Foam rolling is an effective home exercise to improve muscular pain, flexibility, and performance. Our previous blog posts detailed the performance benefits of performing foam rolling either before or after your exercise workouts. Our current understanding of the mechanisms behind these benefits are based on two categories: local circulation and improved stretch tolerance. As our...
Overuse tendon injuries can present as an acute inflammatory response (Tendinitis) or a chronic degeneration condition (tendinopathy). These injuries result when an individual’s volume of activity (type, duration, frequency, and intensity) exceeds the strength and integrity of the tendon. At MEND, we commonly see these injuries in the tendons of the rotator cuff, knee, ankle...
Patellar tendinopathy is one of the more common sports medicine conditions seen in our Boulder Physical Therapy clinic. This condition causes increased pain along the front of the knee just beneath the knee cap and leads to pain with jumping, running, and squatting activities. Current medical evidence has described an absence of inflammatory cells and...
Pelvic floor muscles play an important role in sexual function for both men and women as they help increase and maintain blood flow to the genitals during sexual arousal. Both strength and motor control are important for proper muscle function anywhere in the body, including the pelvic floor. The prevalence of erectile dysfunction is unknown,...
Plantar heel pain, including plantar fasciitis and plantar fasciosis, is associated with pain along the heel and arch of the foot worsened with prolonged standing, walking, or running. This diagnosis is also associated with intense pain first thing in the morning or upon standing after prolonged sitting. Researchers report athletes, active, as well as, sedentary...
In the world of pregnancy and postpartum exercise, lack of available evidence has led to a fear-based model of avoiding heavy weight training due to unknown risk. As more research is being done on the pregnant population the evidence is becoming clear that activity, including heavy weight lifting, does not increase risk to mom or...
Pelvic organ prolapse (or “POP”) occurs when the muscles and connective tissues that support pelvic organs weaken causing descent of the organ (or organs) from their original positions into the pelvic cavity. The type of prolapse depends on where the weakness occurs and what organs are affected. Organs can prolapse independently of one another or...
ACL injuries remain one of the most common sports injuries rehabilitated by Physical Therapists. Athletes returning from ACL injury, treated either conservatively or surgically, face a difficult recovery period due to reduced agility, balance, power, mobility, and strength. Blood flow restriction (BFR) is a commonly used modality combined with exercise to improve muscle strength and...
Elbow pain on the outside of the elbow is most common in individuals’ aged 30-50 y.o. and effects 1-3% of the general population (Shiri et al. 2006). Risk factors for this condition include blue collar workers utilizing repetitive gripping and manipulation in the work place, smokers, and tennis athletes. This condition has previously been described...
Few things remind me of how far we have come as a profession than ultrasound. Early in my career we utilized ultrasound and other modalities to help reduce a patients pain. Initially touted as a medium to deep tissue heating and healing, ultrasound has now fallen out of favor due to the lack of research...
