Hamstring strains come in three grades of severity from a less severe strain to a complete tear. They often occur during sports when an athlete accelerates or quickly changes directions on the court, field, or ice. Physical Therapy consisting of activity modification, education, and gradual progressive strength training remain the first line treatment for grade...
Sports injuries will always be a part of practice and competition, but our goal as Physical Therapists is to reduce this risk in athletes. Risk reduction strategies can be placed into two categories including sport specific training programs (ex. FIFA 11) and pre participation screenings. Physical Therapists aim to identify limitations in an athlete’s mobility,...
Injuries presenting to our Boulder Physical Therapy practice fall into two broad categories including acute, traumatic (sprains, strains, fractures) and microtrauma or overuse injuries (tendinopathy). This latter category is the most common, but may also be more preventable. Overuse injuries are created when a participant performs too much activity, too soon and the forces of...
One of the most common questions we receive in our Boulder Physical Therapy practice involves how much pain should be felt with exercise. This is a complicated answer dependent on many factors including but not limited to the nature of the injury. In general, the field of sports medicine is moving away from a purely...
Hamstring injuries are common and can occur in any sport with any athlete. The three muscles of the hamstring are put through rapid lengthening and shortening contractions making them susceptible to strains or minor tears. Due to the common occurrence of these injuries, it is important to target proper strength and conditioning regimes to decrease...
Patellar tendinopathy is one of the more common sports medicine conditions seen in our Boulder Physical Therapy clinic. This condition causes increased pain along the front of the knee just beneath the knee cap and leads to pain with jumping, running, and squatting activities. Current medical evidence has described an absence of inflammatory cells and...
Early sport specialization where our youth athletes focus on a single sport year round has become more popular over the last decade. The 10,000 hours reference (original study in violinists not athletes) reinforced this concept despite the adverse events of early sports specialization include burnout, depression/anxiety, lower athletic performance, and sports injuries. Research into high...
Hamstring injuries are one of the most common injuries in both individual and team sports. In sports such as soccer and football these injuries involve a traumatic pull of the muscle while sprinting or accelerating. After the initial healing phase athletes must rehabilitate the injury with Physical Therapy exercises to regain optimal muscle function and...
Knee tendinopathy, either in the quadriceps or patellar tendon, is a common source of knee pain among jumping athletes, but can occur in non jumping athletes or the general population as well. This overuse injury is caused by repetitive sub maximal loading of the knee through a bending range of motion. If the loading is...
Patellar tendinopathy (tendonitis) is a common sports medicine overuse injury most commonly found in jumping (volleyball, basketball) athletes. This injury has been found in up to 40% of these athletes secondary to the repetitive forces applied to their tendons during their respective sports. Repetitive loading, without adequate rest, is often found to be the cause...