Arm Injuries in Throwers Throwing injuries among baseball players are on the rise with a 54% and 58% increase in disability and days missed, respectively, over a one year period.(5,6) Recent evidence suggests that up to 50% of professional pitchers and 47% of youth level players can expect an injury limiting their participation in baseball.(1,12)...
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...
In our previous blog posts we have written on the limitations of MRI for many injuries and conditions. In general, these expensive tests have high rates of false positives where patients without pain often have positive results including ligament/labrum tears or tendon changes. The incidence of false of positives increases in athletes with the majority...
By: Maggie Gebhardt, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT As a new mom myself (I have an 18-month-old son), this topic/diagnosis has been on my mind recently. New parents place so many biomechanical demands on their bodies while we are assuming many different and awkward positions. These are often unaccustomed and repetitive or sustained positions, i.e. a...
Wrist strategy for maintaining balance in a handstand The handstand is a unique position that requires placing one’s entire weight through the hands. Different strategies can be adopted to maintain balance in the handstand on the floor. Studies looking at successful strategies for maintaining balance in high-level handbalancers concluded that more experienced handbalancers relied on...
Tennis elbow or lateral epicondylalgia is a common overuse injury in the upper extremity. Initially believed to be an inflammatory process or tendinitis newer research has instead found a degenerative process consistent with cellular turnover (remodeling) in tendon where the muscles of the wrist and fingers attach into the arm. Current Physical Therapy best practice...
Carpal tunnel syndrome or the entrapment of the medial nerve at the wrist is a condition leading to pain, numbness, and pins and needles sensations along the palm side of thumb, index, and middle fingers. If the entrapment continues weakness can be experienced in the wrist and hand. Contributing factors include loss of nerve and...
Tennis elbow, also known as lateral epicondylalgia is the most common reason for elbow pain and 2nd most common overuse injury in the arm after the shoulder. Lateral elbow pain was previously described as an inflammatory condition, but we now know this condition affects the muscles’ common insertion point where the tendon meets the...
The rotator cuff is an essential group of muscles that stabilize the shoulder during overhead movements such as the tennis serve. These muscles are commonly injured by tennis players and weakness of the rotator cuff can lead to multiple shoulder pathologies such as impingement (subacromial pain syndrome), biceps tendinopathy, and glenohumeral joint sensitivity. The muscles...
This guest blog was written by our good friends at CrossFit Sanitas. When we think about what it takes to stay healthy and strong, many of us visualize all the work we do in class to lift, pull, push, roll, or otherwise move our own weight and/or the weight in front of us. It’s easy...
