Expert Insights on Performance & Recovery
Physical Therapy for Outdoor Athletes in Colorado
There is a particular kind of patient who is common here and rare almost everywhere else.
They ski forty days a season, ride bikes all summer, climb two nights a week, signed up for a 50K in June, and moved to Colorado specifically so they could do all of it. When something hurts, the question is never "how do I get comfortable again." It is "how do I not lose the season."
Generic rehab does not answer that question, because generic rehab is built around restoring normal daily function. For an outdoor athlete in Colorado, normal daily function is a floor, not a goal.
Here is how we think about this population.
Why Your Knees Hurt on Descents
You crush the climb. Lungs burning, legs on fire.
You summit, you soak in the views you worked so hard for, and you’re feeling good.
You turn around and start heading down. And by the time you're back at the trailhead, your knees are barking and talking with every step. Sound familiar?
It Doesn't Make the Climb Any Easier
Returning from any injury can be a difficult journey and we can prepare and learn everything about our situation that we want but when push comes to shove, it's still a challenge. Psychological framing is pivotal to our success and while understanding it doesn’t make the weights any lighter, or the mountains we climb any easier, it puts us in a better position to achieve our goals!
How to Prepare for Your First 14er
For Jess and I, this was our 15th 14er, and while we aren’t strangers to elevation, there’s still plenty of physical prep that we incorporate into our training to get ready for a big climb. Here are the biggest training and physical therapy focal points we emphasize in the gym in preparation for a big elevation climb: