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Eager runners of all ages crowded the University golf course this past Saturday for the annual Mountain West Cross-Country Classic. Over 2,700 athletes from around the Northwest traveled to compete, with over 70 high schools and 40 middle schools represented.  Alpine Physical Therapists Brace Hayden and Dennis McCrea, and outreach support staff, Jed Diehl and Kaile Sauro provided runner first aide at the finish line; supplying athletes with sport injury consults, lots of ice, ankle wraps, and shoulders to collapse on after a grueling three-mile effort. Hayden and McCrea provided a range of services from treatment of foot and ankle pain to supplying ice and recovery techniques for irritated joints. Athletes and parents alike inquired of Alpine therapists about injury prevention, treatment, and maintenance throughout the event.  Outside of sports outreach events like this, the Alpine Physical Therapy team provides athletes of all sports with first-class care every day. Alpine therapists specialize in everything including running analysis, recovery techniques after a long day on the slopes, injury prevention for court sports, and concussion treatment for contact sports. No matter your sport, Alpine Physical Therapy can help you prepare, heal, and improve your performance. Call or stop by one of our three convenient locations and ask how Alpine can help you today.
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Alpine’s pelvic health specialist, Kim Mize, is featured in a highly educational and broadly popular video on helping people know how to do pelvic floor strengthening exercises. Thanks, Kim, for your helpful introduction and for providing the YouTube link to the video Am I Doing Kegels Cor Dr. Lindsey Doe is a sex educator based out of Missoula, Montana. She approached me to help educate the public on Pelvic Floor Muscle Strengthening. So, in this short video, we present some info on why "Kegels" or Pelvic Floor Muscle exercises are important and how we assess if people are doing them properly. Although it is performed on a biologically female person, Dr. Doe, the concepts apply to all sexes. This is what some patients can expect if they are sent to us for Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercising. For more information on this topic, visit our pelvic health webpage by clicking here.
Congratulations to Alpine's own Megan Fisher who raced last weekend in the Butte 50. Read her story below this awesome picture of Megan after her race!  Photo credit: Meagan Thompson of the Montana Standard.
Butte hosted a trio of mountain bike races over the weekend high up on Homestake Pass. The Butte 25, 50, and 100 mile races are well-known nationally for being the most grueling races for their respective distances. The course is widely recognized for its beauty, as it includes sections of the famous gritty Continental Divide Trail. Alpine physical therapist Megan Fisher took on the Butte 50 and can attest to both the race's infamous attractions, splendid scenery, and grueling difficulty. Having raced nationally and internationally as a member of Team USA’s Paralympic Cycling Team, Megan had to rely on those years of training to carry her across the 52.4 mile course with 8,500 ft of elevation. Reflecting on her race, Megan said, “It was an incredible experience and a wonderful opportunity to push my physical limits. Many years ago, before I was a physical therapist, I was a patient of Alpine PT because it hurt to ride. I am so grateful that they helped me get back on the bike and I just haven’t stopped!” Alpine Physical Therapy welcomes Francisco Quiñones, DPT, to their team of now 20 physical therapists. Francisco is a 2018 graduate of the University of Montana Physical Therapy Doctorate program.  Francisco's clinical interests include orthopedics, sports medicine, biomechanics of the knee, and working with tactical athletes. In his spare time Francisco can be found spending time with his family or getting outdoors to trail run, hike, snowboard, cross-country ski, mountain bike, or rock climb.
You can contact Francisco at our downtown clinic by calling 549-0064. Alpine Physical Therapist Megan Fisher went the extra 13.1 miles to represent Missoula and Alpine PT at the annual Missoula Marathon. Along with providing her expert help for runners at the Expo on Saturday, Megan ran the half marathon on Sunday. Her involvement was chronicled in Saturday's Missoulian and is titled: Excitement High as Missoula Marathon Weekend Gets Underway. Click here for the entire article.
