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Aaron Wang, PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS, XPS, Cert. DN, CPT

@dpt.aaron

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🏆 Helping athletes recover & perform
🎓 OSU ‘21 | Emory DPT | UD Residency
🏋️‍♂️ Former Collegiate S&C Coach
📍 Director of Sports PT | Onyx Elite

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IS MANUAL THERAPY THE FIX TO EVERY ISSUE? NO!

IS IT HELPFUL? ABSOLUTELY!

Why? Because it can allow us to MOVE and LOAD with LESS PAIN!

Manual therapy is largely NEUROMODULATORY in nature. Techniques like cupping, massage, and dry needling provide sensory input that can influence how the brain and spinal cord process pain.

AND THE RESEARCH SUPPORTS IT! 📚

Research shows that manual therapy can temporarily decrease pain sensitivity and improve pain tolerance. These benefits don’t necessarily come from “breaking up adhesions” or physically changing tissue, but may instead involve changes in how our nervous system processes pain.

BUT LESS PAIN DOESN’T MEAN THE PROBLEM IS FIXED!

We still need progressive loading to build strength, improve tissue capacity, and create long-term improvements.

Manual therapy opens the door. Exercise helps you walk through it. 💪 (props to @huncho_ron3 for being the embodiment of a patient who buys into this!)

Research:
Bialosky et al. (2009) – Neurophysiological mechanisms of manual therapy
Chys et al. (2023) – Dry needling and short-term pain relief
Jia et al. (2025) – Cupping therapy and musculoskeletal pain
Mak et al. (2024) – Massage therapy for pain

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THIS IS HOW TO PROPERLY REHAB YOUR ACHILLES PAIN!

Achilles tendinopathy isn’t simply an inflammatory condition. It’s a tendon-loading problem that responds well to progressive, appropriately dosed exercise.

Here’s how we approach Achilles rehab with our athletes:

1️⃣ ISOMETRICS + HEAVY ECCENTRICS | BUILD LOAD TOLERANCE

Sustained calf raise holds and progressively loaded eccentric exercises help improve the Achilles’ ability to tolerate mechanical stress. Heavy loading can be introduced early when symptoms allow!

2️⃣ ISOTONICS + LOW-LOAD PLYOMETRICS | DEVELOP STRENGTH & ELASTIC CAPACITY

Progressive concentric/eccentric calf strengthening builds muscular capacity, while low-level pogo hops and rhythmic bouncing begin restoring the tendon’s ability to store and release elastic energy.

3️⃣ HEAVY STRENGTH + HIGH-LOAD PLYOMETRICS | RETURN TO PERFORMANCE

Heavy calf strengthening, single-leg hopping, reactive plyometrics, and sprinting progressions prepare the Achilles for the high-force demands of sport.

WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY? 📚

Beyer et al. (2015) demonstrated significant improvements in pain and function with both heavy slow resistance and eccentric training.

Silbernagel et al. (2007) demonstrated that appropriately monitored running and jumping can continue during rehabilitation without compromising recovery.

THE TAKEAWAY: Achilles rehab shouldn’t stop when pain improves. The goal is to restore strength, tendon capacity, and the ability to tolerate high-level athletic demands.

Progress loading based on symptoms, function, and the tendon’s 24-hour response. These stages overlap and should be individualized.

PAIN REDUCTION IS THE START. PERFORMANCE IS THE GOAL

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TKE’s, but make it harder! 🦵💥

Plate Stomps combine a resisted TKE with aggressive force production into the ground.

Stomp the plate down.
Drive the knee back into terminal extension.
Then slowly control the eccentric phase back down.

The goal isn’t just to straighten the knee — it’s to create force within the quadriceps in the concentric and eccentric phase by owning the lockout, and then maintaining quad control as the resistance pulls you back out of it.

Power up. Control down. Own the range.

A simple way to bridge the gap between traditional quad strengthening and the force demands athletes actually see on the field or court.

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Team Onyx 🫱🏽‍🫲🏾 Dr O

ACL Rehab is a journey that we wish we didn’t have to take but we’re thankful for the opportunity to work with the incredible team at @dr.o_forthe804 to provide the best in class service for athletes. More importantly we are proud of the work @burkefournier has put in to give himself the opportunity to comeback from surgery and play at the next level!

LEVEL.THE.PLAYING.FIELD

#acl #rehab #performancetraining #physicaltherapy #strengthandconditioning

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If you wanted to climb Mt. Everest, would you choose a guide who’s brought people to the summit, or the person who studied the mountain on a map?

Performance x Physical Therapy for athletes, by athletes

#strengthandconditioning #performancetraining #physicaltherapy #speedandagility #football all

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Hamstring rehab isn’t complete when the pain is gone. It’s complete when the athlete is ready to sprint again.” 🏈💨

Minor hamstring strains often return quickly—but that doesn’t mean rehab should be rushed. The goal isn’t just to calm symptoms; it’s to progressively restore the strength, mechanics, and sprint-specific qualities required to handle game-speed demands.

