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...
In our previous blog posts we have written on the limitations of MRI for many injuries and conditions. In general, these expensive tests have high rates of false positives where patients without pain often have positive results including ligament/labrum tears or tendon changes. The incidence of false of positives increases in athletes with the majority...
As we move through the Spring and into Summer many of our Boulder youth athletes are into their competitive baseball seasons. With increased games come increased pitch counts, arm fatigue, and over use injuries. From the literature we know there are some specific risk factors for future arm injury including pitching with a fatigued arm,...
In our Physical Therapy practice, we continue to see early sports specialization in our youth athletes (pre pubescent). These athletes focus on playing one sport >8 months out of the year instead of changing sports more frequently or incorporating longer periods of rest. Despite scientific evidence showing a lack of performance benefit and a higher injury...
Ankle sprains are one of the most common orthopedic injuries we see in our Boulder Physical Therapy practice. These injuries create local pain, swelling, loss of motion, weakness, and balance difficulties. In past years these injuries were treated with R.I.C.E. (rest, ice, compression, and elevation), but more recent research has demonstrated improved outcomes and faster...
As we move into Spring we begin to see our youth athletes return to the baseball diamond often with a sudden increase in practice volume. The sudden increase in throwing volume, either in the field or on the mound, places the athlete’s shoulder and elbow at greater risk of baseball injuries. The greatest risk factors for...
Triathletes have no shortage of aerobic exercise each week as they train for all 3 components of their sport, but often what they leave out is strength training. Strength training has been shown to reduce injury risk and improve performance in swimming, cycling, and running. The impact of this training is most noticeable in the...
With a changing in the seasons we also see a changing of the sports in our Boulder County student athletes. Athletes previously focused on winter sports including swimming and basketball are now able to focus on spring sports including baseball and track. Prior research shows athletes who change sports during the sports year have half...
It is hard to find a runner who has not missed a training run or competition due to injury. Among the 20 million Americans who run on a regular basis about 1/3 to 1/2 will sustain a running related injury this year. This percentage has driven a substantial amount of attention towards shoe wear, running...