Every athlete has heard it over and over from their coaches throughout the years: you need to stretch after practice/training, stretching prevents injuries, etc. Over the past decade we have seen foam rolling and other self driven myofascial release techniques gain popularity as well with claims that it enhances your recovery or it improves your...
The third trimester of pregnancy is when the demands of the fetus are greater due to rapid growth and development. Fetal growth is dependent upon blood supply of oxygen and nutrients from the mother via the placenta. Vigorous intensity exercise (defined as at least 70% of maximum heart rate or an exertion level at which...
At Mend, we work with highly active women in Boulder County during pregnancy in our Boulder and Lafayette sports medicine and pelvic health physical therapy practice. This includes elite marathoners, CrossFit enthusiasts, triathletes, group fitness junkies and more. As pelvic health specialists we often hear concerns from these active women about “being too tight” in...
Are you a runner with knee pain? Or a CrossFit athlete who has knee pain with squatting or box jumps? Does your MRI show decreased thickness of the cartilage in your patella (kneecap) or femur/tibia?. These are very common conditions that we treat at MEND. There is extensive evidence in the research that shows that...
Pain in the elbow is very common among weightlifters and CrossFit. It often causes individuals to lower the lifting load or ultimately modify the WOD. The most likely areas of pain are in the lateral elbow or medial elbow. Keep reading to learn more about the symptoms, causes, and treatment options for elbow pain. Medial...
Dumbbells have long been viewed as a tool for traditional body building style exercise for muscle growth and strength training. Most often they are used for isolated single joint upper body movements such as bicep curls and lateral raises. You will also see people using dumbbells to perform variations of an overhead press and a...
In our active Boulder County community, we have observed an increase in the number of women participating in high intensity exercise such as CrossFit. The topic of pelvic health and CrossFit has been under discussion in recent years, prompted by reports of competitive female athletes experiencing urine loss due to stress urinary incontinence during CrossFit...
CrossFit is well known for utilizing momentum driven variations of gymnastics movements in workouts commonly referred to as “kipping”. Kipping pull-ups and kipping ring muscle-ups are two skills that many new (and many experienced) CrossFit athletes desire to perform so they can complete the WOD at their local box. Often athletes are told they need...
CrossFit has often been described as a cult, and that is not entirely inaccurate. A cult is a social group (community) that is defined by its “unusual” religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or its common interest (health and wellness) in a particular personality, object, or goal (fitness). The practice of these beliefs is commonly associated...
CrossFit gets a bad reputation for having high rates of injury. I have heard many Physical Therapists and Orthopedic Surgeons say things such as “CrossFit keeps me in business.” This could not be further from the truth and is a lie the healthcare profession needs to stop propagating. My hypotheses for why people repeat ignorant...
