Most patients and clients in our Boulder Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy clinics are looking to regain mobility. Lost range of motion can be due to a variety of factors including injury, surgery, muscle imbalances, and functional movement patterns. In addition to manual therapy, mobility exercises, and stretching Physical Therapists have looked to increase...
In our Boulder Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy clinics we are often trying to improve as many impairments as possible with as few home exercises as needed. Everyone’s time is limited each week and allowing for multiple areas, such as pain, strength, endurance, and mobility, to be improved with 2-3 Physical Therapy exercises requires...
Flexibility remains one of the most commonly assessed and prescribed areas in health and fitness. A significant amount of time and resources continue to be dedicated to this mode of exercise often at the expense of more valuable areas including aerobic exercise and strength training. Although mobility focused Physical Therapy exercises have their place and...
Static stretching, involving holding a muscle at end of its’ length for a sustained period of time, is a common component of most individual’s exercise programs but its’ useful compared to other forms of exercise including aerobic and strength training is questionable. Research is unclear on the benefits of static stretching for most individuals, as...
Foam rolling has become a popular exercise intervention used to improve sports performance, accelerate recovery from workouts and training, and decrease muscle pain and tightness. Previous research has utilized 2-3 bouts of 60 seconds along major muscle groups in the lower body including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. One component of the exercise prescription which...
We have previously written on the effectiveness of foam rolling as a warm up or cool down technique, as well as, a treatment for muscle pain and soreness. Utilizing a foam roller for 1-2 minutes on major muscle groups can lead to immediate changes in range of motion and flexibility likely due to improvements in...
In our previous posts we discussed how patients and athletes can utilize strength training to both improve strength as well as their flexibility. Recent research continues to show strength training a muscle through its’ full range of motion is more effective than static stretching for flexibility gains. This research has refuted a commonly held belief...
Most of us perform stretching and mobility as a complement to our endurance and strength training. Mobility work clearly has a role in our programs to reduce stiffness, soreness, and improve our ability to move more comfortably through a functional range of motion. Our previous blog posts have described the debates around the roles of...
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...