The secret is out. People know. They whisper it to one another. They pass names and numbers. They don't bring it up to their physician. It's the hidden profession that helps people move and feel better without having to check with the doctor first. IT'S PHYSICAL THERAPY! Maybe the secret isn't out to everyone, but those that know understand the value of a good physical therapist. What's so great about physical therapy? I'm happy to tell you, and I'll acknowledge that I'

When caring for clients, healthcare needs to strive for not only curing the problem, but also healing the person. Too often we work on finding a cure, but that doesn't complete the healing process. So, what's the difference between curing and healing? Curing is how we use scientifically based treatments to address a diagnosis. This is when we do tests, exams, and workups to find out what the problem is, then we use procedures, medications, and supplements to solve those pro

We all know the saying of treat others like you would want yourself to be treated, but how about treating yourself as well as you treat others? I know that many people are guilty of taking better care of others than they would take of themselves. This may be sacrificing time for their family, skimping on themselves so they could afford things for others, shorting sleep so you can be somewhere for someone else, or being more committed to helping someone else then they would b

When you lay down to sleep, your body and brain have the opportunity to recover from the stresses and challenges of the day. We do this best when we get into deep sleep, but how many people don’t get good deep sleep because they are uncomfortable or in pain? We are going to go over tactics to make you more comfortable so you don’t have pain, you don’t toss and turn, and you can get into that deep sleep that your body and mind need. When we think about our sleep position, we m

One of the biggest challenges in the healthcare industry, as well as in your own personal finance, is navigating health insurance. It’s a headache, and it’s confusing. We understand that. We’ve been on the consumer side ourselves, so we know all the frustration that can come with using health insurance. Let’s talk about some of the bigger issues, and why we choose to be an out of network practice. First, let’s define out of network practice. This means, that we are healthcare

Let’s wake up and talk about sleep and recovery. Sleep is another one of those necessary things that we all try to short cut and squeeze more time out of our day by doing less of it. We sleep about a third of our lives, so that should tell you how important it is. When we shortcut sleep, what really happens is we get less out of our day, and we would have been better off getting more sleep. So what does sleep do for us? Sleep keeps you healthy by reducing stress and inflammat

Having sufficient hydration allows us to maximize performance, improve recovery, and minimize injury risk and muscle cramping. This makes us better during training and better during competition. It's important to be properly hydrated before exercise, maintain hydration during exercise, and recover hydration after exercise. If we want to perform our best, we need to optimize our hydration so our body can have the best opportunity to succeed. How do you monitor your hydration?

It’s common knowledge that the human body is composed mostly of water. 60% of the entire adult body is water, with higher concentrations in the lungs (83%), heart (73%), and muscles (79%). Even your bones have water in them! Water is a vital nutrient for not only humans, but for all life on Earth. The Earth is made of 70% water, and all living creatures require water to perform processes for survival. Besides keeping our tissues healthy and quenching our thirst, water has man

In the last blog post, found here, we discussed 3 benefits of good breathing. Now that we know all the benefits of using our diaphragm to breath, how do we get that to happen? The easiest cue is to breath through your nose, both on the inhale and the exhale. Why does that work? Well, if we consider breathing through your nose versus breathing through your mouth, we see that your nostrils are much smaller than your throat, which means you have some resistance when breathing t

Controlling our breath is the first muscle we learn to control as babies. Air is the most vital nutrient we bring into our bodies. We can survive without food for three weeks, without water for three days, but without air for only three minutes. Did you ever consider that air was more important than food or water? We breath 18,000-28,000 times a day, but most of us don’t pay much attention to it. If we can improve our breathing, think about all the changes that can happen ove

When progressing through a new program to recover from injury, not only will you need to decrease tissue resistance and increase pliability, but you will also have to learn how to stabilize and use that new motion. Getting into new motion is confusing for your muscles and your brain. You need to use that new motion to remind your muscles and brain what it feels like to get there, how to consistently get there, and how to control that new motion. This is where stability and st

When working on improving your mobility, stability, strength, comfort, and function, you need to utilize multiple techniques that focus on each aspect, and the order in which you do them is an important factor to consider. During a therapy session, we have limited time to determine what needs to be addressed during the session, and what can be continued outside of therapy time. We see you for a very limited time in a week. What you do when you’re not in physical therapy is ev

When new clients start physical therapy, they not only receive lots of information on their condition and how to get to their goal, but they also receive a multitude of exercises to continue on their own. It can be overwhelming. We understand that, and this is why we provide information over time so you can slowly digest and incorporate it. We want you to own your problem and own your solution, and we want you to ask questions when you don’t understand what we are working on.

When starting physical therapy, a new exercise program, or a new activity, it’s common to wonder what you should feel, where you should feel it, and for how long. Learning how your body is going to react is an important part of the experience, and we want to be clear on what is a normal feeling, what is abnormal, and what we should be aiming for. Let’s go through a few pointers of what to expect when starting new activities. First off, if you’re starting something new like ph

More often than you might think, snowboarders pick a stance that was assigned to them, and they never learn to change it. Whether it's from the rental shop, the local board store, or borrowed from a friend, most beginners don't know to change how they stand. As beginners become experienced, they stick with what they know, and that isn't always an ideal alignment Why do you need to have your own unique stance? Primarily because of anatomy. We each have a unique body build

One of the greatest exercises we can do for the human body also happens to be a primary movement in snowboarding. Squatting effectively not only keeps us on the mountain all day, but it's also the same movement we use hundreds of time everyday, whether we are trying to or not. The squat motion is the same movement we use every time we stand up or sit down. Every time we sit down to eat, work, read, or rest, every time we sit on the toilet, every time we lift from the ground

When you're out in the world, you've got things that need respecting. The world isn't about any one individual. It's not about a single location, a common belief, or a best way. Each person has their own journey, and each person has their own relationships with others, and with nature. Being outdoors is a great gift for us to interact with everyday. It teaches, challenges, and checks our development through life. It reminds us that the world is much bigger than us, and w

Sometimes in history we become so convinced of a solution, so familiar with common knowledge, that this becomes a norm. It's widely accepted, it's been tested time and again, and everyone knows what it is. We become complacent with the information, and we stop questioning it and learning more. This is what has happened with icing injuries. We have been told our whole lives to use ice to decreased pain and swelling, while warding off excessive inflammation and all the bad s

Exploring, discovering, getting lost, and find your way can be rewarding in all areas of life. It's fun, exciting, adventurous, challenging, and refreshing. Even when you find yourself in places you wouldn't have planned, you can still see, hear, and learn something to take with you. In all places, with all people, you can have an experience that resonates with you for your entire life. This can be random encounter or planned outings. It could be from a deliberate trip, o

It's well accepted that stretching before exercise or competition is beneficial. When getting ready to workout, we all know that a good stretch routine can go a long way. Not only does it get our muscles active and our blood flow pumping, but it can help us move freely, move further, and reduce our risk of injury. Is your stretch routine optimal for your workout? Or for your goals? Or for your body? Like anything, we can do it right, wrong, or somewhere in between. Also,