Instagram story viewer> @rival.pt.lab> Posts

Rival Physical Therapy Lab

@rival.pt.lab

61.7K

followers

281

following

OC | LA | Travel
Dr. Emily Ferree-McFerran PT, DPT, SCS, CMTPT
Sports Clinical Specialist & Biomechanist
Athlete Rehab • Performance • Recovery
USC

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Last week of the NFL regular season: 3 states, 3 days, multiple NFL athletes. ✈️🏈

During the season, injuries are urgent and timing matters. When players call, I go — while still making sure my athletes at home are taken care of.

When I travel for a player, we’re together for hours each day across multiple sessions. The clips you see are just moments inside a very detailed process to keep them healthy, strong, and on the field.

Grateful for the trust. Hope you enjoyed this little behind the scenes of NFL season chaos!

#Grateful #NFLPT #SportsRehab #PhysicalTherapist #AthleteLife SportsPerformance NFLSeason InSeasonCare RehabLife SportsMedicine by @rival.pt.lab

27k

311

8 months ago

It’s an art and a science 😤

This is where sports science, medicine and performance collide 🔐 by @rival.pt.lab

631

22

3 years ago

The off season looks way different than in season care! Now is the time to help build these athletes up to address issues they had during season, improve strength imbalances, enhance performance and rehab existing injuries. While manual therapy is still a part of off season work, the focus is much more on building up the body rather than managing symptoms. by @rival.pt.lab

11k

48

2 years ago

When your bye week means a flight to Orange County.

Different teams. Different cities. Same destination.

Grateful for the trust these guys put in me with their bodies, their careers, and the limited time they have to get right.

The best compliment isn’t what an athlete says about your work.

It’s how far they’re willing to travel for it. ✈️ taken in Orange County, California by @rival.pt.lab

17k

107

15 days ago

The latest episode of Rehab On the Mic is out now!
It was an absolute pleasure having Dr. Emily Ferree on for a chat. Her story and journey are a true inspiration and we hope you'll give it a listen.

Link for the podcast in our bio, or search Rehab On the Mic wherever you like to listen! by @rival.pt.lab

42

0

16 days ago

Got home from work at 11:47pm and recorded this… take it with a grain of salt … and then take your gloves off when you’re doing soft tissue 🤦🏼‍♀️ taken in Los Angeles, California by @rival.pt.lab

1k

90

a month ago

Women have spent decades fighting to be taken seriously in sports.

Fighting to be seen as knowledgeable, capable, competitive, and worthy of a seat at the table, not just something pretty to look at while the men talk sports.

We’ve fought against the idea that our value in this space is tied to our appearance. We’ve fought to have our expertise respected. We’ve fought for women to be athletes, coaches, clinicians, analysts, executives, and fans without constantly having to prove that we actually belong here.

So watching a major sports campaign reduce women right back down to sex appeal feels incredibly backwards.

This one hits home for me. The first job I worked out of school the owner of my clinic and my boss would constantly introduce me as the only woman on staff to agents or athletes coming in and tell them “we had to hire her so we could have some one with looks on staff”. I had to confront him about it and explain that he was immediately dismissing me and my talent and my expertise the second he introduced me to anyone. He didn’t even realize how belittling it was. Just thought he was being funny. Classic 🙄

This isn’t about Sydney Sweeney being attractive. She is. Women can be sexy, feminine, beautiful AND know sports.

It’s about the message we choose to amplify in a space where women have worked so hard to be valued for more than that.

“Think you know sports? Prove it.”

Women have been proving it for decades.

Maybe it’s time sports culture stopped asking us to. taken in Los Angeles, California by @rival.pt.lab

4k

194

a month ago

Sometimes the clinic has to come to the athlete. ✈️🏈

Got the call that an NFL player was dealing with an injury and needed treatment ASAP. A few hours later, I was on a flight with a treatment table and everything I needed to bring the PT clinic to him.

At this level, injuries don’t always happen when it’s convenient—and sometimes getting an athlete back on track means meeting them exactly where they are.

Evaluate. Treat. Build a plan. Get them moving in the right direction.

