The term squat butt wink refers to an athlete’s low back rounding as they reach the bottom position of their squat. Often, this is considered a movement fault as some low back injuries can occur when the low back rounds under heavy loads. If you are dealing with squat butt wink issues, then there few treatment strategies that can help improve your...

There are several fantastic fitness apps for your phone or tablet that can make your fitness journey (or that of your athletes) better. Over the past few years, I’ve used the following apps and highly recommend each of them. Important note: I’m a Mac user and haven’t verified these for their work with Android phones. The Best Fitness Apps On...

Hip impingement can be a problematic condition for individuals. It often limits their ability to participate in their sports and get activities of daily living done. At Onward Charlotte physical therapy, we treat a lot of individuals dealing with hip impingement pain. Also known as femoroacetabular impingement (with or without labrum tears), we use these three hip impingement stretches to...

In the musculoskeletal rehab, we’ve made huge strides understanding the importance of improving the strength of patients returning from an injury. But often we’re faced with the challenge of getting the right strength equipment in place. I’d love for every physical therapy, chiropractic, and athletic training facility to have barbells and kettlebells. But, I understand space and issues convincing management...

You walk into your gym and on the white board there it is…the overhead squat. While a few athletes will be thrilled to see this movement most of us won’t. The combination of mobility, strength, control, and coordination needed for this exercise makes it one of the most difficult for many CrossFit athletes.  But there is hope. With the assessments...

If you’ve had an episode of intense low back pain, you know how scary dealing with that can be. Quite often, athletes are given poor advice when it comes to rehabbing their back. This leads to them feeling fragile and scared to return to the activities they love. The most frequent exercise I’m messaged about is the deadlift after low...

One of my favorite diagnoses to treat in CrossFit athletes is SLAP tears. Quite frequently, athletes have been told their only option is surgery. But, many athletes with SLAP tears in their shoulders can successfully rehab back to full shoulder health and performance without needing to go under the knife. Skipping an often unnecessary surgery saves athletes from months of...

One of the most common problems I treat with CrossFit athletes is shoulder pain with kipping pull-ups. This injury can happen for several different reasons, as I discuss with my Performance Plus Programming partner, Pamela Gagnon. For athletes struggling with Kipping mechanics, join thousands of athletes that have improved their strength and form on our Lats to Fly program! Common...

One of the first questions that CrossFit, power lift, or Olympic weightlifting athletes ask me after a shoulder surgery such as a rotator cuff or labrum repair is “when can I squat after shoulder surgery?” With many shoulder surgeries, the shoulder position required to get set up in a back squat position can be challenging. The shoulder must move into...