Fall Events 2020 - Live from Uphill Pursuits' Instagram and Facebook Pages
By Tiffany Coletta
tiffany@excelptmt.com
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Climbing Injuries
Older Posts »By Tiffany Coletta
Outside Bozeman's "Push & Pull: Essential Ingredients for Running and Climbing" by AJ Sobrilsky, DPT, OCS
By Tiffany Coletta
tiffany@excelptmt.com
“Push & Pull…Essential ingredients for Running and Climbing” is AJ Sobrilsky’s latest article in the Outside Bozeman Summer issue.
Read the article here: https://bit.ly/2EUnvJ2
AJ is a physical therapist in Excel PT’s Bozeman clinic who uses specialized gait and the Excel PT Climbing Lab to help treat injury and provide skilled performance assessments.
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AJ Sobrilsky, DPT, OCS is a Physical Therapist and Orthopedic Clinical Specialist in our Bozeman clinic. AJ specializes in the rehabilitation and prevention of orthopedic sports related injuries with a specific interest in the management of those involving the upper and lower extremities. AJ received his Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree from Carroll University (Waukesha, WI). Following the completion of his DPT degree he participated in an Orthopedic Residency through Evidence in Motion at Bellin Health in Green Bay, WI providing him with advanced training in orthopedic manual therapy, clinical decision making, and patient centered treatment. Following completion of his residency AJ became an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS) through the American Physical Therapy Board Association and received advanced training in dry needling for spine and extremities.
AJ has been a lifelong athlete, competing in cross-country and track through college and then racing competitively post collegiately. As a result of his personal experiences and passions, AJ has focused his continued education and clinical development around the athletic individual with an emphasis in: running, skiing, and climbing related injuries. AJ has had the opportunity to provide care for an array of athletic populations including youth sports teams, high school and collegiate athletes, and those competing at professional and Olympic levels.
AJ’s treatment philosophy emphasizes a collaborative patient centered approach. Structured around the patient, supported by current best evidence, and coupled with specialized exercise/techniques, AJ hopes to educate the patient on their current issue and provide them with the best course of treatment to return to their previous/desired level of activity.
When AJ isn’t working he is usually pursuing his next adventure: rock climbing, skiing, mountain biking, or running.
Spend Time Hanging and Start The Season Stronger - by Matt Heyliger, Excel PT Climbing Lab
By Matt Heyliger, DPT
matt@excelptmt.com
With the current state of things, many climbers who have not previously set up a hang board and/or training area at home are tackling these tools up at home and getting their hang on. Many others who had a routine of hanging at home prior to COVID-19 are back at it in full force. This is a great time to develop a more systematic approach to training.
Through this experience, trial and error has revealed some key points to consider when hanging at home. First and most important, how do you pull off a proper warm up without a climbing wall? I strongly believe your home warm up needs to be systematic to properly warm up while gauging how you’re feeling on a given day. It’s vital here to let go of your expectations (and ego) and to honestly assess your recovery from your previous bout of training. Sometimes you realize you’re feeling a lot better than you thought as you progress through your warm up. And sometimes you feel heavy and weak when you expected to feel great. Listen to your body and respect the process.
The first 20-25 minutes of your session should consist of a progression with light loading on larger holds trending toward the holds the given workout will emphasize. If you have the space and ingenuity to safely anchor a pulley set to offload some of your body weight (plenty of DIY info out there on this) this can be really helpful for warming up. For many this will enable you to train safely as your connective tissue in you fingers, hands and elbows adapt to this form of loading. You can also unweight your feet to progressively increase load keeping a little body weight on the floor, perhaps progressing to both or single tippy toe position.
