By: Erica Tran, PT, DPT, OCS Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in America, and for good reason. It’s social, fun, accessible, and provides an excellent workout. But for many women, there is one frustrating side effect that often goes unspoken: Leaking urine during play. If you’ve ever leaked while sprinting for a...
Cycling is one of the most popular outdoor activities in Boulder. Cyclists we encounter in our Boulder Physical Therapy practice most commonly complain of pain on the front of their knee or anterior knee pain. Research shows 1 in 2 competitive cyclists have experienced this knee pain resulting in lost training and competitions in over...
Deceleration puts more stress on the ACL than jumping does. Here's why Mend prioritizes landing and force-absorption training in ACL rehab.
By: Erica Tran, PT, DPT, OCS One of the most important movement patterns in pickleball is the lunge. Whether you are reaching for a wide dink, recovering after a volley, or decelerating into a low ball, your body must absorb force efficiently while maintaining balance and joint control. From a physical therapy perspective, poor lunge...
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...
By: Erica Tran, PT, DPT, OCS Ever feel your chest collapsing forward in the bottom of a front squat? I put together a quick self-exam so you can test your ankles, hips, thoracic spine, wrists, elbows, and shoulders to find what’s holding you back. Even better, I’ve added simple treatment ideas for each area so...
It may not seem obvious, but weakness in our hips can lead directly to shoulder pain while climbing. Because climbing requires the use of all extremities simultaneously, impairments in one region of the body almost always have a direct impact on the other extremities. One of the most common, but seldom recognized, patterns is the...
Overhead athletes rely on their thoracic spine’s mobility and stability to generate power and prevent injury. In our Boulder Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy clinics we examine the spine’s biomechanics and influence on patients with shoulder pain. Ruiz et al. (2020) reviewed the biomechanics of the thoracic spine in overhead sports and highlighted the...
By: Kristin Carpenter, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT If you’re a woman in your 40s or 50s and suddenly experiencing more joint pain, muscle aches, or back pain, you’re not imagining it. Many women notice new or worsening musculoskeletal pain during perimenopause, the hormonal transition leading up to menopause. These symptoms can feel confusing especially if...
The sacroiliac (SI) joint gets blamed for a lot of pain it probably isn’t causing. It’s not that clinicians are acting in bad faith. It’s that once you’re trained to look for something, confirmation bias makes it easy to keep finding it, even when the evidence says it’s uncommon. A Joint Built Not to Move...
