The tibia is the largest bone in our lower leg and absorbs the majority of weight bearing stresses during running. The tibia’s anatomy and function make it the most commonly affected area for stress fractures/injuries in runners. These injuries account for up to half of all stress related injuries among runners (Hreljac et al....
Winter sports are in full spring in Colorado with many people taking their athletic pursuits outside. Skiing and snowboarding continue to grow in popularity throughout our state among both children and adults. Thankfully, ski helmets have become the norm at our state’s ski areas. These helmets are an essential piece of equipment to reduce the...
In our experience, a sub group of patients who have successfully returned to sports after an ACL injury continue to be at risk for future injury. Physical Therapy interventions can significantly reduce the risk of future injury to either an athlete’s involved or uninvolved leg. Athletes who complete their prescribed Physical Therapy visits have both...
The step down test is an important Physical Therapy test to determine the ability of our athletes to stabilize their lower extremity in single leg stance. Proper performance of this test requires adequate strength, balance, control, and mobility in the lower extremity. Often athletes with lower extremity or spinal pain have a significant asymmetry in...
In prior posts we have documented the impact of ACL injuries on our athletes. Unfortunately, these injuries are becoming more common especially among female athletes who are up to 8-10 times more likely to sustain an ACL injury compared to their male peers. The risk factors behind these injuries have been described in previous posts,...
In previous posts on ACL injuries we have discussed the rising incidence of knee injuries across multiple sports and events. As we enter ski and snow board season Mend will help manage an increased number of these injuries. The lower extremity is the most commonly affected body region for ski injuries with 1 in 3 injuries...
Rock climbing is one of the most popular outdoor sports in Boulder, Colorado. Often these athletes present to our Physical Therapy clinic with both traumatic and overuse injuries. Most commonly, these overuse injuries involve the upper extremity and cause decreased performance and loss of climbing days each season. Each discipline of climbing including sport, bouldering,...
Runners older than 50 years old have shown the greatest increase in participation rates among long distance runners. In a previous post we described the impact of aging on running speed. In each decade after age 40 a runner will lose approximately 10% of their VO2 max due to changes in their musculoskeletal and cardiovascular...
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...
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...