Progress occurs when thought leaders share insights and knowledge at the cutting edge of sports medicine...so we’re inviting renowned surgeons and industry experts to lead the conversation. The Joint Ventures podcast series puts the hot topics center stage, so stay tuned to explore evolving trends, shifting perceptions and emerging procedural technologies. DISCLAIMER: Smith+Nephew is a medical device manufacturer and does not provide medical advice. This material may contain information rela ...
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Answering all your physical therapy, fitness, strength and conditioning, sports performance, and career advice questions. Join me, Lenny Macrina, Dave Tilley, Dan Pope, Mike Scaduto, Lisa Russell, Kevin Coughlin, Diwesh Poudyal, and others from my team at Champion Physical Therapy and Performance in Boston, MA and learn how we help people feel better, move better, and perform better. Ask your questions at http://mikereinold.com/askmikereinold.
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Do You Need Isokinetic Testing? - #AMR362
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13:07It's important to have objective test data to safely progress patients and return them to sport after injuries like ACL reconstruction. Isokinetic testing is still the gold standard. However, the machines are large and expensive, and they are used much less frequently. We don’t even have an isokinetic machine at Champion. Here’s what we do instead.…
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Knee MCL Repair with Internal Brace - #AMR361
18:11
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18:11Internal bracing is becoming a very popular procedure with orthopedic surgeons. Repairing ligaments and then augmenting the tissue with an internal brace has shown to be promising throughout the body, including the MCL of the knee. But, what do you do if there is prolonged stiffness? To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com…
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Oblique Injuries in Baseball Players - #AMR360
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16:16Oblique injuries are common in baseball players, and not so common in other sports. With baseball players training so much more in the offseason with high volume and max intent, it’s no wonder these injuries are rising. Here’s how we approach these injuries and how to progress them back to hitting. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://…
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Elevating the standard of care in knee repair
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37:16Get expert perspectives on treating the entire knee from leading surgeons and the UFC Performance Institute’s Senior Director of Physical Therapy. With the aim of getting their patients back to their lives, the panel explains why they consider multiple aspects of knee preservation: ligament reconstruction (quad grafts, LET and multi-ligament), meni…
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Restoring Range of Motion After Rotator Cuff Repair - #AMR359
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14:21Restoring range of motion after a rotator cuff repair is one of the most important factors in long-term patient satisfaction. Internal rotation is especially important, as a loss of IR can really limit their functional movements. There are many variables to consider when rehabbing a rotator cuff repair patient. Several factors will alter our speed …
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Return to Running After ACL Surgery - #AMR358
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20:08Rehabilitation after ACL reconstruction is a long, sequential process. We look for specific criteria before progressing our athletes back to running. Here are the criteria we look for and the progression we follow for plyometrics, running, sprinting, and agility work to help athletes get back to competition after ACL surgery. To see full show notes…
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Little League Elbow is a common injury in youth baseball players. Little League Elbow is a growth plate injury typically seen in baseball pitchers around the age of 13. At this age, the bone is typically the weak link, not the ligament. This is why we see more bony growth plate injuries than Tommy John injuries in youth athletes. These often take l…
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Update on Sports PT Residencies - #AMR356
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15:45Over the last decade, the amount of sports physical therapy residency programs has skyrocketed. There are so many great programs now. Our students ask us all the time if they should do a residency. Our answer is always, “It depends.” They aren’t for everyone. Here are our current thoughts on sports PT residencies, who should consider them, and who …
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Evaluation and Treatment of Biceps Pain - #AMR355
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13:01Ah, the diagnosis of biceps tendonitis. We’ve all seen it so many times on script from doctors. Is all anterior shoulder pain coming from the biceps? How can you tell? How does this change your rehab? We’ll answer all this and more in this episode. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/evaluation-and-treatment-of-biceps-…
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What it Takes to Start a Cash Based PT Practice
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27:18It’s so awesome to see so many cash-based physical therapy businesses starting around the country. It’s really been an amazing experience for us at Champion to be out-of-network with health insurances for over 10 years. In this episode, we have some advice, pros, and cons for those looking to succeed with this model. To see full show notes and more…
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ACL Reconstruction with Lateral Extra-Articular Tenodesis (LET) - #AMR353
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16:19We’re starting to see more and more ACL reconstruction procedures with an LET, or lateral extra-articular tenodesis. Especially in revisions and younger female athletes. In this episode we talk about the technique, how it changes the rehab progression, and some tips on what to watch out for. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikerei…
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What Athletic Qualities Do We Test (and How)? - #AMR352
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14:19If you want to help your athletes maximize their potential, you need to have a system to assess athletic qualities. This is important to individualize programming and monitor progress. We follow a few steps in our system: 1. Identify the athletic qualities needed in a sport 2. Identify an assessment to measure this quality 3. Determine the technolo…
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Building Return to Sport Programs - #AMR351
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24:01One of the most common questions we tend to get over time is how to return athletes back to sport after an injury. This is one of the main topics in our online Champion Sports PT Mentorship, and probably the most popular portion of the program for past students (BTW, our next cohort starts in January… click here to learn more). In this episode, we …
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Is Limb Symmetry Index Our Goal? - #AMR350
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21:57Limb symmetry index is often used to measure performance and determine return to play. Makes sense, but what if the other side isn’t perfect? We prefer to look at more than just LSI, but there’s a bunch that goes into it. We discuss in this episode. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/is-limb-symmetry-index-our-goal/ C…
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Rotator Cuff Repair Surgery in Younger Patients - #AMR349
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20:16Rotator cuff tears are becoming more common in younger active patients in their 40s and 50s. Typically, they are small tears at this time, but what should we do with them? Should we consider surgery? Should we avoid it at all costs? We talk about some of the things to consider in this episode. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://miker…
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Our Favorite Journals to Stay Current - #AMR348
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20:23There are a ton of scientific and medical journals these days. Seems like there are more and more each year. We’ve talked over the years about how there are actually some journals you want to avoid, and others that you want to follow. In this episode, we talk about our current favorites plus some other current thoughts on how to stay current. To se…
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BFR Update for 2025: How We’re Using Blood Flow Restriction Training - #AMR347
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19:34Blood flow restriction training has been such a great addition to what we do in physical therapy. Just like everything else, the more we use it, the more we refine what we are doing. Here are our latest thoughts on how we are using BFR at Champion. Check out the show notes below to see our latest recommendations on BFR cuffs. To see full show notes…
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How to Treat Acute Lumbar Radiculopathy - #AMR346
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19:06We’ve all had the patient walk in the door with acute low back pain. It’s awful. They’re in a ton of pain and can’t function. In this episode, we discuss our strategies for working with people with acute lumbar radiculopathy to get them on the right path as soon as possible. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/how-to-t…
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How to Periodize a Rehabilitation Program - #AMR345
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14:43We all know it’s important to challenge our patients with load during the exercise progression of a rehabilitation plan. Many people like to poke fun at the concept of 3 sets of 10 repetitions, probably because some abuse it, but there is a time and place for everything. In this episode, we discuss set and rep schemes and how we periodize our exerc…
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Should You Delay Range of Motion after a Rotator Cuff Repair? - #AMR344
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17:04Rotator cuff repair surgery is one of the most common procedures in physical therapy, yet the recommended postoperative guidelines vary significantly. Different doctors worldwide disagree on what’s best. Some want to be conservative and delay range of motion and physical therapy to maximize the chance that the repair does not fail. But is that best…
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Update on SLAP Tears: Good SLAPs vs Bad SLAPs - #AMR343
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12:45Our understanding of SLAP tears, or superior labral tears of the shoulder, continues to evolve. In the past, we often rushed to surgical repair of a SLAP lesion, but now we understand that not all SLAP tears need to be repaired. In fact, repairing some types of SLAP tears in the wrong person could make them worse! In this episode we talk about the …
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Rate of Force Development in Rehabilitation - #AMR342
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17:31Rate of force development has become popular in the strength and conditioning world, but not so much in rehabilitation. After an injury, we often work on strength and power, but we must also work on producing force as quickly as possible to benefit athletes. In this episode, we discuss how to measure RFD and how to incorporate it into the rehabilit…
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ACL Repair Using the BEAR Technique - #AMR341
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18:46The future of ACL reconstruction and repair is evolving. One of the newer techniques to try to repair the native ACL ligament rather than needing a graft is using a bridge enhancement. This is called the BEAR technique for Bridge-Enhanced ACL Repair. This procedure has specific indications, contraindications, and rehabilitation guidelines. In this …
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Optimizing rotator cuff healing: Insights from leading surgeons
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31:31Listen to the inaugural Joint Ventures podcast to hear renowned surgeons dive into the world of bioinductive augmentation with the REGENETEN◊ Implant. In a vibrant discussion, they share extensive experiences with this innovative implant and its associated technique, the strength of supporting data and impressive outcomes they’ve observed. Featurin…
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Return to Running After an Injury - #AMR340
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19:21One of the areas that physical therapists often report feeling a lack of confidence is building a return to running program after an injury or surgery. There are a few things to consider, such as the type of athlete and what their goals are in the long run. But in general, a slow and gradual progression is often best. Here are the factors we consid…
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When to Start Training in the Gym After Surgery - #AMR339
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17:36Many people value getting back to the gym after surgery. They may be athletes needing to prepare for their sport or people who enjoy the gym recreationally. We’re big advocates for getting back into the gym as soon as possible, but after surgery, there are some things to consider. Here are our thoughts on how to best manage this. To see full show n…
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Strategies for Cervical Spine Pain - #AMR338
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18:12Cervical spine pain is pretty common. Most of the time, it seems like we only see these patients when their symptoms progress to the point where they are having radiculopathy and loss of strength or sensation down their arm. But what do you do with the younger person who seems to have the beginning of cervical issues? Here are our thoughts. To see …
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The Most Important Thing You MUST Do to Accelerate Your Career - #AMR337
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36:39Finding a good mentor is hard. Many people don’t have access to someone who wants to help them accelerate their career. We often start our careers and have so many questions. We’ve all been there. In this week’s podcast, we talk about what we recommend you do when you aren’t in a spot where you have a great mentor. This is also why we started our n…
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How to Deal with Stubborn Elbow Loss of Motion - #AMR336
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17:02Loss of range of motion after elbow surgery is common. The elbow is a very congruent and unforgiving joint. It’s important to prevent loss of motion with early activities as much as possible. But what do you do when you have a loss of mobility in the elbow? Here are our treatment strategies. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikerei…
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How to Specialize in a Niche Population - #AMR335
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19:33The riches are in the niches, or so they say. But in all seriousness, I agree. Most people I know who love their jobs specialize in a niche they enjoy. But how do you get started specializing in a niche? Here are some of our tips. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/how-to-specialize-in-a-niche-population/ Click Here t…
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Strategies for Acute Low Back Pain - #AMR334
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18:05We’ve all seen it before. Someone comes in saying that their “back locked up” on them! They are in a lot of pain, guarded with their movement, and not sure what to do. Here’s how we approach this and some pearls to help them get out of pain and spasm and back into their activities without setbacks. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://…
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How to Know When to Push or Back Off - #AMR333
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15:34One of the more common questions we get from students is knowing when to push someone or back off. As always, the answer will depend on the situation. But, there are some principles to guide you. We discuss what we do and how to avoid the ups and downs. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/how-to-know-when-to-push-or-ba…
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Should You Cue to Pinch Your Shoulder Blades Back? - #AMR332
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14:58A common debate in physical therapy is whether we should cue people to “pinch their scapulas” together during exercises. I don’t really think there should be a debate… Here’s why we don’t use that cue and what we do instead. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/should-you-cue-to-pinch-your-shoulder-blades-back/ Click He…
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How to Measure Strength in the Clinic - #AMR331
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20:40We all know that it’s super important to assess strength with our patients and clients. But is manual muscle testing enough? We don’t think so. Here’s why and what we use at Champion. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/how-to-measure-strength-in-the-clinic/ Click Here to View My Online Courses Want to learn more from …
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Rehabilitation After UCL Repair with Internal Brace - #AMR330
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14:30Over the last several years, we have seen the growth of the new repair of the ulnar collateral ligament with an internal brace procedure. It’s been awesome to witness such great success with this new Tommy John procedure, and patients have been doing great. Here’s an update on our experience so far, some clinical pearls on rehabilitating these athl…
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When is it Safe to Start Running After a Hamstring Strain? - AMR#329
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15:24Hamstring strains continue to be one of the most common injuries in sports. Returning these athletes to play can sometimes seem daunting. When is it safe to start running? Do you have to wait until they are pain-free? We answer these questions and more in this episode. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/when-is-it-saf…
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How to Integrate Students into Clinical Care - #AMR328
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22:13As you probably know, we have a lot of clinical physical therapy students and strength and conditioning interns at Champion. Over the years we have found success in integrating them into working with our patients and clients. Here are some tips on how to do this while still being able to provide a great learning experience for the student and a gre…
