We were lucky to catch up with Beth Howzen Kais recently and have shared our conversation below.

Beth, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I was always involved in competitive sports and training and swam college. In April of 1991 I was a passenger in a major car accident which left me with multiple injuries from my head down to my feet. One of the more severe injuries to my left knee required surgery. Fortunately my surgeon now performed the ACL reconstruction arthroscopically. This new and less invasive technique removed the center portion of my knee tendon and allowed it to be placed in the back of my knee with screws through two small holes instead of a large incision. Quick and easy…

Then came the rehabilitation – long and difficult. It takes at least a year to fully recover. Because this surgery technique was just a few months in practice none of the physicians or physical therapists really knew how to guide me on how to recover let alone get back to my very active lifestyle. In that moment I completely understood that I needed to learn everything about this procedure and my health situation to personally manage my recovery – no one else really had an understanding of my pain, fears or constantly changing limitations.

I left physical therapy and dedicated my time to studying all the research available and experimenting with exercise techniques that worked with my discomfort and instability. Instead of demanding performance from my body I started each day by asking it “What can we do today? What do you, my body, feel confident and comfortable to challenge in this moment?”

As a result I recovered faster than everyone who experienced this surgery and the standard protocol at that time. I was told I would need a knee replacement. That was 23 years ago and I jog 5.5 miles on the beach 4 days a week now and am training for a marathon in the fall.

I use this same approach of extensive research, insight and listening to the body to guide my clients, both healthy and injured, on their journey to realizing their ultimate health and performance goals.

Some life paths are linear, some circular and others look like an EKG graph with peaks and valleys. Make the most out of adapting to and overcoming your challenges – they make you into the amazing person you’re meant to become.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I think like most entrepreneurs I found myself in a position where a completely new issue needed a different approach to ensure a positive outcome. The old saying “I’m not only the owner, I am also a customer” of my own product. I think that approach is essential in cultivating a top tier practice, product or business.

My gift is to see the body and human performance in a completely different way – holistically instead of as a group of individually moving parts. I see how a person’s ability, or inability, to breathe affects ribcage position which then alters head, neck and shoulder position leading to forward head posture, jaw disorders like TMJ, neck straightening, pain and snoring and the inability of the arms to turn in and out and raise overhead – which all lead to elbow and wrist injuries as well.

I see how a person’s pelvis position affects their low back and hips leading to low back pain and disc injury and degeneration, restrictions in hip movement and rotation and a shifting of the center of mass which all lead to back pain, hip injuries and replacement, knee, ankle and foot injuries and a loss of balance.

The recommended exercises correct all of these issues. Because I work with the body as a whole these changes take place very quickly allowing the client to return to a neutral body position in one session with me. The exercises involve the body working with itself and do not require any special equipment or location so they can be performed anywhere at any time. In step one my clients receive both video and written instructions to take with them to do daily in addition to their reports. Once the muscles reactivate and proper alignment and movement is restored I develop a program for step two to emphasize using these muscles in any exercise program. This prevents the body and posture from becoming imbalanced again.

This approach works for everyone whether recovering from injury or trying to take their physical abilities to the next level. The gift I receive back from seeing my clients living their best physical life and out of pain is immeasurable.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I tell everyone the Postural Restoration approach is 90% science and 10% art – however, both are 50% of the success equation. Like all fields there’s “what the book says” and then there’s what the situation in front of you presents. Drawing on the formal knowledge only gets you so far because each person is a unique individual with their own specific challenges. You need to be able to draw from all of your experiences, especially the oddities and exceptions to the rules, when selecting the corrective measures and adapt whenever necessary. Most importantly you need to know and understand the needs and goals of the client – in the end everything you do is all about them.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

I am currently 1 of 74 practitioners guiding clients as they transition from imbalance to optimal performance and I would not change that for anything in the world.

I encourage all others working in the physical performance area to study and adopt the Postural Restoration and Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization methods and their highly effective techniques.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bethkais.com
• Instagram: @beth33139
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethhowzenkais/
• Twitter: https://x.com/SoFiTBethKais
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bethkais9586/videos

Image Credits

just me