The squat, and its multiple variations, remains one the best overall exercises for strength and power development due to its’ ability to effectively target the important muscles of the lower quarter. We often utilize the squat in our Boulder Physical Therapy practice with injured patients as a method of facilitating optimal healing and recovery of...
The squat, and its’ many variations, remains one of the best all around exercises for strength and power development. Its’ utilization of the majority of lower quarter muscle groups also makes it a foundational exercise for patients in our Boulder Physical Therapy practice. The complexity of the complete movement pattern can be a challenge for...
Physical Therapy 101 requires the utilization of an assistive device (crutches, cane) for any patient who cannot walk without a noticeable limp or deviation in their gait. These interventions are designed to improve a patient’s pain, safety, energy expenditure, and most importantly participation in the activities they enjoy. In our Boulder orthopedic and sports medicine...
Many of our outdated theories on why individuals have muscle and joint pain have been questioned and disproven by more recent research studies. One example includes the association between running and future knee osteoarthritis. Instead of confirming the old theory based on the wear and tear hypothesis moderate running has been shown to have a...
Chronic or persistent pain is defined by pain that extends beyond 12 weeks or the normal healing time for a given injury/diagnosis despite treatment. Our medical system does a great job treating new or acute pain, but has struggled to be as effective with patients dealing with chronic pain. It is estimated 1 in 4...
Supplements in general have fallen fall short of expectations with very few demonstrating any significant benefit beyond placebo. One of the. most common questions we currently receive on supplements in our Boulder Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy clinics is on collagen. A key connective tissue in our body, that makes up the majority of...
Patellar tendonitis (tendinopathy) is common among jumping athletes requiring repetitive jumping, landing, and squatting movements. This overuse injury was thought to have a inflammatory component (ex. tendonitis) but more current research supports the term tendinopathy. This term indicates a disruption in tendon fiber characteristics and alignment leading to a loss of its’ tensile strength. Resting...
Whether you want to increase your back squat, shave some time off your Fran score, or take fewer breaks on your uphill skin, you will need to focus on glute strength. The gluteus maximus is the largest and most powerful muscle in the human body, and is responsible for hip extension, lateral rotation, and abduction...
Our previous blog post detailed the differences in biomechanics between foot strike patterns in runners. There are clear bio mechanical differences between utilizing a forefoot and rear foot strike pattern and these are important for gait retraining and injury risk. Obviously, the foot is the first part of the body to strike the ground in...
Basketball has one of the highest injury rates in sports with articles reporting up to 7-10 injuries per 1000 athlete exposures (Dick et al. J Athl Train. 2007). As expected, the majority of these injuries occur in the lower extremity, in particular within the knee and ankle. Authors report both overuse (tendinopathy) and traumatic (sprain,...