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What Exercises Are Safe After Rotator Cuff Repair - #AMR327
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16:32Some of the most common questions we get in regard to rotator cuff repair rehabilitation are when can we start range of motion and strengthening exercises. It will depend on several factors, but there are ways to build an evidence-based rehabilitation progression. In this episode, we talk about how we progress rotator cuff repair patients and how w…
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Interviewing for a Job in Professional Sports - #AMR326
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14:17Many students and early career professionals want to get into professional sports. Here’s some of our advice on how to stand out when applying and interviewing for these high level jobs. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/interviewing-for-a-job-in-professional-sports Click Here to View My Online Courses Want to learn …
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Using Force Plates to Show Progress - #AMR325
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21:28Force plates can be very valuable in quantifying certain metrics that can monitor progress over time. We’re using these for both our performance and rehabilitation athletes. Here’s what we have seen so far. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/using-force-plates-to-show-progress/ Click Here to View My Online Courses Wan…
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Should ACL Allografts Go Slower with Their Rehabilitation - #AMR324
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13:04There are many options for graft sources when performing an ACL reconstruction. There are pros and cons to them all. One graft type, an allograft, probably deserves a different rehabilitation approach. We often go slower with this graft type. We talk about why in this episode. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/should…
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How to Deal with Recurring Hamstring Strains - #AMR323
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20:06Hamstring strains are one of the most common injuries in sports. And as many of us know, it often can be recurring. In this podcast episode, we discuss why this may be the case and what you can do to minimize recurrence. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/how-to-deal-with-recurring-hamstring-strains/ Click Here to Vie…
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Getting the Most Out of Your PT Clinical Affiliations - AMR322
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14:38It is important as physical therapists that we are exposed to a diverse range of the profession during school. Many students that want to get into sports or orthopedics feel like they don’t get as much out of the PT clinical affiliations outside of those areas. But, we think there’s a ton to learn in every environment that will help you with your f…
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Building Load Capacity After Lower Extremity Injuries - #AMR321
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16:25As physical therapists, we often do a great job with the early phases of rehabilitation and helping people restore motion and strength. But many people, especially athletes, also need to develop their loading capacity to get back to advanced activities like running, cutting, and jumping. In this episode, we talk about how we progress people and bui…
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Fitting Everything into a Physical Therapy Treatment Session - AMR#320
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22:27It’s unfortunate that many physical clinics have limits on the amount of time you can spend with a patient. We all want to spend a ton of time with our patients, especially in the later stages of rehab when there is so much to do. In this episode, we’re going to talk about some strategies on how to deal with these limitations. To see full show note…
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Baseball Pitchers with Limited External Rotation - #AMR319
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13:52We treat a lot of baseball players at Champion. And one thing is certain, throwing a baseball sure does make a lot of people lose shoulder mobility! We often see this correlated with medial elbow pain, so when someone is rehabbing an elbow injury like Tommy John, we often focus as much on the shoulder as the elbow. We talk about this concept and mo…
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Improving Range of Motion After a Patellar Tendon Repair - #AMR318
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13:02Any surgery that involves repairing a torn tendon will have the potential to have complications. Most commonly, this involves a loss of motion. Depending on the activity, some discomfort is expected. But you also don’t want to overload the healing tissue. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/improving-range-of-motion-af…
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Restoring Symmetry in Asymmetrical Sports - #AMR317
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16:59A lot of people assume that humans should be symmetrical. But I’m not sure that’s accurate, so I’m not a fan of blaming injuries on asymmetry. More importantly, many sports are unilateral in nature and require asymmetrical movements. In this episode, we talk about how we deal with asymmetry for both injury prevention and performance enhancement. To…
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Pickellball is exploding right now in popularity, and with it we are seeing an increase in injuries. In this week’s episode, we talk about some of the more common injuries and some things we can focus on to minimize them. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/minimizing-pickleball-injuries/ Click Here to View My Online C…
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Modifying Exercises Around Pain - #AMR315
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17:20It’s not uncommon to have some pain and discomfort during or after an exercise. But when is that OK to push through and when should you back off? In this week’s episode we talk about some of the reasons why we would modify an exercise based on pain. To see full show notes and more, head to: https://mikereinold.com/modifying-exercises-around-pain/ C…
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