Every session starts by preparing the tissue for higher-speed loading—not just warming up.

🔥 Movement Prep
• Single-leg bridges to restore posterior chain activation.
• Anterior/posterior wobbles to challenge single-leg stability and dynamic ankle control.
• 90/90 bridges to integrate hamstring function with trunk and pelvic stability.
• Seated hamstring flexion to progressively activate the injured tissue through increasing knee flexion demands.

🏋️ Long-length strength progression
• Dual-stance RDL
• Kickstand RDL
• Reactive catch RDL

(All performed on a Wolf Wedge to increase hip flexion demand and expose the hamstrings to greater loading at longer muscle lengths.)

➡️ Single-leg capacity
Deep slider lunges with a hamstring pull-up to challenge force production, pelvic control, and end-range strength.

🏃 Return-to-sprinting progression
Before exposing the athlete to high-speed sprinting, we restored movement quality with lateral shuffles, carioca, and stop-start drills. From there, we progressed into Woodway B-skips to reintroduce terminal swing mechanics before building linear running exposure at 50–70% of max velocity as we continue to build his strength towards full effort sprints.

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Your shoulders deserve more than a few arm circles.

If you lift, throw, play overhead sports, or just want healthier shoulders, spend 5 minutes preparing them before your workout.

This progression focuses on:
✅ Rotator cuff activation
✅ Scapular stability
✅ Serratus activation
✅ Overhead mobility
✅ Reactive shoulder control

The goal isn’t to fatigue your shoulders—it’s to activate the muscles that keep them moving well and feeling strong before you train.

Healthy shoulders aren’t built by luck. They’re built by consistently preparing them for the work ahead.

💾 Save this warm-up for your next upper-body session.

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🚨 Your groin rehab shouldn’t end with Copenhagen planks.

If you’re trying to get back to sprinting, cutting, changing direction, and competing at a high level, your adductors need to do a lot more than just produce force.

Here’s a progression I use with athletes in the later stages of adductor rehab:

✅ Unsupported Airplanes
✅ Lateral Slide Outs
✅ Adductor Squeeze V-Ups
✅ 90/90 Adductor Rotations
✅ Trapped Roller RDL + Rotation
✅ Trapped Roller Reverse Lunge + Rotation

These exercises challenge the adductors to stabilize the pelvis, resist unwanted motion, and coordinate with the core through multiple planes of movement—the same demands they’ll face when you return to sport.

Remember: rehab isn’t just about getting stronger. It’s about preparing your body for the chaos of competition.

Save this for your next lower-body training session, and follow for more evidence-based rehab and performance content built for athletes. 💪🏽🏃‍♂️⚽🏈

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TKEs aren’t bad… they’re just not always enough.

Traditional TKEs are a fantastic way to wake up the quadriceps, improve terminal knee extension, and get the knee ready before a challenging rehab session or training day.

But once you’re in the later stages of rehab or training for a return to sport, it’s time to ask your body to do more.

This hip hinge + TKE progression combines quad activation with:
✅ Single-leg stability
✅ Hip stability and glute control
✅ Dynamic knee stability
✅ Balance and proprioception
✅ Force production through the stance leg

The hip hinge loads the posterior chain while the band challenges you to maintain full knee extension, forcing the hip, knee, foot, and core to work together—the same way they have to during running, cutting, and jumping.

Remember: rehab shouldn’t just strengthen muscles—it should prepare you for the demands of your sport.

Have you tried this progression before? Let me know what you think. 👇

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Stop doing the same jump over and over.

A good jump program should progress from:
✅ Producing force
✅ Repeating force
✅ Producing force against resistance
✅ Absorbing force safely

This progression starts with simple countermovement jumps and finishes with landing-focused variations that challenge control, stability, and force absorption.

The goal isn’t just jumping higher—it’s becoming a more complete athlete.

Save this progression for your next speed and power session. 🚀

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Most hamstring rehab gets athletes out of pain.

Great hamstring rehab gets them ready for sport.

If you’re a field athlete, sprinter, or change-of-direction athlete, your hamstring program should eventually include strength, lengthening, stability, and power—not just curls and stretching.

Check out my latest reel for 5 great hamstring exercises to build strength, resilience, and performance. 🔥

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Think your bridges are too easy?

Try this progression:

➡️ Floor
➡️ Heels Elevated
➡️ Med Ball

At every level:
2 legs → Right leg → Left leg

The goal isn’t just to survive the exercise—it’s to own the position, control your pelvis, and challenge your hamstrings one leg at a time.

Simple progression. Massive payoff.

Save this for your next lower-body day and follow for more athlete rehab and performance tip

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