Foam rolling is an effective home exercise to improve muscular pain, flexibility, and performance. Our previous blog posts detailed the performance benefits of performing foam rolling either before or after your exercise workouts. Our current understanding of the mechanisms behind these benefits are based on two categories: local circulation and improved stretch tolerance. As our...
Dry needling is a commonly utilized Physical Therapy intervention which targets taught, tender bands of muscle tissue. This effective treatment has been previously shown to reduce muscle pain and improve muscle performance and function. In our Boulder Physical Therapy clinic we commonly see an immediate improvement in muscle length and mobility following the dry needling...
The role of ankle mobility on injury risk and performance has been previously described in our prior blog posts. These posts have described the correlation between a lack of mobility at the ankle and knee injuries including patellofemoral knee pain and ACL injury, as well as, ankle sprains and achilles tendonitis. A lack of ankle...
Shoulder pain is the 2nd most common orthopedic reason patients seek out medical care behind low back pain. Shoulder pain has many causes including lack of mobility, shoulder blade and rotator cuff weakness, but posture is often criticized as a risk factor for shoulder pain. Clinicians and patients believe a poor posture places structures such...
Photo Credit: cyclingweekly.com In a prior post we discussed the prevention, treatment, and prognosis for iliotibial band syndrome. The iliotibial band is commonly injured due to poor running biomechanics (cross over running gait) and muscle imbalances. Specifically, weakness in the gluteus medius and maximus and an overutilization of the tensor fascia lata muscle which connects...
Most of us perform stretching and mobility as a complement to our endurance and strength training. Mobility work clearly has a role in our programs to reduce stiffness, soreness, and improve our ability to move more comfortably through a functional range of motion. Our previous blog posts have described the debates around the roles of...