NFL house calls look a little different. ✈️

#sportsphysicaltherapy #nfl #womeninsports #chiefskingdom #sportsmedicine taken in Kansas City, Missouri by @rival.pt.lab

6k

85

a month ago

Maybe a bit of both? She contains multitudes lol Love you @mikemcferran_ by @rival.pt.lab

8k

60

a month ago

NFL training camp doesn’t always end when players leave the facility. 🏈

During camp, recovery windows are short, workloads are high, and sometimes the best way to get an athlete what they need is to bring treatment to them.

House calls. Hotel rooms. Wherever they’re staying. Whatever fits into their schedule.

A big part of working in professional sports is understanding that availability and adaptability are part of the job. You’re working around practices, meetings, lifts, travel, treatment at the facility, and the very limited downtime these athletes have.

Sometimes that means hauling equipment through a hotel lobby after a long day of camp.

It’s not glamorous—but this is what individualized care in pro sports can look like behind the scenes.

Meet the athlete where they are. Give them what they need. Get them ready to do it all again tomorrow. 🏈

If you’re serious about pursuing a job in pro sports as a physical therapist check out the mentorship I run for sports PT at https://www.rivalpt.com/mentorship or comment MENTORSHIP DETAILS and I’ll DM you the details for our next cohort!

#SportsPT #NFL #NFLTrainingCamp #PhysicalTherapy #SportsRehab taken in Los Angeles, California by @rival.pt.lab

2k

26

2 months ago

Female athletes are constantly being asked to do two conflicting things:

Stay as small and lean as possible — but also be strong, powerful, resilient, and perform at an elite level.

We need to stop pretending those goals always coexist.

Your body cannot build muscle, repair injured tissue, adapt to training, maintain bone health, and recover appropriately without adequate fuel.

Rehab is training. Healing is metabolically expensive. Building new tissue requires energy.

You can have the perfect rehab program, the best strength coach, the best PT, and every recovery modality available — but if you’re chronically under-fueling, you’re asking your body to rebuild without giving it the raw materials to do so.

And this goes beyond injury recovery. Under-fueling can mean:

* decreased strength and power
* impaired training adaptations
* poorer recovery
* increased fatigue
* compromised bone health
* increased injury risk

Being lighter does not automatically make you a better athlete. Being properly fueled might.

Female athletes deserve to be taught that food isn’t something they have to earn or minimize. It’s part of the performance plan.

You cannot starve your way to optimal performance.

Fuel the athlete you’re asking your body to become.

Was inspired by @movelikeamotha for this reel. Wanted to put it in a rehab context as well. She’s an incredible follow for core recovery and training for any female athletes out there! taken in Los Angeles, California by @rival.pt.lab

654

27

2 months ago

I built the mentorship I wish I had when I was trying to break into professional sports.

Because the truth is, becoming a great sports PT takes more than knowing your anatomy, passing your boards, or collecting certifications.

You need to understand how to think like a sports PT.

How do you take an athlete from rehab → training → performance?

How do you manage an NFL player in-season when “rest” isn’t an option?

How do you build a return-to-throw progression for a pitcher?

How do you communicate with strength coaches, athletic trainers, agents, coaches and performance staff?

And maybe just as importantly…

How do you actually build a career that gets you into those rooms in the first place?

After 10 years working with athletes across the NFL, MLB, NBA and other professional sports—and years running a biomechanics lab—I created my Sports Physical Therapy Mentorship to teach the things I learned actually doing the job.

We cover real-world sports rehab, return to performance, biomechanics, workload management and clinical decision making—but we also talk about the part that almost no one teaches:

How to build a career in sports.

Getting your first professional athletes.
Building referral networks.
Networking within the sports industry.
Working alongside performance professionals.
Choosing the right continuing education.
Building your reputation.
And creating opportunities instead of waiting for someone to give you one.

This mentorship isn’t about memorizing protocols.

It’s about learning how to evaluate, problem solve and make decisions when the athlete in front of you needs to perform at the highest level.

If your goal is to work with high-level athletes—or you already do and want to become better at it—this is for you.

Comment “MENTORSHIP DETAILS” and I’ll send you the details for the next cohort or check out the link in my bio! by @rival.pt.lab

1k

142

2 months ago