Top Blog Posts from Our Colleagues

We have a bunch of great colleague friends throughout the country - and we thought it'd be great to highlight some of their work!

Top Blog Posts from Our Colleagues: 

1. Rehab vs. Reconditioning: What’s the Difference?
   1. Shift your perspective on injury recovery with the concept of 'Reconditioning'—a performance-focused approach that prioritizes Return to Competition. This method, contrasting traditional rehabilitation, encourages training around the injury, maintaining normal movement, and advancing based on individual response rather than fixed timelines. 
2. The Essential Guide to Using Electrolytes
   1. Electrolytes are essential for athletes to maintain performance and avoid issues like dehydration and muscle cramps. This guide emphasizes the importance of electrolytes, like sodium and potassium, in an athlete's nutrition, particularly for intense training.
3. Injury & the Mental Road less traveled…
   1. This post delves into the often-overlooked mental health aspects of recovering from physical injuries, highlighting the interplay between psychological factors and physical healing. It discusses how emotions like kinesiophobia, depression, and loss of identity can impact recovery, emphasizing the importance of addressing these mental struggles alongside physical rehabilitation. The post also explores strategies like goal setting, graded exposure, and building a support system to aid in both physical and mental recovery. 
4. RED-S: Learn to Detect and Prevent Relative Energy Deficiency
   1. The blog post addresses Relative Energy Deficiency in Sports (RED-S), a condition affecting athletes' health and performance due to low energy availability. It emphasizes early detection and management of RED-S through nutritional optimization, body positivity promotion, and regular health monitoring to prevent complications and ensure peak athletic performance.
5. Measuring Progress Through Pain
   1. This post focuses on understanding and navigating pain during physical therapy. It distinguishes between 'good pain' (mild to moderate discomfort from adapting to new movements) and 'bad pain' (intense pain indicating injury or poor technique). The article emphasizes using pain levels, functional improvement, and strength gains as metrics to measure progress.
6. Why Cadence Matters in Running and How to Improve It
   1. Improving your running cadence can enhance efficiency, reduce injury risk, and increase speed. This blog explains how to adjust your cadence with practical tips like using a metronome and focusing on arm swing, emphasizing that optimal cadence varies between individuals and should be increased gradually.
7. Ultimate Squat Mobility Checklist
   1. This blog provides a comprehensive guide to improving squat mobility, covering aspects like form, ankle and knee mobility, hip strength, and pelvic stability. It offers practical advice and exercises to address common issues, emphasizing personalized approaches for pain-free and efficient squatting.
8. What Every Runner Should Know About Shin Splints
   1. This blog explains shin splints, particularly common among runners in the fall, focusing on causes, risk factors, and strategies for prevention and relief. It emphasizes the importance of proper training, strength and flexibility exercises, and addressing dietary and hormonal factors to manage and prevent shin splints effectively.
9. What is Really Causing Low Back Pain
   1. This blog addresses the complexity of low back pain, highlighting that it's often caused by a combination of poor movement patterns, sedentary lifestyle, and non-mechanical factors like stress and diet. It suggests practical solutions like improving mobility in the thoracic spine and hips, enhancing core strength, and adopting proper movement patterns, along with lifestyle adjustments to reduce back pain.
10. Tight Hip Flexors?
    1. This blog explores the distinction between actual tightness and perceived tightness in hip flexors, often confused due to prolonged sitting and associated weaknesses in the hip flexor and glute complexes. It describes how to assess hip flexor tightness using the Thomas Test, and offers self-myofascial release techniques for identified tightness. The blog emphasizes that passing the test indicates a need for strengthening rather than stretching
11. Dry Needling: Say Goodbye to Pain and Unlock Your Performance Potential
    1. The blog discusses dry needling, a performance physical therapy technique, as an effective method for alleviating pain and enhancing athletic performance. Unlike acupuncture, dry needling is based on Western medicine and targets muscle tension and trigger points. It offers benefits such as immediate pain relief, improved muscle function, enhanced athletic performance, and long-term benefits, making it a valuable tool for athletes and individuals suffering from musculoskeletal pain.
12. 5 Running Injuries I Saw in a NYC Medical Tent
    1. The blog lists the top 5 common running injuries observed at the 2022 NYC Marathon: hyponatremia, dehydration, vasovagal syncope (fainting), overheating, and minor injuries like sprains and strains. It emphasizes the importance of electrolyte balance, continuous movement after finishing, awareness of weather conditions, and caution with new race day elements to prevent these issues.
13. Referred Pain - Migraines and Tension Headaches
