By: Rani Helvey-Byers, PT, DPT, OCS During a woman’s monthly cycle, the concentrations of hormones will vary significantly. But, what we don’t often realize is that these fluctuations can affect our athletic performance. Two hormones—estrogen and progesterone—play central roles in our energy levels, recovery, and exercise tolerance. Understanding how these hormones shift across the menstrual...
By: Chelsey Vasquez, PT, DPT, PRPC As physical therapists who work closely with active women, we often hear concerns about bladder leakage during exercise — whether it’s jumping, running, lifting, or playing sports. Many athletes are surprised to learn that this is actually quite common, even in young women who have never been pregnant. A...
Each athlete treated at our Boulder Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy clinics is asked to improve three areas (nutrition, exercise, and sleep) in order to recover from sports injuries and improve sports performance. Despite the marketing hype and social media postings these three areas overwhelming provide the best results and return of investment for...
it is hard to find someone in a Boulder County gym or outdoor area who is not utilizing music to help fuel their workout. Whether engaged in aerobic exercise or strength training music can provide participants more enjoyment during the activity and also boost performance during the session. Thanks to technology advancements it has become...
By: Rani Helvey-Byers, PT, DPT, OCS When it comes to exercise, the way you train matters as much as what you train. The same movement — be it a squat or a row — can achieve different results depending on the sets, reps, load, and the length of the rest breaks you use. Understanding these...
By: Rani Helvey-Byers, PT, DPT, OCS The Truth About Midlife Strength: It’s About Health, Not Vanity As we enter our 40s and 50s, our bodies begin to change — sometimes dramatically. Muscle mass decreases, metabolism slows, bone density decreases, and aches and pains become more noticeable. Hormonal shifts during perimenopause and menopause only accelerate these...
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death women with over 600K deaths attributed to this form of cancer worldwide. National and international guidelines continue to support the utilization of exercise as part of a multimodal treatment plan for patients with this form of cancer. Exercise has a significant impact on metabolic and...
Running injuries are very common among amateur and professional runners. Up to 90% of all runners report an injury limiting their training or competition. In our Boulder Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy clinics the vast majority of running injuries are overuse in nature and are often precipitated by muscle imbalances and training errors. The...
Time remains one the most precious resources and is often sighted as the biggest barrier to exercising consistently. When we devote time to working out we need to ensure the time spent is effective for our health and fitness goals. One area we notice people waste time on is using the incorrect weight for their...
Technology’s impact on our lives continues to grow each year. In the exercise industry we have seen a significant impact ranging from wearable technologies tracking fitness data to numerous apps and online programs for any number of fitness and health goals. Two of the main limitations of these technologies include a lack of direct supervision...
