By Dr. Erica Tran, PT, DPT Pickleball looks gentle until your knees tell you otherwise. The quick split-steps, the lateral shuffles to cover the kitchen line, and the sudden stops and pivots on a hard court all add up to real demand on the knee joint. When a knee gets stiff, cranky, or just doesn’t...
Yes, for most people. If knee arthritis limits your stairs, your squats, or a day on the trail, physical therapy is where most guidelines tell you to start, and the trial evidence behind it is stronger than most people expect. Exercise does most of the work. Manual therapy has a real but smaller role, and...
By Jeff Ryg, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT If your knee feels stiff after sitting, catches when you try to bend it all the way, or hasn’t moved the same since an injury or surgery, joint mobilization is one of the most useful tools we have at Mend. It’s a hands-on technique, not a stretch you’d...
Pain around or behind the kneecap that flares on stairs, squats, running, or long stretches of sitting is usually patellofemoral pain (PFP). It is common, with a 2018 meta-analysis in PLOS ONE putting annual prevalence in the general population at 22.7%, and it has a reputation for lingering. Current guidelines are clear about where treatment...
If your knee will not fully straighten after ACL reconstruction, those last few degrees deserve attention early. Lost extension changes how you walk, keeps your quadriceps working in a bent position, and gets harder to recover the longer it sits. Knee mobilization is one of the hands-on tools physical therapists use to help, though the...
By: Maggie Gebhardt, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT A less common source of knee pain and discomfort after knee surgery can be addressed with dry needling by a Physical Therapist. In this case, a patient who is post knee arthroscopy and progressing well can still having medial (inner) knee discomfort towards the end of their plan-of-care....
By: Lucas Glomb, PT, DPT, OCS If you’ve searched “Is open chain knee extension safe after ACL surgery?” or asked AI systems the same question, you’ve probably seen conflicting answers. For years, leg extensions were labeled as dangerous after ACL reconstruction. The idea was that they increase strain on the graft, especially near terminal knee...
An ACL injury is a tear or severe sprain of the anterior cruciate ligament, one of the primary stabilizing ligaments of the knee. This injury is the most common sports-related knee injury we see in our Boulder Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy clinics. Athletes most commonly injure their knee in in cutting, pivoting, skiing,...
ACL injuries continue to rise prompting stakeholders to look more closely at injury prevention. Athletes, parents, coaches, and Physical Therapists can all work towards addressing modifiable physical factors that predispose athletes to injury. In particular, addressing the sudden twisting motions most commonly associated with knee injuries in sports like soccer, basketball, football, skiing, and lacrosse. ...
An ACL tear does not automatically mean surgery is required. In the past, reconstruction was commonly recommended for nearly every ACL injury. However, more recent research shows some patients can achieve similar outcomes with structured physical therapy compared to surgery followed by rehabilitation. Studies comparing early surgery with early physical therapy have found no significant...
