When I was a physical therapy student, I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur. But the healthcare landscape is quickly and constantly evolving and one of the amazing factors about the physical therapy profession is that there are many niches and specialty areas to fill! That is to say, you never stop learning! In…
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Making The Case for Stronger Feet and Hands
One of the factors that I love about working in an outpatient orthopedics setting as a physical therapist is the wide variety of patients that walk through the clinic doors. The diversity in age, socioeconomic status, fitness level and goals, and injury type means I am constantly learning and being challenged to identify effective treatments…
Bone Health: RED-S & Tissue Loading
With bone stress injuries including stress fractures, it is important to consider not only bone health from a “loading” or exercise prescription perspective, but also from a whole health perspective including optimizing nutrition. This is where a discussion of the possibility of nutrition deficits such as occurs with Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). Check…
Pain in the BUTT!: Part 2- Treatment Strategies for Posterior Thigh & Buttock Pain
In this post I want to discuss 3 Keys to treatment for posterior thigh and buttock pain. If you are interested in differential diagnosis and screening for posterior thigh and buttock pain, please check out: Part 1- Differential Diagnosis of Posterior Thigh and Buttock Pain Three Treatment Keys: Correct Differential Diagnosis Activity Modifications & Reducing Symptom…
“Pain in the BUTT!”: Part 1- Differential Diagnosis of Posterior Thigh & Buttock Pain 
Hamstring strains are notoriously prone to recurrence (Sherry, 2004) and it is not uncommon to work with patients in a physical therapy setting who have had multiple injuries to the same leg or experience chronic “tightness” or pain in their hamstrings. What if some of these more persisting hamstring symptoms are not coming from the…
“Cheat Sheet”: Strength Goals for Lower Body Tendinopathies
Check out the handout below for strength goals and treatment tips for lower body tendinopathy injuries: (HANDOUT PDF) For more information on lower body tendinopathies, please see these prior blog posts: Tendinopathy Treatment Tips for the Lower Body Tips for Treating Lower Extremity Tendinopathies: Part 1: ASSESSMENT Tips for Treating Lower Extremity Tendinopathies: Part 2:…
PT Day of Service 2021
Since its beginning in 2015, “Physical Therapy Day of Service” (PT Day of Service) has been an opportunity for physical therapy students, clinicians, and staff to engage in the community and give back. Service projects for PTDOS often involve promoting health and sustainability efforts. This year, I am very excited to be joining the farmers…
Tendinopathy Treatment Tips for The Lower Body
“Tendinitis,” or the more comprehensive/accurate term “tendinopathy” is of the most common overuse injuries that we see in physical therapy. Whether “jumper’s knee” (patellar tendinopathy”), Achilles’ tendon pain, or plantar fasciitis (fasciopathy or heel pain); these injuries are incredibly common and often very painful and debilitating. In working with many patients with these conditions, I…
Groin Strains, What A Pain! Treatment and Prevention Strategies for Athletes
Groin injuries including adductor or hip flexor muscle strains are common in sports such as soccer, football, and hockey. These injures often occur following forceful cutting, sprinting, or kicking involved in these sports that places high stress on these muscle groups. The mechanism of injury, similar to hamstring strain injuries, often involves quick deceleration force…
Back to Basics: Evidence-Based Treatment for Ankle Sprains
If you had to pick one injury to be good at treating what would it be?! …A LATERAL ANKLE SPRAIN!!!!! I remember in my physical therapy training, one of my professors stating that if you could treat a lateral ankle sprain, you could use variations on this theme to treat any other musculoskeletal foot or…
Load Those Quads!
Quadriceps weakness often persists as a robust finding in patients with knee pain. This is true in overuse type injuries such as patellofemoral pain syndrome (Willy, 2019) and especially after knee surgeries like anterior cruciate ligament repair (ACL-R) (Baron, 2020; Current Concepts, 2016; Thomas, 2016; Logerstedt, 2017), and total knee arthroplasty (TKA, i.e., knee preplacement…
Effective Treatments for Low Back Pain: What Helps the Most
How many people do you know who have had low back pain at some point in their life? My guess would be A LOT! Low back pain is incredibly common and is the leading cause of disability world-wide (Hartvigsen, 2018). Because it is so ubiquitous, low back pain has been referred to as an “epidemic” and has even been…
sapiens movēs 