If your pain keeps coming back, or you’ve seen multiple practitioners without lasting improvement, it is worth asking whether the source of the problem has actually been identified.

Many people have tried treating the painful area directly, stretching, and strengthening, without finding a lasting solution. Often, this is because the area that hurts is not the area that is driving the symptoms.

At Cadence Physiotherapy & Rehab in Vancouver (near Cambie & Broadway), we use ConnectTherapy™ and the Thoracic Ring Approach to assess how your body is working as a whole and identify what is actually causing your pain.

The body is highly interconnected. Some regions influence others in ways that are not always obvious, and treating only the painful area often produces temporary relief rather than lasting change.

For example, one person’s knee pain may be driven by how their foot is loading. Another person’s knee pain may be influenced by how their rib cage or pelvis is moving. The location of the pain tells us where the problem is being felt, not necessarily where it is coming from.
This is the central idea behind treating the body as a whole through ConnectTherapy™.

ConnectTherapy™ is a structured approach to understanding how different parts of your body are connected and how they influence each other.

Instead of focusing only on where it hurts, we:

• Assess the painful area
• Look at how your whole body is moving
• Identify other regions that may be contributing

For example:

• One person’s knee pain may be driven by their foot
• Another person’s knee pain may be influenced by their rib cage or pelvis

This approach helps remove guesswork and creates a clear path forward.

The rib cage is one of the most important—but often overlooked—areas in the body.

It:

• Plays a major role in spinal movement, especially rotation
• Connects to the neck, shoulders, and pelvis through multiple muscle systems
• Influences breathing, posture, and overall movement patterns

Because of these connections, changes in how your rib cage moves can affect joints from head to toe.

The Thoracic Ring Approach is a specific way of assessing and treating the rib cage.

Your rib cage is made up of thoracic rings — each including:

• The ribs
• The spine
• The sternum

When these rings are not aligned or moving well, your body often compensates by:

• Increasing muscle tension
• Limiting movement
• Changing how other areas function

We use precise, hands-on techniques—often applying pressure to the side of the ribs—to improve how these rings move and interact.

This allows us to create meaningful changes in the thorax and spine in a way that is often more effective than treating from the back alone.

1. Full-Body Assessment & Identify the Key Driver(s)
   Your physiotherapist will complete a detailed assessment of how your whole body moves to identify the key areas contributing to your symptoms. We determine which areas are most influencing your pain—not just where it hurts, but what’s actually driving it.
2. Targeted Treatment
   Treatment is focused on the areas that will make the biggest difference. This may include thoracic ring techniques and other hands-on approaches.
3. Integration Through Movement
   You’ll be guided through specific exercises to support the changes and improve how your body moves day-to-day.
4. Clear Plan Forward
   You’ll leave with a clear understanding of what’s contributing to your symptoms and what to focus on moving forward.

This approach is particularly helpful if you:

• Have pain that keeps coming back despite treatment
• Have discomfort in multiple areas
• Have not found lasting results with previous physiotherapy or other practitioners
• Feel that the underlying cause of your symptoms has not yet been identified

• One-on-one, 60-minute assessments
• Structured, whole-body approach
• Focus on understanding—not guessing
• Clear plan based on your specific presentation

If your symptoms have not fully resolved, it may be worth looking beyond just the painful area.

Book an assessment and take a more targeted approach to understanding your body. 

What is ConnectTherapy™? ConnectTherapy™ is a clinical assessment framework developed by physiotherapist Dr. Linda-Joy Lee that evaluates how different regions of the body influence each other. Rather than treating where it hurts, it identifies the primary driver behind your symptoms, which may be in a completely different area of the body.

How is ConnectTherapy™ different from regular physiotherapy? Most physiotherapy approaches assess and treat the area where pain is felt. ConnectTherapy™ uses a systematic whole-body assessment to identify which region is actually driving the symptoms, which may be entirely different from where the pain is located. This distinction matters particularly for people dealing with chronic or recurring symptoms that have not responded to more localized treatment.

What is the Thoracic Ring Approach? The Thoracic Ring Approach is a specific assessment and treatment method for the rib cage developed alongside ConnectTherapy™. It focuses on how the thoracic rings, which include the ribs, corresponding spinal segments, and sternum, are moving and interacting. Improvements in thoracic ring function can reduce strain and symptoms in areas throughout the body.

Why would my rib cage affect pain in other parts of my body? The rib cage connects to the neck, shoulders, and pelvis through multiple muscle and connective tissue systems, and plays a central role in spinal movement. When the thoracic rings are not moving optimally, the body compensates in other areas, which can generate pain and restriction far from the rib cage itself. This is why rib cage assessment is often a key part of treating seemingly unrelated symptoms.

Why does my pain keep coming back despite physiotherapy? Recurring pain often means the underlying driver of the symptoms has not yet been identified. Many approaches focus on the area where pain is felt, which can provide temporary relief without resolving the root cause. ConnectTherapy™ uses a systematic whole-body assessment to find the primary driver, which is sometimes located in a region far from where the pain appears.

Can ConnectTherapy™ help with chronic or long-standing pain? It can be particularly useful in these cases. When pain has been present for a long time or keeps returning despite treatment, it often means the underlying driver has not yet been identified. ConnectTherapy™ is designed to find that driver through a systematic full-body assessment.