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Mend Physical Therapy Blog and Injury Information
Research Finds Little To No Clinical Benefit For Arthroscopic Surgery For Knee Arthritis Or Degenerative Meniscal Tears

Arthroscopic surgery remains a common procedure for patients with knee arthritis and degenerative meniscal tears despite medical evidence questioning its’ utilization. Previous research papers have not shown a clinically significant benefit for this procedure and some have shown it has not outperformed a placebo surgery for these conditions. The increasing evidence has led to medical...

MRI technology continues to improve benefiting clinicians searching for serious pathology, but at a cost of identifying non serious pathology which may not be related to a patient’s clinic presentation. Initial imaging studies in the 1990s were conducted in the lumbar spine which identified a high percentage of structural changes including disc herniations and spinal...

Patellar tendinopathy, jumper’s knee, is one of the most common chronic knee injuries found in up to half of all jumping athletes. Similar to other tendon injuries, patellar tendinopathy used to be referred to as a tendinitis but more recent research indicates a lack of inflammatory cells. Instead, an imbalance in loading (activity > recovery)...

ACL tears are a common sports injury experienced during participation in team sports (basketball, soccer), as well as, individual sport (skiing) in Boulder. Despite utilization of Physical Therapy programs designed to reduce an athlete’s risk, incidence for ACL tears has increased by 77% and 19% in female and male athletes, respectively, over the last decade....

Knee arthritis remains one of the most common diagnoses leading to disability in middle to older aged adults. Patients commonly experience joint stiffness, pain, and weakness leading to decreased participation in the activities they enjoy. Strength training and aerobic exercise remain the most powerful interventions for these patients. Stronger muscles help dissipate the forces placed...

Knee arthritis is a common condition affecting many middle to older aged adults. Its’ prevalence makes it one of the leading causes of disability in our country preventing these individuals from participating in their life, work, and recreational activities. Physical therapy including patient education, manual therapy, and exercise remains a first line treatment for this...

ACL tears are one of the most common sports injuries with over 100,000 ACL surgeries performed each year. In a given sport, females remain at a higher risk of injury than their male peers secondary to both non modifiable and non modifiable risk factors. Although Physical Therapy and conservative care have shown equivalent outcomes to...