Centered Physical Therapy & WellnessMovement and load assessment
We look at how you move under load — single-leg strength, hip stability, how your body absorbs impact. Running is a single-leg sport. Most generic PT programs miss this entirely.
Learn about urinary incontinence →Running injuries, leaking during runs, hip pain that won't resolve. If you've been told to rest and wait, there's a more specific answer than that. Centered Physical Therapy works with runners in Portland to assess what's actually happening — mechanics, load, pelvic floor, and orthopedic function together — and build a clear path back.
Most runners who've been injured before know the cycle. Something hurts, you rest, it feels better, you run again, it comes back. Sometimes within weeks. Sometimes the same mile, the same hill, the same side.
The cycle usually isn't about willpower or patience. It's about what didn't get assessed the first time — load management, gait mechanics, strength deficits, and whether the pelvic floor and hip complex are actually doing their job while you run.
“We're the only place where you can come in with a pelvic floor issue that's connected to your running mechanics… and have one clinician who understands all of it.” — Dr. Sarah Lindholm, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT
At Centered, return to running is a structured program, not a vague progression. There are clear milestones. There are objective benchmarks before you advance. You know where you are in the process and what has to be true before the next stage. That's different from 'let's see how you feel next week.'
Runners recovering from a specific injury — plantar fasciitis, IT band syndrome, stress fracture, ACL, hamstring, hip labrum. Postpartum runners who've been cleared by their OB but aren't sure what 'cleared' actually means for a 5K. Runners who leak during runs and have been told that's just part of it. It's not.
Also: runners who feel mostly fine but have a history of recurring injuries and want to know if their mechanics are setting them up for another one. You don't have to be in pain to benefit from a proper return-to-running assessment.
The first visit is a full hour. We start with your history — what happened, what you've tried, how long you've been dealing with it, what your running looked like before. Then we assess.
We look at how you move under load — single-leg strength, hip stability, how your body absorbs impact. Running is a single-leg sport. Most generic PT programs miss this entirely.
Learn about urinary incontinence →We assess your running mechanics directly. Cadence, foot strike, trunk position, arm carry. If something in your form is driving the injury, we name it and address it — not with a cue sheet, but with specific retraining.
Learn about pelvic pain →This is what makes Centered different from a standard sports PT. If you're leaking during runs, or your hip pain traces to pelvic floor tension, those two things get assessed together by the same clinician. You don't get a referral to someone else. You get the whole picture in one place.
Learn about painful sex →Return-to-running isn't a date on a calendar. It's a set of benchmarks — strength ratios, single-leg stability, load tolerance, symptom response. You advance when you meet the criteria, not just when enough time has passed.
Six weeks out, six months out, six years out. The abdominal separation, the core weakness, the pelvic floor that's not bouncing back, the pain that nobody warned you about. It's not too late.
Postpartum recovery →Back, hip, pubic bone, pelvic pain during pregnancy. PT is safe and one of the most useful things you can do to prepare for delivery and protect your body as the pregnancy progresses.
Pregnancy-related pain →Coccyx pain that's been “just sitting wrong” for months or years. Often connected to pelvic floor muscle tension or a long-ago fall that healed badly. It can almost always be improved.
Constipation, urgency, incomplete emptying, pain with bowel movements. The pelvic floor coordinates a lot of this; when it's not working, things stop working downstream.
The muscle-driven layer of endometriosis pain: pelvic floor tension, hip and back pain that surgery and medication don't address. PT is increasingly recognized as a core part of endo care.
Plantar fasciitis. IT band syndrome. Patellofemoral pain (runner's knee). Stress reactions and stress fractures. Hamstring strains. Hip labral issues. Achilles tendinopathy. Postpartum return-to-running complications, including leaking, prolapse symptoms, and pelvic girdle pain.
Stress urinary incontinence during running is common. It is not normal, and it is not something you manage around. It's a sign the pelvic floor isn't coordinating properly with the impact load of running — and it's treatable. Many runners don't mention it because they assume nothing can be done. Something can be done.
Hip pain that persists despite standard strengthening often has a pelvic floor component. The hip rotators and pelvic floor share anatomy and function. If one is compensating, the other usually shows it. Treating the hip alone, without assessing pelvic floor function, misses part of the picture.
If it's clinically relevant to what we're working on, we'll talk through what it involves and offer it. Always with your explicit consent. Always something you can decline or postpone. It's never the entire visit, and it's never required for us to start work.
You leave the first visit knowing what we think is going on, what the work will look like, how many visits we're likely talking about, and what success looks like. You don't have to commit to anything that day.
One clinician. The full hour. Every visit. No aides, no double-booking, no handing you off to a tech with a theraband. The clinician who does your initial assessment is the one who sees you through the program.
“The cash-pay model is the reason I can give you a full hour, the reason I'm not double-booked, and the reason we can actually build a real plan instead of just treating the acute symptom.”Dr. Sarah Lindholm, on how Centered operates
The combination of pelvic floor training, orthopedic manual therapy, and return-to-running protocols in a single practice isn't common. Most runners have to piece this together across multiple providers — a PT for the knee, a different referral for the pelvic floor, no one looking at how it all connects. That fragmented approach is part of why the injury keeps coming back.
When is it safe to return to running after an injury?
There isn't a universal timeline, and anyone who gives you one without assessing you is guessing. Safe return depends on specific benchmarks: strength symmetry, load tolerance, single-leg stability, and symptom response during progressive loading. The criteria vary by injury type. What we can tell you after the first visit is where you are relative to those benchmarks and what needs to happen before you run again.
How many sessions does a return-to-running program typically take?
It depends on the injury, how long it's been present, and where you are in recovery when we start. A straightforward case with a recent injury and no prior complications might take six to eight sessions. A more complex picture — recurring injury, pelvic floor involvement, significant gait retraining — takes longer. After the first visit, you'll have a realistic estimate, not an open-ended commitment.
Can physical therapy fix running form problems that cause recurring injuries?
Yes, with specificity. Generic cues don't change mechanics long-term. What works is identifying the specific pattern driving the injury, understanding why it's happening — whether that's a strength deficit, a mobility limitation, or a motor control issue — and retraining it under progressive load. That's a different process than being told to 'run taller' or 'land softer.'
A free thirty-minute call is the starting point. Not a sales call. A conversation about your injury, your running history, and whether this program is the right fit. If it's not, we'll tell you that too.
Centered Physical Therapy & Wellness is located at 4521 NE Sandy Blvd, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97213. Reach us at (608) 710-9885.
When it is done, it isn't a procedure-style exam. It's a clinician carefully assessing muscle tone, tenderness, coordination, and strength — usually with one gloved finger, very gently. It is not painful when done correctly. You can pause it, decline parts of it, or stop entirely at any moment.
It depends on what's going on and how long it's been going on. A clear answer takes the first evaluation, but most patients land somewhere between four and twelve visits, often spread out over weeks or months as the work shifts from acute care into building durability.
You'll have a written plan and a timeline after the first visit. You'll know what we're working toward and how we'll know you're done.
Almost never. We routinely treat patients who are years (sometimes decades) into their symptoms and have been told this is “just how it is now.” It usually isn't.
If something is bad enough that you're researching it, it's worth a thirty-minute call. Pelvic floor issues rarely fix themselves and often get worse with the demands of running, lifting, pregnancy, or aging. Catching them earlier is easier than catching them later.