Delos Therapy has some amazing clients with extraordinary stories and we want to take the time to share their success with our therapy. Meet Jennifer, a powerlifter struggling with low back and glute pain. Read her interview to find out her amazing transformation since starting Delos.

How did you hear about Delos?

JG: I am a competitive powerlifter, and I have been competing for about 11 years now. When the Oak Brook location opened, Marc and Eric wanted to reach out to neighborhood businesses. They found my gym, 2XL Powerlifting, just around the corner on the north side of Yorktown Mall. My Coach, Eric Stone, mentioned to all of us that Delos was just right down the street, and that we should check them out.

What issues brought you to Delos?

JG: I had an international meet in Chicago, the Amateur World Powerlifting Congress (AWPC) Worlds meet in September of 2017. My training was feeling incredibly average going into the meet, especially since I had a chronic nagging tendinitis in my right elbow and some acute tightness in my lower back and right glute... neither condition would go away. These pains just existed with me as something that I had to "train through", like many strength athletes do. I mean, everyone has chronic pain while training, right? I believed that it wasn't "that bad" and that time spent in recovery after the meet would "fix" everything that was tight. The morning of the meet, my warm ups had gone just fine, and I really thought that I was going to have a good day. I could not have been more wrong. Through my attempts on the platform during the squat, the weights all felt heavy (never a good thing!) and it seemed like no matter how hard I pushed, my body just wouldn't respond. After just barely getting my first two attempts (470 lbs and 520 lbs), I missed on my third attempt at 540 lbs, which would have been a personal record for me. I missed the lift 2/3 of the way up. My body just came to a screeching halt... I remember that I felt like I kept pushing, but the bar just wouldn't move. I had repeat performances in my next two lifts, going 2 for 3 attempts in the bench press (getting 300 lbs and 335 lbs to then miss 340 lbs on my third attempt), and going 2 for 3 attempts in the deadlift (getting 370 lbs and 400 lbs, only to miss 410 lbs on my third attempt). I ended the meet with a 1255 lb total. So disappointing because I knew I was capable of so much more! So many people came up to me to tell me that I almost had those lifts, and that it looked like I just "gave up". Those words cut like a knife because it couldn't have been further from the truth. I had no idea why my body wasn't responding since I knew that I had put months of preparation and training into that meet. Reminiscing back, I am still embarrassed and disappointed by my performance at that meet. I knew that I needed to try something different, and that's when I turned to Delos.

What types of treatments did you try before coming to Delos?

JG: I have tried everything from stretching to chiropractors to massages. Nothing seemed to really address or target my issues. Especially for a strength athlete, we have layers upon layers of built up (for good and bad!) muscle fibers that need attention, and from an educated therapist. Many pain and soft-tissue therapy businesses exist, but in my years of searching for a business with whom to partner, I have never found such an exceptional team of devoted and educated therapists as I have with Delos.

What improvements have you made since starting Delos Therapy?

JG: In just over a year, I have made incredible improvements in my overall health and in my numbers on the platform. I have learned to address any muscle tightness with ongoing therapy, and I have spent my in-season and off-season training cycles making gains instead of nursing and working around injuries. Since my disappointing amateur meet in September of 2017, I competed in my first invitation-only professional meet in November 2018, where I was able to post a 550 lb squat, a 375 lb bench press, and a 420 lb deadlift, for a 1345 total. I added 90 lbs to my total, and have reached a professional status in powerlifting.

What would you say to someone who hasn’t tried Delos Therapy?

JG: I know that I, too, was skeptical when I first started looking for pain management therapy. I thought that Delos was just going to be like everything else that I tried. Sure, you could go try the big-named massage places, and spend your time and money (those places are not cheap!) only to be worked on my someone who doesn't understand how your muscles are connected, why they aren't functioning correctly, or how to break up the knots and tightness that have formed from either overuse or in protection of an injury. If you're serious about understanding what it means to move around using available muscles and to feel what it's like to have different parts of your body working together (sans pain!) just give Delos a try. My only regret is not coming in sooner, thinking back to how much farther along I could be now had I come in earlier.

Tell us something unique about you.

JG: I'm originally from Cleveland, OH. I went to graduate school in physics at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. In 2005, after I finished my masters degree, I was moved out to the Chicagoland area to complete my degree working on the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, IL. I finished with my Ph.D. in experimental high-energy particle physics in 2009. So, being a big science fan, I really appreciate the time and effort that the Delos Therapy team devotes to educating themselves in their craft.