Hip impingement (FAI) is one of the fastest growing orthopedic surgeries, but much of this growth has outpaced our current understanding of this condition. A key question involves the additional bone development (cam and pincer lesions) found among athletes. Many of these athletes remain asymptomatic despite having positive findings of impingement on x ray and...
Despite the fact that bones respond favorably to high impact exercise and high-intensity resistance training these types of exercise are typically avoided in women with osteoporosis due to concerns that heavy loading of ‘fragile’ bone may result in increased risk of fracture. The LIFTMOR trial (Watson et al 2017, J Bone Mineral Research) calls into...
photo credit: radiopaedia.org Magnetic resonance imaging of musculoskeletal pain has long been known to find various pathologies, including herniated disks, tendon tears, and spinal stenosis, which may or may not contribute to an individual’s symptoms. These spinal and extremity findings are common in pain free individuals especially over the age of 30 years old. As...
The basics of sleep, hydration, and nutrition are the low hanging fruits of performance. Easy to access, albeit hard to change at times, but extremely impactful on our overall health and wellbeing. The cognitive and physical benefits of breakfast are well established and the timing and contents of the meal has been shown to influence...
Shoulder pain remains one of the top 3 reasons patients seek care from their primary care physician and Physical Therapist. The most common diagnosis causing pain among these patients is subacromial impingement syndrome. Impingement can be found along with rotator cuff tendon pain (tendinopathy) or partial rotator cuff tears on clinical exam and imaging. Impingement...
In our previous blogs we have discussed the errors most exercise participants make when selecting intensity (amount of weight) while at the gym. Humans are often poor estimators and when it comes to strength training they often select weights below the intensity required to promote optimal strength and muscle gains. Trying to base a weight...
One of the most common questions we receive in our Boulder Physical Therapy practice involves how much pain should be felt with exercise. This is a complicated answer dependent on many factors including but not limited to the nature of the injury. In general, the field of sports medicine is moving away from a purely...
Hamstring injuries are common and can occur in any sport with any athlete. The three muscles of the hamstring are put through rapid lengthening and shortening contractions making them susceptible to strains or minor tears. Due to the common occurrence of these injuries, it is important to target proper strength and conditioning regimes to decrease...
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...
Early sport specialization where our youth athletes focus on a single sport year round has become more popular over the last decade. The 10,000 hours reference (original study in violinists not athletes) reinforced this concept despite the adverse events of early sports specialization include burnout, depression/anxiety, lower athletic performance, and sports injuries. Research into high...