Last year over 500,000 thousand arthroscopic knee surgeries (scopes) were performed in the Unites States making it one of the most common orthopedic surgical procedures. In a previous post we highlighted some of the evidence behind this surgery showing it is not superior to a sham or placebo surgery for degenerative meniscal tears. In addition,...
As we move towards the middle of summer many runners have experienced an increase in overuse injuries in their legs. Unfortunately, these running injuries are common among athletes with the vast majority of runners reporting one injury over the last year of training. Two of the most common injuries include shin splints (medial tibial stress...
As the snows melts many of us will return to the amazing Boulder trail system for our training runs. This popular form of exercise comes with tremendous health benefits, but can also place some runners at risk for running injuries such as knee pain. Patellofemoral Pain (pain on the front of the knee) is the...
The internet is excellent at providing information on a multitude of subjects, but the application of this information is limited because of the existence of individual situations and people. An example of this would be the failure of a one size fits all approach to Physical Therapy. In this example, every patient with a certain...
Tears in the meniscus, cartilage within our knees, can occur due to injury or degeneration attributed to the aging process. The latter is a much more frequent scenario and often these tears are found on MRIs of patients without knee pain. These false positive results cast doubt on the direct correlation between a picture of...
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...
Running has increased in popularity over the last decade among both recreational and professional athletes. With this increase in popularity trends have emerged from shoe wear to running mechanics in an attempt to reduce the incidence of running injuries. Unfortunately, the risk of injury in running has not changed much despite this added attention by...
The squat may be one of the best exercises for the development of strength and mobility through the lower quarter of the body. It is often used as the foundation of strength training by both recreational athletes and pro athletes alike. I often use the squat in our Physical Therapy practice with patients recovering from...
The iliotibial band is a long track of fascia and connective tissue running from the lateral hip muscles including the tensor fascia lata down to the lateral aspect of the knee. Contrary to popular belief and utilization, foam rolling is ineffective at changing the length or flexibility of this structure secondary to its’ density and...
Knee arthritis (knee OA) is the most common form of osteoarthritis and affects many individuals in middle to older age. This condition can be found on x ray or MRI testing in both asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals. The high rates of false positive imaging findings require a thorough subjective and objective examination in order to make a...