Who is Dr. K?
Hey I’m Kristen, aka Dr. K. It’s my mission to help women who already lift or are interested in lifting to get through their pain and get back to getting strong AF. After 5 years as a staff PT in multiple insurance-based clinics with little to no heavy weights and no way to bridge the gap between rehab and training for my patients, I stepped away and created Lioness Strength. Here I seek to help you get out of pain and get back to lifting to revive that badass energy and fulfillment that only the gym can bring.
I earned my Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree from Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York. Prior to that, I earned my Bachelor of Arts in Biology from SUNY New Paltz. Since then, I’ve completed numerous continuing education courses including extensive training in the Mechanical Diagnosis and Treatment (MDT) method.
For my own fitness career, I competed in high level CrossFit for about 10 years. During this time, I was able to compete at Regionals, Wodapalooza, and The Fittest Experience, all on the Rx level. I loved competing and pushing my limits, but I eventually burned out big time, and rerouted toward old fashioned strength and conditioning. I reassessed my relationship with fitness and found more fulfillment in moving to move and in strengthening myself for the future me, to make life feel better overall and still feel like a strong badass woman. I hope to help you in the same way. <3
my approach
my approach
Pain Relief → Gradual Reintegration → Return to Full Training
My framework involves 3 phases.
Phase 1 focuses on symptom relief and finding exercises that get your pain to calm down. We first have to calm sh*t down before we build sh*t back up!
Phase 2 then graudally reintroduces previously painful movements in a slow and sustainable way so your body can build up a tolerance and feel safe again.
Phase 3 is where we get the ball rolling again with a full reintroduction to training under guidance so we can keep an eye on things and make sure we’re making healthy progress.