In our Boulder Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy clinics we commonly prescribe mobility or stretching exercises to reduce pain and restore lost function. Accelerating a patient’s return to the activities they enjoy. When combined with other forms of exercise, in particular strength training, stretching is an effective method of restoring lost motion in joints...
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...
If you’ve been to physical therapy you may have asked yourself the question, what exercises do I do when to be the most productive with my time and effort? I often find myself having this conversation with patients in our Boulder Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy clinics and I wanted to share a framework...
If you deal with pelvic floor tension, you or a physical therapist has likely discovered tight adductors as well. Due to shared fascial connections and synergies between the muscle groups, the pelvic floor and adductors are closely related in regards to tension held within them. Pelvic floor tension can affect adductor tension and vice versa,...
Time is one of the finite resources in life and is reported as the main barrier by individuals who do not reach the national guidelines for exercise minutes each week. Each portion of a weekly exercise program should be evaluated for both health and fitness, as well as, injury prevention benefits. Static stretching consistently...
Stretching remains one of the more debatable areas in our profession. Although mobility and stretching can play a significant role in Physical Therapy treatments designed to help an individual recover from injury their importance in a healthy individual is questionable. Despite this, stretching’s popularity remains on display in most gyms and exercise classes, but the...
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...
Stretching either dynamically or statically has long been shown to create both short and long term improvements in flexibility, but the mechanism of action behind this form of exercise continues to evolve. Changing human tissue takes considerable time and consistent forces. For example, consider muscle growth or bone density adaptions to exercise. Previous research on...
Lower extremity stiffness (“leg stiffness”) describes the resistance the joints and muscles in your lower body will have to movement when your foot contacts the ground during running. Think of your leg as a spring; the more tightly coiled spring will be stiffer, the more loosely coiled will be more deformable. A stiffer leg is...