Reaching Peak Performance [ARTICLE SUMMARY]

I’m loving the early edition of this paper in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. There’s no doubt that athletes need to train hard to reach peak performance. But how hard? And how fast should that training ramp up? Thanks to Tim Gabbett for this excellent commentary. In my very humble opinion, clinicians, coaches, and athletes all need … Read More

Concussions are complicated [INFOGRAPHIC]

The most common symptom of a concussion is a headache. These injuries can affect many other body systems, however, causing other symptoms and sometimes leading to prolonged recovery (and time lost from sports). Read more below.

RECOVERY: the biggest buzzword in sports science right now

As athletes continue to push the boundaries of their bodies with training, recovery becomes even more important.  Why? To reduce fatigue and enhance athletic performance.  In theory, if you can recover faster, you can train harder (or more often). But, unfortunately recovery is complex.  There’s no one way to do it effectively. This is because it depends on a LOT … Read More

On-field injury rehab: how to safely get back in the game [INFOGRAPHIC]

One of the reasons I started CLE Sports PT & Performance was to work with athletes in their own element. I’ve always felt it provided a more complete recovery and return to their sport.  The literature shows that “on-field rehab” does just that. ACL injury. management, done in this manner, has been shown to be associated with: superior muscle strength … Read More

Perfect Your Training Intensity For Your Best Results Work smarter? Or harder? Balance is key to optimal performance and decreased injury risk.

Training harder and smarter.

Which are you… The person who never stops training?  The one who tries to outwork the competition? Or the person constantly looking for a way to hack the system?  (The one taking a break from Tim Ferriss’ 4 Hour Body to read this post?) Which is better?  Or, from a health perspective, which increases injury risk?   Overtraining or undertraining? … Read More

Research Roundup: Pain in Marathoners, Second ACL Surgery

Research Roundup-  Week of May 2, 2016: What CLE Sports PT is reading to give athletes #BETTER care   Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Pain in Marathon Runners Who Compete at the Elite Level.  75% of 199 elite marathoners had running-related pain, most often in the lower leg.  Age, experience, and training volume had no effect on the presence of pain in these runners.   … Read More

The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Early Sport Specialization- Part 2

In part one of this series, I discussed the myth that single-sport athletes are more successful than multi-sport athletes.  I also examined the risks of specializing in one sport too early.   See this link if you missed it. So now the question… If specializing in a sport early is not good, then how DO we set our kids up for long-term athletic … Read More

The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Early Sport Specialization- Part 1

The number of multi-sport athletes in the US is dwindling. The young athletes in our country are in a race to specialize in a sport earlier than their peers. This fits right into the American culture of “bigger, better, faster.” We want our kids to excel and we want a success quickly.  Some parents dream of their kids getting college … Read More

Concussion Series Part 5: Do Concussions Cause Other Injuries?

I’ve been working with concussion patients for a few years now… I’ve also presented on the topic of concussions in female athletes twice nationally.  When I was prepping my first talk, I came across this article.   College athletes who suffered a non-contact ACL injury scored lower than their non-injured teammates on a test of verbal memory, processing speed, and … Read More

Concussion Series Part 4: Does Neck Strengthening Prevent Injury?

Neck strengthening programs are the Sports Medicine community’s newest weapon in combatting the concussion epidemic.  Syracuse University’s football team made news in 2012 when the program implemented a neck strengthening program in 2012, attempting to cut the number of concussions.  While many Sports Medicine Experts recommend revisions to Syracuse’s program – more on this later- it has still been considered a … Read More