Hello and welcome to a new episode of Science of Slink, the evidence based pole podcast! This week we are joined by Dr.Val Oliphant. Dr.Val is a DPT physical therapist specializing in dance, circus arts, and pelvic floor needs, a professional dancer and teacher. Today we are talking about how your pole teaching informs your PT & vice versa, the most common issues seen in pole dancers, the sneakiest (maybe not most common but hardest to notice) issues seen in pole dancers, Progressions, and Regressions. Val discusses how a focus as of recent has been bridging the active/passive flexibility gap. She has discovered over her years as a physical therapist that exercising flexibility during training strengthening is the most applicable to real life, especially with an exercise like pole dance. A recent discovery that we explored was how stretching has evolved as research of the nervous system has recently come to light. One example of this is when we think we are stretching our hamstrings but we are pulling out sciatica nerve. Nerves prefer gente motions back and forth with fewer reps. The sneakiest issues seen in pole we think are elbow, shoulder, and wrist tendon issues created from trying to progress without the background of strength and mobility needed. Another common issue as you progress is only working one side. So what are Progressions and Regressions? This issue began with the isolation of learning to one move at a time rather than seeing the progression of learning. This issue stemmed primarily from social media and a lack of a standardized guide for building pole proficiency. Regressing is something that is very natural in pole and comes with the journey of our lives and changes in how we interact with and set goals in the pole space. Regressing isnt necessarily losing quality, it is changing how we move with the goal of being comfortable in our practice. Val and I like to frame injuries and changes as “de-loading” which is a term typically in sports. This deloading time allows us to explore more sustainable ways to practice and move forward. Where to find more of Val: Rose Physical Therapy Alchemy performing arts Pole Pressure https://www.instagram.com/valpolephant/ Slink Through Strength Email Sign Up:  ⁠http://eepurl.com/iimjnX⁠ Join pole instructor & personal trainer Rosy Boa as she chats with experts about the evidence-based practices you can introduce to your pole journey to improve your pole journey and feel better. The Evidence-Based Pole Podcast aims to help pole dancers feel better on and off the pole by talking with experts and diving into relevant scientific research to find evidence-based insights we can apply to our pole journeys. It’s a production of Slink Through Strength, the inclusive, evidence-based online pole studio, which can be found online at slinkthroughstrength.com. Edited by: Simone Rossette  [email protected] --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rosy-boa/support