6:30pm @ Spire Climbing in Bozeman, Montana – sign up to attend at spireclimbing.com
May 4 – Elbow Injury Talk with Dr. Lisa Palomaki, DPT
Lisa’s talk is full already on the Spire Climbing website – Watch on @excelptmt’s IGTV page to see her talk streamed live!
June 1 – Injury Screening with Dr. Todd Bushman, DPT, CSCS
July 6 -Wrist Injury Talk with Dr. Todd Bushman, DPT, CSCS
Aug 3-Strength Assessments with Dr. AJ Sobrilsky, DPT, OCS
Here’s what happens for each session type:
Injury Talk – Want to learn more about common climbing injuries & actively manage the situation? Don’t miss out on these quarterly presentations from an Excel Physical Therapy Climbing Lab PT. We’ll tackle some of the more common climbing injuries while discussing rehab, injury mitigation, training considerations, & the most important question of all: “Can I keep climbing?”
Injury Screening – Free 15-minute injury consultations with a doctor of physical therapy from Excel Physical Therapy.
Strength Assessment – Free assessment of specific climbing strength performance metrics: max finger strength, finger contact strength, critical force, & finger strength endurance. See where you measure up, areas that might need attention, & assess your training. Stop guessing & start assessing.
Follow us on our @excelptmt IG page for the latest updates and event info.
What Goes Up Must Come Down — Jason and AJ will be covering injuries in backcountry skiing & split boarding, how to minimize your risk of injury, and how to maximize your performance this winter.
Tune in this Thursday (10/22), 6pm as we broadcast live from Uphill Pursuit’s Instagram and Facebook pages – see you soon!
Bring your questions! Jason and AJ will be answering questions in the IGTV comments section under the broadcast.
Coming in November – Live on Zoom
In case you missed the live Uphill Pursuit collaborative broadcast – Simply click on the image above to watch Excel PT Climbing Lab’s awesome Transition to Climbing discussion. There’s a lot of very useful information to help you navigate the change of seasons as well as the change in loading and demand that shifting from outdoor to indoor climbing or rock to ice will introduce.
Excel Climbing Lab Doctors of Physical Therapy AJ Sobrilsky and Matt Heyliger offer insights on how to maximize training yields while minimizing injury risks.
The Excel Team extends support to you during this challenging season. Enduring together and drawing on resilience will help us get thru this COVID-19 time together. We are here for you in many ways –telehealth and in-clinic appointments, by phone or email–to help you anyway we can. #enduringtogether
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.
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.
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 Kemp, DPT, ATC, CSCS is a Physical Therapist, Certified Athletic Trainer, and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist in our Manhattan clinic. She’s a Gallatin Valley native and graduate of Manhattan Christian High School and received her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of Montana. She graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Athletic Training from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California and is a board-certified athletic trainer through the National Athletic Trainer’s Association. Megan also completed training from the National Strength and Conditioning Association and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at Point Loma Nazarene University in their Masters of Kinesiology program. Prior to obtaining her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree, Megan worked as an athletic trainer at Point Loma Nazarene University.
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.
“Physical therapist Matt Heyliger merges his passions for outdoor athletics and body mechanics to deliver fine-tuned, effective treatment. His interview offers tips for climbers on how to maintain stability and mobility on and off the rock.”
–Kelsey K. Sather
Kelsey K. Sather is a local Bozeman writer whose fiction and essays aim to promote humans’ connection to nature. As an avid climber and health enthusiast, she also writes about fitness, food, and outdoor play. Kelsey is passionate about using storytelling to advocate for gender equality and ecossytem preservation. She creates articles for her online journal, These Words Like Rocks, and curates The Work Behind the Bodyseries at her website kelseyksather.com.
As Part II in The Work Behind the Body series, the Worker’s Wo/Manual offers interviews with health and fitness professionals about bolstering athletic performance and overall wellness. Though most of the questions will relate to athletes of all genders, there will always be questions specific to the female body. The hope is to empower women and men through knowledge as they pursue their best selves in sport and life.
"David's treatment and exercise plan have dramatically increased the strength and reduced the pain in my lower back. Special thanks for your care." --K.K., Bozeman Patient
Climbing Lab Pop-up @Spire Climbing - 1st Wed of each month, 6:30pm in 2022
“Push & Pull…Essential ingredients for Running and Climbing” is AJ Sobrilsky’s latest article in the 
