Popular trends include lymphatic walking, which emphasizes relaxed movement, deep breathing, good posture, and natural arm swing, as well as rebounding and dynamic stretching routines. 

Tiana Woolridge, MD, MPH, sports medicine physician at HSS, weighed in on the trend, stating that ultimately, “movement is medicine, no matter what kind of health we’re talking about." If the goal of supporting your lymphatic health gets you moving, she added, your whole body will benefit.

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Growing up in Los Angeles, Dr. Woolridge was inspired by her mother’s advice to pursue a career centered on helping others, a principle that continues to guide her work today.

“I love my job because I can help kids like me, athletes, black kids, a lot of people in ways I dreamed about when I was younger,” she said. “I take the work I do in health education outside of the hospital to meet kids where they are, to serve underserved communities.”

A Princeton University graduate, Dr. Woolridge earned a Master of Public Health from Harvard University and her medical degree from the University of California before joining HSS in 2024.

Dr. Woolridge is focused not just on physical well-being but also on the interplay between physical health, mental well-being and performance. Her book, “The AthMindset Workbook: Training Your Mind for Optimal Mental Health in Sport and in Life,” is designed to help athletes’ mental performance on and off the playing field. She speaks frequently to communities and athletic organizations and at conferences and schools about “wellness, resilience and identity.”

“I want to help expand, uplift and support youth athletes, be seen as a leader nationally and internationally,” she said.

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“I have personally experienced what the loss of ability to exercise does to people’s physical and mental health,” said Dr. Woolridge. Dr. Woolridge has also seen how beneficial the perspective shift can be for people — herself included — post-injury. “I tore my Achilles the first day of my last season as a college athlete when I was 21 years old,” she said. “I went from being the most physically capable person I’d ever been in my life to not even being able to put weight on my foot for two months.” 

Now as a doctor at the same institution where she got her surgery, she calls on that experience, incorporating “mental rehab” suggestions for patients, such as mindfulness meditation, gratitude practices, or therapy, in addition to helping them figure out safe ways they can move while injured (eg cycling instead of running). Understanding how powerful movement can be for mental health has also led her to talk about this side of exercise with her patients who don’t yet have a regular fitness routine.

Read the full article at medscape.com.

The condition, technically known as adhesive capsulitis, is pain that occurs when there’s inflammation around the shoulder joint that eventually leads to “freezing,” meaning the shoulder’s range of motion is limited and the arm can’t move or rise above a certain point. It often occurs in one arm, without injury, and is experienced in three stages. The length of each stage varies, but on average, each stage lasts four months. In the first stage, there is inflammation that results in intense pain. When the pain becomes less acute, the shoulder sticks, or freezes, in a certain position in the second stage, restricting mobility. 

“The most common thing that I will hear from my patients is, ‘I can’t take my bra on and off. I can’t turn my arm in. I can’t reach to put something on the top shelf. I can’t get my jacket on,’” said Dr. Woolridge. Mobility finally returns in the third, thawing stage.

“We don’t want people out there just suffering in silence and just not able to use their arm for a long time, developing atrophy or weakness of the arm because they’re just like, ‘Oh, whatever, it’ll get better eventually," Dr. Woolridge said. “And then three, four years later, they’re still having issues with that shoulder.”

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According to Dr. Woolridge, exercise provides incredible benefits for both short- and long-term brain health. In just a few months of consistent exercise, physical activity can help improve your memory, focus, decision-making, and processing speed. But even a single workout can improve your cognition, she shared. “There’s evidence that a single session of exercise can temporarily improve focus and mental performance. So a quick workout before an important meeting or presentation can actually sharpen your performance.”

“When you exercise, your brain releases several important chemicals. One of these, called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, stimulates the growth of new blood vessels and neurons in the brain,” Dr. Woolridge continued. “Physical activity also triggers the release of molecules that reduce brain inflammation and protect brain cells from damage, while also boosting neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin that regulate mood and cognition.”

“Exercise is one of the most powerful tools we have for maintaining brain health across the lifespan, and it's never too early—or too late—to start,” Dr. Woolridge said. “But think of it as one essential component of a comprehensive brain health strategy that also includes quality sleep, stress management, social connection, and mental stimulation.”

Read the full article at womenshealthmag.com.

Dr. Woolridge studies how factors such as sleep, stress, and mental well-being can predict injury risk and influence recovery, particularly in young athletes. Her work bridges the fields of orthopedics and psychology, reminding us that performance isn’t just about strength; it’s about balance.

She also raises awareness about early sports specialization, illustrating how focusing on one sport too early can lead to increased burnout and a higher risk of long-term injury. “Physical trauma can be a chance to build mental strength,” she said. “Recovery is not just about getting back to the game, it’s about coming back better.”

Listen to the full episode at newswise.com. 

A weighted vest is a garment with sewn-in or removable weights. When worn during a walk, weighted vests increase your body weight, and, therefore, the intensity of your workout.

According to Tiana S. Woolridge, MD, MPH, sports medicine physician at HSS, that extra load makes your body work harder with every step, which has many beneficial effects. “Weighted vest walking improves cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance, and bone health, with weight loss as a possible secondary benefit,” she explained. 

Read the full article at everydayhealth.com.

Tiana S. Woolridge, MD, MPH primary sports medicine physician at HSS, agrees that more kids – both young athletes and those who are not involved in organised sports – are training more than ever before. 

Dr. Woolridge cites fitness influencers and social media as partially responsible. “There have been some interesting trends that have happened in the fitness and wellness world that have trickled down to kids,” she says, including trends like the emphasis on building muscle or eating a protein-forward diet. “Part of the benefit of that is it does push people, even if they're not athletes, to want to work out, which has obvious physical health benefits,” she says, although of course this can have the opposite effect when taken to the extreme.

Read the full article at womenshealthmag.com.

Tiana S. Woolridge, MD, MPH, sports medicine physician at HSS, shares how to protect your muscles and joints.

Compared with contact sports like soccer and basketball, recreational tennis poses a fairly low risk of acute injury, said Dr. Woolridge.

Even so, games like tennis and pickleball are full of repetitive and high-impact movements, such as lunging for balls and swinging the racket, and that can put a lot of stress on the body.

Dr. Woolridge explained that shoulder-strengthening exercises, like scapular rows and shoulder extensions with a resistance band, should be a staple in every tennis player’s routine. 

These exercises can also ward off tennis elbow, as can wrist-strengthening drills like wrist curl flexion and extension exercises. For both drills, work up to 30 reps and then add a light dumbbell of no more than five pounds.

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