Special thanks to Megan for providing additional information below. ************ The Missoula Marathon, half marathon, and 5k draw participants from far and wide. Of the nearly 5,000 runners who participated this year in all the events, all 50 States and numerous countries from around the world were represented. I am pleased to say that I was among the ½ marathoners, proudly representing Missoula, Montana, and Alpine Physical Therapy. Notably, I became the first person with a prosthetic leg ever in the event! For years I had seen the Missoula Marathoners and ½ Marathoners run, jog, and walk by my house, been impressed by their strength and determination, and wondered if I had what it took to be in their shoes. Usually I saw the runners as I rolled out for a training ride during my tenure on Team USA’s Paracycling Team. Over the nine years I raced on the National Team, I won ten World Championship titles and had the great honor of representing Team USA at the London 2012 Games where I earned Gold and Silver medals, as well as at the Rio 2016 Games where I earned Silver and Bronze medals. Cycling has been good to me, but now that I’m retired from the National Team I wanted to challenge the limits of my body. I run with a running prosthesis—a blade that acts somewhat like a spring,—due to a horrible accident 16 years ago that resulted in numerous injuries including the loss of my left leg. I wish I could say that my prosthesis provides a physiological advantage, but it doesn’t. Regardless, running is hard for everyone. Thirteen point one miles is a long way to go! Race day energy, the support of my pacer, and the encouragement of fellow runners propelled me to running the whole way faster than I thought I ever could. I finished in 2:25:28. Maybe next year I can shave some time off? I’m already looking forward to next year! Alpine physical therapists Leah Versteegen and Jess Kehoe got first hand experience of the physical challenges facing Forest Service ax and saw loggers. Their work with two such experts is chronicled in Friday’s Missoulian and is titled: Tactical Athletes: Forest Service Adds PT to Logging Training. Click here for the entire article.
Special thanks to Leah for providing additional information below. ******** Hiking into the hills west of Stevensville, Montana we could hear the hum of a chainsaw well from the valley below. On a beautiful Tuesday afternoon, Jess Kehoe and I, two PTs from Alpine, donned our hard hats and joined some of the top sawyers in Western Montana for an educational session on the art of sawing, limbing, and bucking trees. Our purpose for the afternoon was to evaluate the mechanics, physical and mental demands of the profession. It was truly impressive to witness in person the efficiency with which these sawyers can quickly and swiftly take down and disassemble a tree. As tactical athletes, the season for a sawyer in Western Montana consists of long hard days bringing down weakened trees that have been damaged by fire, clearing trails, and removing hazards. They work their bodies hard, typically with a lot of repetitive motion for days on end. We, as physical therapists, typically do not get to see these workers until after an injury has sidelined them or at the end of their season when they finally have time to address their nagging aches and pains. Part of our mission at Alpine PT is to educate and promote wellness in our community. This day in woods with the Regional and National Directors of the Saw program was the first step in Alpine’s collaboration with the Saw Program to rewrite their training manual to include the missing elements of wellness education and injury prevention. Jess and I learned the art of using an axe and cross cut saw and observed some of the best sawyers in the region handling their chainsaws to efficiently bring down fire-damaged trees. We will now take this experience to help us work with the Saw Program Directors to develop a new training manual with important sections that were previously not included. Specifically, we will add education on the biomechanics of an efficient sawyer, training guidelines to prepare for the job and minimize risk of overuse injuries, recovery strategies during the long days, and helping understand the human factors of the job, such as how stress can affect performance and ultimately improve safety. Hopefully with better preparation we don’t have to see these guys and gals in our office quite as often. 6/26/2018 1 Comment June 26th, 2018Special thanks to Alpine's very own Emily Jones, ATC for providing this post! *********** Alpine Physical Therapy was onsite staffing the 1st Aid and Sports Injury Consult tent at the Intermountain Champions Cup at the Fort Missoula's Regional Park this past weekend (June 22nd-24th). The event was filled with youth soccer competition among teams from all over the Northwest including boys and girls teams with ages brackets ranging from 10 to 19 years old with a total of 100 teams and over 4000 players! Alpine PT was there to support our community partner, the Missoula Strikers and provide sideline athletic training and physical therapy consult services. Present throughout the weekend were Emily Jones, ATC and PT's Matt Schweitzer, Megan Fisher, Jess Kehoe, and Brace Hayden. The team provided injury consults, taping services, emergency on field care and concussion screens. The staff enjoyed watching some amazing youth athletics and helping and interacting with local and regional soccer players.   Alpine PT is always happy to give back to our community. We look forward to our next community outreach event collaborating with the upcoming Missoula Marathon in mid July!
