Hip arthritis is a common condition among middle to older aged adults leading to hip pain, lost function, and disability. Patient’s at our Boulder Physical Therapy practice with this condition often present with a loss of hip mobility, hip weakness, and altered gait mechanics. Interestingly, 1 in 5 adults around 50 years of age will...
Alpine skiing is Colorado’s most popular winter sport and provides billions in tax revenue each year. Across the country, about 7 million individuals took part in at least one day of alpine skiing in 2017. Skiing while popular and fun does come with inherent injury risks. Authors have found 1-2 ski injuries per 1000 ski...
At this point in the year, many of our Boulder endurance athletes have completed their respective seasons of running, cycling, and triathlon competitions. Upon reflection, few of these athletes reached the end of their seasons without a missed training day or competition due to injury. This is a very common occurrence as athletes push their...
In a strength training exercises two main phases of the lift are experienced by the participant. The first is the concentric contraction involving a shortening of the muscle under load as the weight is moved to the end of the movement. The second or eccentric contraction involves the lengthening of the muscle under load as...
Since entering the sports medicine field in the early 2000s there has always been a presence of the newest gadget, technology, or device aimed at either reducing pain or accelerating tissue healing. As the years move forward the popularities of these devices wax and wane and eventually fall out of favor due to the next...
In our Boulder Physical Therapy practice we still hear old wives tales on the harmful effects of exercise in patient’s with knee arthritis. For example, patients should avoid running to prevent worsening of their knee arthritis despite significant medical evidence to the contrary. Many of these theories are based in an outdated “wear and tear”...
Very few evidence based treatments for musculoskeletal pain require the utilization of electricity. One notable exception is the utilization of muscular stimulation on post operative musculature. This category of treatments under the larger umbrella of modalities have not fared well in the research due to having little or no effect, their inability to beat a...
Pain on the front of the knee (patellofemoral pain syndrome) is the most common diagnosis behind knee pain and one of the most common conditions found in sports medicine and Physical Therapy clinics. Although multifactorial in nature, symptoms arise due to abnormal contact between the knee cap and the thigh bone at the knee joint....
Bone density loss is most commonly associated with diagnoses including osteopenia and osteoporosis where affected individuals fall below the mean bone density levels of their peers. In our previous blog we described recent research indicating these individuals can improve their bone density through progressive weight training and jump training. This study challenged previously held incorrect...
One of the milestones of return to sport or recreational activities after injury is the restoration of strength often measured as a percentage of the involved extremity. Measurements should be at least 90% of the uninvolved limb before returning to sport. Those who have returned from injury know the last 10% can be the hardest...