ACL Tear: What’s Next?
An injury to the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) can be devastating, especially to athletes, but it doesn’t mean your career is over. Improvements in technology and research have made it possible to return to sport the following year. However, this relies on many variables and changes person to person, but it is not unrealistic to see an athlete return to full strength the following season. In fact, we see it often in professional sports. What is done before and after ACL surgery, if deemed necessary, is crucial to the recovery
Staying Strong After Rehab
When many of us think of rehab, we think of surgery or a debilitating injury. While this is sometimes the case, the vast majority of people seeking out physical therapy tend to be dealing with much less severe sprains and strains. These are the kinds of injuries that can happen by simply moving the wrong way too quickly or performing an action that your body is not used to. Even the vast majority of back injuries that make you feel like you can’t get up out of bed are simply
4 Key Strength and Conditioning Components for Soccer Players
You can play it anywhere with no equipment except for some sort of ball. Whether it’s soccer, futbol, or football, the game is incredible. I know my life, as well as millions of others, has been shaped by it. From playing in college to playing in the street with friends, soccer can be an extremely physically demanding game. From the repeated sprints, to long runs back to goal, or hard 50-50 challenges for 90+ minutes, top players need to be physically capable. With that in mind, here are 4 key
Six Nutrients for Better Recovery and Well-Being
When thinking about making changes to our diets, we often think about eating to gain muscle or to lose fat. However, there are many other reasons to alter our diets that don’t involve a change in weight at all. Current estimates state that about 70% of the standard American diet consists of processed foods (1). While frozen fruits and vegetables are included in this statistic, the majority of those foods are nutrient-poor choices that result in major vitamin and mineral deficiencies that can leave us with muscle cramps, fatigue, difficulty
Managing Osgood Schlatter’s Disease
I’m very excited to have sat down with Dr. Ross Levine this week to discuss Osgood Schlatter’s Disease (OSD) because we have both worked with many clients with OSD. This condition presents a bit of a challenge for those who have it and live an active lifestyle, so we wanted to share some strategies for handling it with care. Check out the video here - When young athletes are experiencing knee pain it can be very scary for both the athlete and the parents, and they may be unsure of how to
4 At Home Hip Openers For Golfers
Having proper hip mobility is an important piece to any golfer’s game. A golfer who has tight hips can develop compensatory movements. If this happens, surrounding areas usually pick up the slack, resulting in injuries and increased pain. Establishing and maintaining hip mobility allows for golfers to have a smoother turn in their backswing and downswing. It also helps increase power by allowing for the optimal rotation needed during the golf swing. Heavy resistance band stretching is a great way to develop better hip mobility. This technique will stretch both the
The Fitness Puzzle – Which Piece Are You Missing?
When it comes to fitness goals, most people end up falling short of where they would like to be. Part of that is the lofty expectations that people have, and part of it is our “instant gratification” society where people want a quick fix. But take out the people who expect to lose 20 pounds in a month, and there are still plenty of others who make a commitment to diet or exercise and never see the results that they would like. It’s often something that the individual doesn’t realize
Simple Power Exercises for Athletes
When I think of athletes, I think of the most powerful people in the world. From gymnasts launching themselves through the air, track stars running 100 meters under 11 seconds, or even a goal kick from a goalie in soccer, the amount of force top athletes can generate is extraordinary. Aspiring athletes who want to be any where near world class need the right training to do so and the right training includes power exercises/movements. In this blog post I want to give coaches/athletes ideas and exercises , that use little
Get Stronger by Pushing Through the Wall
If you’ve tuned into any of the Olympic Trials recently, you have surely seen some of the incredible performances that athletes have left on the competitive stage. While these athletes have undergone thousands of hours of physical training, these phenomenal performances go deeper than just physical training. Athletes, like Sydney McLaughlin, the most recent 400m hurdles world record holder, are not impressing the world by staying within their comfort zones. When practicing to push their bodies to their limits, athletes must also practice pushing their minds to those same limits. The
5 Movements Youth Athletes Need to Train
According to Stanford Children’s Health Organization, about thirty million children and teens participate in some form of organized sports, and more than 3.5 million injuries occur each year. Perhaps this is due to the fact that many of these athletes are going through their “peak height velocity” period, also known as the growth spurt. Growth spurts usually occur at around age 12 for females and age 14 in males. During this phase, bones weaken, muscle imbalances develop, and muscle-tendon units tighten. All of which are risk factors for injury. Young