Start with a set of 2-3 minutes with 10 seconds on, 10 seconds off hold times on a large 4-finger pocket edge or a jug on the top of the board. This should feel fairly easy; you should feel warmth in the forearms and hands but not enough strain to develop a pump. Take an equivalent timed rest period, 2-3 minutes. During this time you should perform active warm up drills for the upper body, perhaps a few push- ups or pull-ups, anything to get the blood flowing in the shoulders and arms. Repeat another warm up set, now 3 minutes in duration, still 10 seconds on, 10 seconds off but increasing the load or perhaps starting to decrease the hold size. Change one variable at a time and see how things feel. At the end of this set, you really want to feel the forearms working, working up to 60% effort to complete the set. Rest an additional 3-4 minute while performing continued dynamic upper extremity warm up drills.
For the last warm up set, I would recommend trending your on/off time to match the workout you are doing that day. A very common work out called repeaters involves 7 seconds on followed by a 3 second rest per rep. This set should be exclusively on the holds you are training on that day. I like to extend the rest time this set using 7 seconds on and 13 seconds off for the entire set to accommodate increased load. I find this fends off burning key energy needed for a successful workout while loading closer to the time and resistance for that given workout. This set should be 3 minutes and should be followed by a 5-minute rest prior to starting you workout for the day.
If you haven’t spent much time hanging recently you may surprise yourself and start the season stronger and more durable.
The Excel PT Climbing Lab exists to keep you climbing and improve your performance. We offer comprehensive injury management, video-based climbing analysis, and training plans.
Matt Heyliger, DPT, COMT of Excel Physical Therapy completed his Doctorate in Physical Therapy at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington and is a Certified Orthopedic Manual Therapist. He has a particular treatment focus in the relationship of cervical/thoracic spine mechanics and upper extremity conditions. Matt treats climbers through integrating video analysis and specialized biomechanical assessments in the Excel PT Climbing Lab in the Bozeman, Montana clinic. An avid rock climber, telemark/backcountry skier and mountain biker, Matt regularly practices yoga and enjoys frequent adventures in the mountains with his family.
The Answer Is Load, What’s The Question? by AJ Sobrilsky, DPT, OCS
By AJ Sobrilsky
aj@excelptmt.com
What unique times and circumstances we find ourselves in as climbers. The climbing gyms are closed, all the home gym products are sold out, and as a community we’ve put others best interest ahead of our passion and stayed local respecting the pleas to avoid traveling to popular climbing destinations. So it seems like no better time to take care of some essential preparation in our personal climbing dojos. What better time to begin or continue training, hone and establish an armor of strength, or finally address that “insert nagging climbing related ache here” you’ve had going on for months now. Whether you’re using a hangboard to strengthen those fingers, campusing to develop some power, or taking to the kettlebells and theraband to recover it all boils down to loading.
Loading simply is stress applied to a tissue or structure (muscle, tendon, bone) that results in some type of adaptation (stronger, stiffer, smarter). Load can be a good and a bad thing. Load in excess goes beyond the tissues capacity to remodel and adapt and could potentially result in a reactive response or injury. In fact there really is no injury; acute, chronic, or traumatic that simply doesn’t boil down to loading beyond capacity. But uniquely enough in this situation the problem or cause is also the answer and solution.
There are many types, strategies, and forms of loading depending on our desired response: rehabilitative loading, adaptive loading, stimulus loading, and reactive loading. While for the purpose of this specific post we’ll solely reference load as a physical stimulus we must remember that load stimuli is also psychological (more on that in a future post). So the answer to both improving your climbing performance, taking care of that nagging injury, and building up that armor of injury resilience is loading. Rest is not the best, and yes if you don’t use it you will lose it (however there is a caveat and exception for acute traumatic injuries: ACL repairs, grade III pulley ruptures, or Rotator cuff and SLAP repairs where we need to respect a typical tissue healing timeline). But if you’re still convinced rest is what you need here’s a simple guide to help you with that. https://www.climbing.com/skills/unsent-how-to-be-injured/
Loading isn’t always an exact science. A lot of factors and contingencies are at play when it comes to determining the amount, type, duration, and frequency of loading. For instance, your current training phase, training age, training history, injury history, and long term goals will influence how we’d load differently from one climber to another. Whether you’re 2-3wks into an acute injury or 3-4months of consistent aggravating complaints would also impact the loading program.