    1. The blog highlights how physical therapy can address myofascial pain by releasing tension in tight tissues using methods like myofascial release and dry needling. It emphasizes understanding the causes of pain, including factors like muscle imbalances and joint issues, and details how trigger points in muscles can lead to referred pain and movement dysfunctions.
14. PT 101: The Stoplight of Pain
    1. The blog discusses understanding pain levels during physical activity, differentiating between 'good,' 'warning,' and 'dangerous' pain. It emphasizes listening to the body's signals to maximize gains and minimize injury risks, providing a 'stoplight of pain' analogy to guide responses to different pain levels experienced during exercises or therapy.
15. How to Nail the First 6 Weeks of Your ACL Rehab
    1. The article outlines the key goals for the first 6 weeks of ACL rehabilitation after surgery, including managing pain, restoring knee motion, maintaining patellar mobility, strengthening quadriceps, and walking normally. It emphasizes the importance of early achievement of these goals to ensure a successful recovery process.
16. Start This Ski Season Pain Free
    1. To prevent knee pain during ski season, it's important to strengthen hip and leg muscles before and during the season. Three effective exercises for ski season knee health include Lateral Box Jumps, Romanian Deadlifts, and Bulgarian Split Squats, which help reduce stress on the knees and improve stability.
17. The Impact of Nutrition on Tendonitis
    1. Nutrition can significantly impact tendonitis. Anti-inflammatory foods like omega-3 fatty acids, turmeric, vitamin C, and bromelain can help alleviate symptoms, while processed foods, seed oils, sugar, and refined carbs should be limited to minimize inflammation. Proper hydration is also crucial for maintaining tendon elasticity and joint function.
18. Your Guide To Winter Running
    1. Winter running can have numerous benefits, including combating Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), improving mental well-being, and burning more calories due to the cold. To run safely and stay warm, warm-up indoors, adjust your pace on slippery surfaces, and dress in moisture-wicking layers.
19. Why You Pee When You Run (And How to Stop)
    1. Running can strain pelvic floor muscles, causing urinary incontinence, but consulting a pelvic floor therapist for tailored exercises and modifications can help you continue running while addressing the issue. Don't push through persistent pain; seek help and take steps to rehabilitate your pelvic floor for a healthier running experience.
20. Tactical Ways to Use Creatine to Help Your Strength, Recovery, and More
    1. Creatine monohydrate, a naturally occurring compound in the body, offers a range of benefits including improved muscle mass, reduced muscle cramps, and potential neuroprotective effects against Alzheimer's. The recommended daily dose for most individuals is 3-5 grams, and it is generally safe for people of all ages except those with specific medical conditions.
21. Sleep Health: Don’t Sleep on Sleep
    1. Sleep has become a hot button topic recently and for good reason.  As a culture we tend to take pride in what we are able to accomplish on little to no sleep.  “We will sleep when we’re dead!”  But lack of sleep may progress that statement more than we would like.  Check out the benefits of a good night sleep and how it is vital to your physical therapy recovery.
22. How To Make Your Training More Functional
    1. This blog explores functional training as a way to optimize movements that are tied back to the specific movements a species had to perform well, in order to survive and thrive. Species adapt their structures for efficient locomotion; humans, for example, shift their center of gravity while moving forward on two legs. Crucial functions for a pain-free life include standing well, efficient movement (gait cycle), throwing, picking things up, and auxiliary functions like jumping and side-stepping. Training effectiveness is measured by how well it enhances efficiency in these functions, prompting readers to assess their training accordingly.
23. Play, Progress, Prosper: How Youth Physical Therapy Enhances Sport Development
    1. Discover how youth physical therapy can give your young athlete the competitive edge in today's evolving world of youth sports. Performance-based therapy focuses on injury prevention, movement optimization, strength and conditioning, and swift recovery, backed by scientific research. Choosing the right clinic, educating yourself, and offering support are vital as parents. Your child's sporting success starts now, and performance-based therapy is the key to unlocking their full potential.
24. Pain-Free Running 
    1. This blog promotes pain-free running by dispelling common myths and emphasizing preventative measures. It advocates for gradual training, strength exercises, and individualized approaches to enhance tissue resilience. Key points include the importance of training volumes, proper warm-up, addressing lifestyle factors, and assessing running mechanics, including finding the right shoe fit. The article encourages a proactive stance on recovery and highlights the significance of seeking professional help promptly. Overall, it provides practical tips for sustainable and enjoyable running, making it a valuable resource for runners seeking injury prevention strategies.