ACL injuries are on the rise with over 250,000 tears occurring each year. Thankfully many of these non contact injuries to the knee can be prevented through proper pre and in season Physical Therapy programs. Despite our best preventative efforts many athletes will sustain an ACL tear of their knee requiring surgery and post operative Physical...
In our Boulder Physical Therapy practice we often see athletes who are dealing with a swimming related injury. Some of these injuries can occur from training errors and poor stroke mechanics, but many are secondary to correctable changes in mobility and strength. Many injured swimmers complain of shoulder pain including rotator cuff muscle or tendon...
In prior posts, we have discussed the importance of hip strengthening among runners. There is a strong correlation between hip weakness, especially the hip abductors, and knee pain. Studies have questioned if these strength impairments are present before pain develops or occur due to the onset of pain. In addition, some research has demonstrated runners...
In the last few years, research has been published challenging the commonly held belief that every ACL tear should have surgery. In our prior blog posts we have detailed the research studies showing Physical Therapy can prevent the need for ACL surgery among young, healthy adults. Many of these patients are called “copers” due to...
Our prior posts on swimming have focused on the benefits of strength training and race pacing during a swim event. Conversely, fatigue is one of the factors shown to reduce swim performance and stroke mechanics. This change in mechanics places a swimmer at a greater risk of shoulder overuse injuries including impingement and tendonitis. A...
In prior posts we have discussed the rising rates of ACL injuries among adolescent injuries. In particular, among females who are up to 8 times more likely to tear their ACL compared to their male peers in the same sport. Efforts to reduce our Boulder County athletes’ ACL injury risk are underway and promising results have...
In our prior posts on injury prevention in sports we have highlighted the importance of training volume management, balance training, and strength training. Of all the training options, strength training is the most important due to its’ ability to cut an athlete’s risk of injury in half. Despite the evidence many healthy athletes focus 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...
Athletes often return to sports around 6-9 months after ACL reconstruction and Physical Therapy. In a previous ACL post we described how important these Physical Therapy sessions are to an athlete’s recovery. Each session after surgery is designed to move the athlete closer to the all important return to play. New research is showing how...
The knee is one of most commonly injured areas among our Boulder County student athletes. Injuries range from the traumatic (ligament tears) to overuse (tendonitis) across a variety of indoor and outdoor sports. Prior research has shown overuse injuries to be the most common knee injury affecting our student athletes but data regarding the risk...