Special thanks to Alpine's newest PT team member, Francisco Quiñones, for this informative blog post. ************ On a wet, soggy Saturday last week, it took penalty kicks to decide the final game. But on a day that brought cultures together from across the globe winning wasn’t what the day was truly about. In fact, if you were trying to identify the winning team by their post-game smiles you would be hard pressed, as fun was had by all. It was a day of food, drink, family and a game that serves as a common language for the world. With Alpine’s support, Brace Hayden and Francisco Quiñones took turns manning the injury tent and playing soccer with players from Big Sky High School, MSU, Tanzania, and Eritrea.  Despite the inclement weather, it was a day with few injuries and no shortage of smiles. It was the kind of day that makes you feel good about the community in which you reside. It was the kind of day that makes you proud to work for a company that never hesitates to step up for a good cause.   Here's a fantastic article from author Patti Neighmond on npr.org. **************  Though Americans spend an estimated $80 billion to $100 billion each year in hopes of easing their aching backs, the evidence is mounting that many pricey standard treatments — including surgery and spinal injections — are often ineffective and can even worsen and prolong the problem.
A study published Wednesday in the journal Health Services Research suggests trying physical therapy first may at least ease the strain on the patient's wallet in the long term — and also curb reliance on opioid painkillers, which carry their own risks. For the rest of this informative article, click here. Here's breaking news on guidelines issued for postpartum moms . . . after baby arrives. This article is brought to us by Vikki Ortiz of the Chicago Tribune.  As mothers around the world marvel that Kate Middleton went home from the hospital mere hours after giving birth to her third child Monday, the largest group of women’s doctors in the U.S. is urging a major shift in the way physicians care for mothers of new babies.
For the rest of this informative article, click here. And for more information on our Pelvic Health program at Alpine Physical Therapy, click here. |
Author
Brent Dodge is the founding owner of Alpine Physical Therapy and is a board certified orthopedic specialist. He holds additional certifications in Functional Dry Needling, Manual Physical Therapy, and Strength and Conditioning. CategoriesAll Alpine Physical Therapy Alpine Soccer Team Alpine Softball Alzheimer's Disease American Cancer Society Ana Soulia Angela Listug Vap Angela Listug-Vap Ankle Sprains Antara Quinones Aquatics Audrey Elias Back Pain Balance Biking Boston Marathon Brace Hayden Brent Dodge Cancer CDC Certified Chiropractic Climbing Concussion CoreAlign Core Studio Crossfit Dance Medicine Dennis McCrea Diabetes Diane Cummins Diva Day Dr. Liz Walker Eating Emily Jones Ergonomics Events Excercises Fall Prevention Fall Prevention Awareness Day Fishing Fitness Fit To Fight Foot Pain Functional Dry Needling Gary Gales Golf Good Food Store Headaches Health Her Health Hiking Hip Pain Jamie Terry Jeannette Kittredge Jessica Kehoe Jonathan Hoffman's Foundation Training Josie Sweeney Kayla Johnson Kerri Houck Knee Pain Kristi Moore Leah Versteegen Lindsy Campbell Linsey Olson Low Back Pain LYMPHEDEMA Mary Mischke Matt Schweitzer MISA Missoula Marathon Missoula's Choice Moms Montana Geriatric Society Morgan York Singer Morgan York-Singer MT Alpha Cycling National Cancer Institute National Falls Awareness Neck Pain Oncology Rehab Program Pain Pamela Pack Peak Health & Wellness Center Peak Triathlon Pelvic Pain Physical Therapy Physical Therapy (Journal) Pilates Primal Practice Relay For Life Resources Roger Sperry Ron Clijsen Ron Veilleux Runner's Edge Running Samantha Glaes Sam Schmidt Sarah McMillan Shoulder Pain Sitting Skiing Skye Folsom Soccer Spine Magazine Spine Rehab Sports STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents Tai Chi Tamarack Brewing Company Tara Mund The Runner's Clinic Tips Travis Dye Ultrasound Imaging University Of Montana Urinary Incontinence Walking Wellness Wellness Program Westside Dance Physical Therapy Who Is Perfect? Women's Health Archives
October 2018
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