Eccentric exericise, where our muscles contract and lengthen, is an essential part of any exercise program. Its benefits of strength, flexibility, and injury prevention are well known in the literature and have been discussed on our prior blog posts. Eccentric exercise as pictured above has a unique stimulus on the structure of the muscle and...
Concussion recognition and management has improved dramatically over the last decade. Coaches and Physical Therapists are able to both recognize the signs and symptoms of concussion and direct the athlete to the appropriate health care treatment. Without proper management concussions can have serious and deadly consequences for the nervous system and musculoskeletal system. Lynall et...
Customized foot orthotics based off a clinical examination, plaster or foam cast have been utilized for decades in order to treat overuse injuries of the foot, ankle, knee, hip and even spine. These orthotics are usually not covered by insurance and usually run into the hundreds of dollars compared to an off the shelf model....
We have previously written on low back pain and the dramatic rise in surgeries with this patient population, despite evidence of superior outcomes over conservative treatment and Physical Therapy. Prior research has documented the dramatic rise in the number of lumbar MRI imaging for the low back and a corresponding increase in the number of...
A common question we receive from young throwers and their parents is how to improve throwing velocity safely without undue stress on their arms. Our prior posts on throwing have focused on reducing arm stress through injury prevention and lower quarter strengthening. This post will focus on the research surrounding exercise programs designed to improve...
Hydration, electrolytes, salt and pickle water are all common internet solutions for muscle cramping. These remedies are based off the assumption that muscle cramping is secondary to imbalances in electrolyes (potassium, sodium) or hydration levels. In particular, when athletes are dehydrated there is a decrease in the water content, concentrating many elements in the bloodstream...
In our practice, we commonly see adolescent baseball athletes suffering from shoulder and elbow injuries. On average 1 in 2 youth throwers will develop arm injuries and on average major league throwers lose 22 days per season due to arm injury (Conte et al. 2001). These injuries are mainly overuse in nature secondary to muscle...
ACL sprains and complete tears are of the most common injuries we encounter at Mend Physical Therapy. Prior posts in our blog have detailed many topics on ACL injury including prevention, treatment, and return to sport. As ski season approaches in Colorado some of our fellow skiers will injure their ACL contributing to an estimated 250,000...
In a prior blog posts we discussed the effects of stretching on fitness, performance and flexibility. We are often prescribing mobility exercises to restore movement to a joint or body region (thoracic spine and rib cage) in order to improve movement patterns for performance, pain relief, or as part of a weekly fitness program. While...
Previously we wrote about the positive impacts of exercise on the body’s tissues. The benefits of exercise is based on the ability of your rehabilitation program to properly load and unload an injured tissue allowing it to remodel and heal. The optimal amount of load is key with both ends of spectrum, over doing it...