Hopefully, this post provided some insight to continue, progress, or adjust your current training. Or maybe it was just a quick break between burns on your home board that you’ve finally had time to finish (or start building). So with all that here is a final few tips, key concepts, and strategies to consider when loading:
- Gradually and slowly progress load – Probably the most important one!
- Variables to consider modifying with loading: volume, velocity, duration, loading positions (different grips)
- Vary the surface or position you’re loading in: tension block, flash board, hangboard, single rungs, different board systems or walls.
- Respect the recovery required to adapt from a specific training session and/or training cycle.
- Develop climbing specific skills: climbing is a unique sport with an ever changing set of parameters required to complete and thus ever changing and adapting set of skills required to be successful. It’s one thing to be strong but it’s another to know how to harness that strength to achieve desired goals.
Here at Excel Physical Therapy, we are ourselves climbers and patients as well as climbing research, training, and rehabilitation specialists. So we get it. We understand what you’re going through, and we can help you figure out how to take the steps towards those climbing goals. We’d love to have you in person in the Excel Climbing Lab for a climbing evaluation, evaluate and establish a plan for that nagging injury, or consult for injury/performance questions via an in-clinic or telehealth appointment. We’re here for you and we’d love to keep providing more and more information on all things climbing so please let us know if there is anything specific you’d like to hear and learn about.
AJ Sobrilsky, DPT, OCS is a Physical Therapist and Orthopedic Clinical Specialist in our Bozeman clinic. AJ specializes in the rehabilitation and prevention of orthopedic sports related injuries with a specific interest in the management of those involving the upper and lower extremities. AJ received his Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree from Carroll University (Waukesha, WI). Following the completion of his DPT degree he participated in an Orthopedic Residency through Evidence in Motion at Bellin Health in Green Bay, WI providing him with advanced training in orthopedic manual therapy, clinical decision making, and patient centered treatment. Following completion of his residency AJ became an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS) through the American Physical Therapy Board Association and received advanced training in dry needling for spine and extremities.
AJ has been a lifelong athlete, competing in cross-country and track through college and then racing competitively post collegiately. As a result of his personal experiences and passions, AJ has focused his continued education and clinical development around the athletic individual with an emphasis in: running, skiing, and climbing related injuries. AJ has had the opportunity to provide care for an array of athletic populations including youth sports teams, high school and collegiate athletes, and those competing at professional and Olympic levels.
AJ’s treatment philosophy emphasizes a collaborative patient centered approach. Structured around the patient, supported by current best evidence, and coupled with specialized exercise/techniques, AJ hopes to educate the patient on their current issue and provide them with the best course of treatment to return to their previous/desired level of activity.
When AJ isn’t working he is usually pursuing his next adventure: rock climbing, skiing, mountain biking, or running.
