Chronic low back pain is a common condition described as pain lasting longer than 3 months in duration. At this point in a patient’s recovery, active interventions such as graded aerobic exercise and strength training take on a greater importance in a patient’s recovery. These interventions are most valuable in order to reduce the pain...
Low back pain is a common human experience affecting up to 90% of individuals at some point in their lifetimes. It is one of the most common diagnoses treated in our Boulder Physical Therapy practice and the majority of patients find the greatest long term relief with regaining lost strength in their core and lower...
Muscle strength is correlated with many important clinical outcomes including fall risk, injury risk, sports performance, functional capacity, and quality of life. These adaptations occur when a muscle is asked to repeatedly perform higher volumes of work or exercise creating positive adaptations within the nervous system and muscle. Over simplistic repetition ranges are available to...
Obesity is one of the greatest health problems facing our country. The causes of obesity are multifactorial in nature, but one contributor is a lack of daily activity or exercise by both children and adults. The CDC estimates less than 1/5th of Americans reach the weekly recommended amounts of exercise including either 300 minutes or...
Shoulder strength and stability is crucial in rock climbing for both performance and injury prevention. There are many different ways to assess shoulder strength, stability and function. The findings of these assessments can give us insights into right to left imbalances and can tell us which muscle groups we need to target in a rehabilitation...
The serratus anterior muscle is located on the side of your chest and attaches your scapula to your ribs. The purpose of this muscle is to stabilize the scapula, especially during overhead movements. Its specific actions are scapular upward rotation and protraction which are important movements for many movements in rock climbing. Weakness of the...
CrossFit is well known for utilizing momentum driven variations of gymnastics movements in workouts commonly referred to as “kipping”. Kipping pull-ups and kipping ring muscle-ups are two skills that many new (and many experienced) CrossFit athletes desire to perform so they can complete the WOD at their local box. Often athletes are told they need...
With any pelvic floor dysfunction, there is so much more to look into aside from simply the pelvic floor. The term “Kegel” was first used in 1948 by a professor of gynecology Dr. Arnold Kegel to describe a pelvic floor contraction. While it has now become a household term, there is so much more to...
Disclaimer: Acute and active UTI’s should be evaluated and treated by a physician. Physical therapy as treatment of UTI’s should be done in non-acute periods as a way of preventing future infections. In 2018 the European Association of Urology Guidelines came out with a recommendation for recurrent UTI’s to be addressed first with behavior change,...
Strength training remains an essential component of your weekly exercise sessions. Getting the most out of these workouts requires proper exercise prescription on reps, sets, and rest periods. Repetitions in reserve is an important concept for exercisers to understand on setting the intensity or resistance of their sets. Instead of establishing the repetitions...
