Reaching Your “Apex”!

This means that today the sun will reach its highest point in the sky or its APEX!  At its highest point in the sky, the sun will be able to provide us with the most daylight we will see in one day for the entire year! It’s interesting to me that even the sun;  which in my personal opinion already offers so many great things on a daily basis such as warmth, light, nourishment, energy, vitamins;  seems to be working towards a day of peak performance!

How about you?
Are you working towards a day of peak performance?
Maybe it’s getting a PR for your upcoming run?
Or a competition in which you hope to have the most power and force behind your throw, swing, kick, or punch?

Did you know that you can see a physical therapist (PT) for more than just recovering from an injury or dealing with pain?

What about performance optimization!? You may not be having any pain, but deviations in your form could be causing you to lose power or could be putting you at increased risk for future pain or injury.

A PT is skilled in analyzing a person’s movement patterns and detecting variations from the “average” or optimal mechanics. These variations can occur for a variety of reasons; muscle tightness, muscle weakness, and/or limited joint mobility to name a few.  When there are imbalances within the system of our body, we tend to present with compensations in our movement patterns. Our bodies are very smart and will usually be able to find a way to help us complete the task at hand! However, when we are using muscles to complete a function that they aren’t meant to, there is a loss of efficiency.  We also put that tissue at risk for overexertion and injury.  It’s like asking an accountant to complete the work of a musician!

I played softball in college and I wish I had my background in PT then!

I’ve always had decent upper body and core strength, but my hips are overall much weaker in comparison.  During workouts, I’d notice that my quads would take the brunt of the work from my lower body exercises.  My glutes were weaker and were happy to let my quads take the lead when able.  Unfortunately, this transferred over into my batting form as well.  I would tend to use my core and upper body as my primary power generators, and lose out on some of the power that could have been provided from my hips as well! Other than losing power, I was also unknowingly setting myself up for injury.   My Junior year of college I tore my ACL, during a scrimmage game of all things! I now know that my over-dominant quads, as well as being female, had put me at an increased risk for this injury! I had great coaching throughout my career, and therefore was able to see great success with the skills and techniques that I had gained and mastered; however,  I wonder if the eye of a PT could have added more power to my swing OR prevented me from losing out on part of a season due to injury.

Here is great news for you! Apex will be offering athletic enhancement screenings which will allow young athletes the opportunity for a thirty-minute, one on one, assessment from a physical therapist! We will be analyzing movement patterns and sport-specific movements to assess for flexibility, agility, and power.  Each participant will be given a “report card” at the end of the assessment and will be given the opportunity to schedule follow up appointments, if recommended and desired, to address any deviations or limitations.

If you are interested in this opportunity, feel free to give us a call at (701) 364-2739 for further details! We want our athletes to follow the sun and continue to work towards their peak performance and reach their APEX!