Treating Chronic Pain by Megan Kemp, DPT, ATC, CSCS
By Megan Kemp
megank@excelptmt.com
Are you currently living in pain? Have you in the past? If so, you are not alone. 50 million American adults have chronic pain and chronic low back pain is the leading cause of work limitations in the United States. It is generally well known that physical therapy is used following surgery or an injury. Unfortunately, it is much less commonly known that physical therapy is an effective and successful option for treating chronic pain. Typically, when people are in pain their first thought is to stop moving. This is often magnified when an individual has been in pain for months, or even years. So, if movement hurts, how can you reduce pain by moving? In order to understand this, it is important to first outline some important principles. Our bones and soft tissue structures operate under two important laws: Wolfe’s law and the SAID (Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands) principle. These laws both imply that our body will adapt to the specific loads you place on it. If you overload the structures, you will have pain. However, if you optimally load the structures (e.g. bone, muscle, tendons), they will improve in strength. By improving your body’s strength, you will in turn be able to move with less pain. Physical Therapists are also the experts on identifying faulty movement patterns. Everyone has specific ways they move to accomplish basic daily tasks – walking, getting up from a chair, etc. Unfortunately, our movement patterns are not always optimal. This may be due to muscle imbalances, poor motor control of stabilizing muscle groups or pain. By optimizing your body mechanics, you will be able to reduce microtrauma on certain structures and in turn reduce your pain. The physical therapists at Excel Physical Therapy are highly trained in manual therapy techniques. For certain types of pain, a hands-on approach of soft tissue massage and joint mobilization and/or manipulation is indicated to reduce your pain. Regardless of the type of pain you may have, we take on an active role in helping you achieve your goals in reducing your pain. Our goal is always to empower every patient that walks in our clinic and help them achieve their goals of pain-free living. We provide a specialized approach to physical therapy that provides the most effective treatments, allowing our patients to return to their highest level of function as quickly as possible. We have been proudly serving the Gallatin Valley in both Bozeman and Manhattan since 2001. Call us today to schedule an appointment so we can help you too.
Megan specializes in the treatment of upper and lower extremity athletic injuries, with clinical experience treating both high school and collegiate athletes. Megan is passionate about helping athletes of all ages return to their desired activity and strives to use the most current evidence-based practice medicine coupled with her knowledge of biomechanics to help her patients reach their goals. |
Outside Bozeman's climbing article by Matt Heyliger, DPT: "Poised to Pull"
By Tiffany Coletta
tiffany@excelptmt.com
Hey Climbers!
Check out Matt Heyliger, DPT‘s latest article in the Spring 2019 issue of Outside Bozeman, “Poised to Pull – Improving mechanics & preventing injury”
Schedule your next Excel Massage online at Schedulicity.com
By Tiffany Coletta
tiffany@excelptmt.com
Schedule when, how and from where it is most convenient for you! Convenient online scheduling for Excel Massage now available on Schedulicity.com. Click Here to schedule your next massage with James or Britnee. We’re only a phone call away too, 406.556.0562. |
Excel PT Climbing Lab
By Matt Heyliger, DPT
matt@excelptmt.com
Matt Heyliger, DPT‘s article in the Spring 2019 issue of Outside Bozeman, “Poised to Pull – Improving mechanics & preventing injury”
“Understanding Climbing Injuries" Talk @ MSU Climbing Gym 1/29/2019
By Matt Heyliger, DPT
matt@excelptmt.com
Community Education Series | Free
“Understanding Climbing Injuries: The Biomechanics Behind Acute and Overuse Injuries in Climbing”
presented by Matt Heyliger, DPT
Tuesday, January 29, 2019 | 12pm-1:30pm
Montana State University Climbing Gym in the Hosaeus Fitness Center
- Learn about the most common contributing factors to both acute and overuse injuries in rock climbing.
- Deepen your understanding of upper extremity anatomy and biomechanics.
- Learn self-care techniques that are critical to injury prevention and treatment.
- Learn how to safely re-introduce climbing after injury/rehabilitation.
- Discuss approaches to training for climbing including safe use of a hang board and campus board.
- Have questions? Q&A with Matt Heyliger, DPT after the talk.
Matt Heyliger, DPT is an avid climber and mountain sports enthusiast. His passion for climbing has taken him around the US, Canada and Mexico. Matt has a specific interest focus in biomechanics and how impairments at one level or joint affect other body structures. Matt has specialized in working with and treating rock climbers for more than 5 years. In the past year he has been able to broaden his approach to treating climbers through integrating video analysis and specialized biomechanical assessments in the Climbing Lab at Excel Physical Therapy.
Give the perfect gift with an eGift card
By Tiffany Coletta
tiffany@excelptmt.com
"Three months after discharge, I continue to be very happy with my treatment outcome. Thanks so much! (David)"--A.D., Bozeman Patient
View more testimonials from Excel PT clients »