As an Athletic Trainer that has spent the better part of his career in the professional sports arena I am often times asked by well meaning parents what they can do to help their kid prevent injuries and get better at their chosen sport. They often times are taken by surprise when my answer is to give them the necessary rest and recovery period their bodies need to heal and…

Now that ski season is nearly over, you may be wondering why we’re posting the second part of this blog.  Well, as PTs we figure it’s never too late to teach folks how to avoid pain and injury—and by now you may have discovered that a full day of skiing or boarding is leaving you with some aches and pains as you start your Monday morning.  So, that makes you a particularly captive audience!  Training (before you ski/board) and Recovery (during the day and before you get in your car to drive…

Everyone knows that squats and lunges are great exercises to help you handle the steep and deep.  But did you know that preventing injury on the slopes starts in your bedroom?  Keep reading to find out the three things I teach my patients to prevent pain on the slopes—or even while doing yard work—these tips will help you prevent pain before it begins.

1. Preventing pain on the slopes starts…in the bedroom

The things you do to…

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      You have stretched, braced, iced, rolled, rested, strengthened, changed shoes and prayed to the plantar fascia gods but nothing is helping your chronic plantar fasciitis. You are not alone, it occurs in 10% of the population. Don’t worry your problem is correctable but may be related to more than your foot. Plantar fasciitis causes heel pain in active as well as…

The pelvic floor is an important part of human anatomy. Considering how important it is, it always amazes me how infrequently the pelvic floor is discussed. It is responsible for correct bowel and bladder function, it is also responsible for normal sexual function. One could think of the pelvic floor as the structure that holds in and supports your insides. If the…

This blog is the second part of a two-part blog on herniated discs. In the first post we covered the anatomy of your spinal discs and the common injuries to these discs. You can visit that post by clicking this link. Today we will discuss the symptoms and treatment of a herniated disc and what you should expect when you see a physical therapist.…

For many people, injury to one of the discs in the lumbar spine (lower back) evokes thoughts of costly MRIs, large needles for injections, and stories of friends who have had bad backs their whole life. An injury to the low back doesn’t have to be a career or recreation ending injury and can be safely treated with conservative measures, so before you start thinking surgery I want to do some educating on discs and disc injuries to ease any fears of the unknown.…

You are in great shape. You train hard. And you feel invincible! But even the top elite athletes get injured. Why is this? As most people train or workout we do the exercises or activities that we feel will benefit us the most given our sport or goal that we are trying to achieve. If you are a running you are likely working your legs the most, getting those quads strong, hamstrings loose, and glutes powerful. But we often get tunnel vision when it comes to our training regimes and do not…

     The knee joint needs to be trained and strengthened properly to avoid excess wear and tear (arthritis) on the joint that can eventually lead to knee pain. Running, hiking, agility training, yoga, and even strength training improperly can create or increase improper knee mechanics leading to pain or even arthritic conditions. On the flip side, performing proper balanced…

      Whether you run long distance, sit in a chair all day, or find yourself somewhere in between, our challenging modern lifestyles guarantees you may find yourself with tight hip flexors or living your life with an anterior pelvic tilt.

      When your hip flexors become overly tight, everything may seem out of sync.  You may feel like you walk funny, can’t run without knee pain, your lunges and squats are “off”, and your low back may ache or fatigue easily.  Sound familiar? You…

So your doc said you have a meniscus tear? Ouch! And now you are wondering what rehabilitation will be like. This is going to depend on whether or not you had surgery and how bad the tear is. Small tears are common and can even heal on their own if in the right place, which…

We all know about the dreaded hamstring pull or strain. We fear that feeling of a sharp pain in the back of our thigh as we are running down the field or about to cross the finish line. The recovery can take months and the loss of playing or training time can be priceless. So what can we do about this? Can we actually prevent the invisible sniper from targeting our…

It may be there when you first wake up, after a run, or it can even haunt you as you are sitting at your desk. And whether it is called…

You’re in great physical shape, you’ve been spending the last couple months ramping up your training for the next big race….. and then it happens. It can start off as a small twinge of pain in your knee or as a soreness in your hips which you blow it off and keep running. Then a month goes by and it’s a little more nagging, and your frustration is growing. Now you are even closer to the race and become worried that it will affect your time. What do you do, keep training or…

What is Runner’s Knee?

If you have been running for a long enough time you are bound to hear the term “runner’s knee.” Hopefully it is another runner complaining they have it rather than hearing it from your doctor’s mouth, but either way you should know what it is and what to do about it. Runner’s knee is medically known as Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome, or PFPS. It…