need us or any provider... ever again.

We are not anti-surgery, and we not going to tell you to ignore your doctor. There are legitimate cases where surgery is necessary:

Severe nerve compression with progressive weakness

Loss of bowel/bladder control (cauda equina syndrome)

Failure of TRUE conservative treatment (not just rest and stretches)

But this is what research shows:

The majority of herniated discs respond to conservative treatment when it's done correctly.

The problem is, most people never get true conservative treatment.

What they get from the traditional approach:

6-8 weeks of generic PT exercises

Passive treatments (adjustments, massage, injections)

Advice to "rest and avoid aggravating movements"

The people who end up needing surgery usually waited too long to address the issue.

They rested for months, got weaker, more fearful, and more deconditioned. By the time they considered structured rehab, conservative treatment became much harder.

Sure, you can absolutely try that. But, you probably have been doing that, right?

If you're still here reading these FAQs, you are probably still struggling with this.

What's missing with DIY:

Personalization. Core exercises and stretches from YouTube don't account for YOUR body, YOUR pain patterns, YOUR movement limitations. What works for someone else might not work for you—or might even make things worse.

Progression. Stretches and basic core work don't rebuild your spine's capacity to handle real load. They might help you feel better temporarily, but they don't get you back to deadlifting, playing with your kids, or living without fear.

Troubleshooting. When something doesn't feel right, you have no one to ask. You're left guessing: "Is this normal? Should I push through? Should I stop?"

The result?

You stay stuck doing the same basic exercises for months, never actually building the capacity to get back to your life.

Our clients send us daily updates. We see:

Exactly when their pain flares up and what caused it

How they respond to each exercise (not just the ones they do in a visit)

What questions they have in real time (not days later when they've forgotten)

Patterns over weeks and months that aren't documented in-person

We see your entire recovery process.

And because we see everything, we can adjust your plan immediately instead of waiting until your next appointment.

What YOU feel and experience is more important than what a clinician says is wrong with you.

We don't need to poke around and "find" problems to justify another appointment. We listen to what YOU'RE telling us about YOUR body. And we fine-tune your plan around that, instead of around what someone thinks they need to "fix" to keep you coming back.

That's the difference between creating dependency and independence.

This requires you to make yourself a priority.

I can give you the best plan in the world, but if you're not willing to make yourself a priority, nothing will change. My clients spend on average 30-60 minutes each day.

This isn't one big block of time. It's small chunks:

10-15 minutes for your check-ins

15-20 minutes for mobility or corrective work (at home, at your desk, before bed)

10 minutes to log your results and send me feedback

This is actually one of the biggest advantages of working online.

Most people don't have access to the same equipment, so we don't hand you a cookie-cutter program. We work with what you have access to and get creative with how we use your environment. You don't need access to a full gym, and if you travel for work we can find different strategies.

Traditional PT or training can't adapt to that. They give you a program based on their equipment, and when your situation changes, you're delaying progress.

We do the opposite.

We build your program around what YOU have access to and we adjust it as your situation changes. We can build a program with minimal equipment (bands, weights, bodyweight)