Athletico Health Resources

Do you experience face or jaw pain, tightness, or restricted mouth opening? How about noises such as popping or clicking when opening or closing your mouth? Maybe you experience ear pain, dizziness, or headaches? These may be symptoms of a temporomandibular disorder (TMD). Temporomandibular disorders are a group of disorders that affect the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) or chewing muscles. These disorders are more common than you may think, affecting 5-12% of the population. In fact, TMD is second only to low back pain when it comes to musculoskeletal conditions resulting in pain and disability. Despite the number of people with TMD, only 50-66% seek treatment. (more…)

Running can place up to 3 times your body weight of force on the body. Because of this extremely high demand, having a strong core is important. The core muscles include the diaphragm, transverse abdominus, rectus abdominus, obliques, pelvic floor, and multifidus. These muscles provide stability to the trunk when the arms and legs are being used, as well as through an axial load (which occurs during running). A strong core to absorb all of the force described above with running is critical to prevent injuries. Below you will find a complete core workout to help encourage core strength to help prevent injuries. (more…)

Week 7 is here, and so is Athletico's resident fantasy football analyst, Brandon Bowers, PT, DPT, Astym Cert., to discuss injuries affecting known players throughout the league. Each week, we provide tips via the Athletico Fantasy Football Injury Report, so you know who to sit and who to start in your fantasy football roster. (more…)

How much time or distance would you need to achieve health benefits? Most research would suggest 30 minutes of walking can help you to achieve your health goals. Here are a few good reasons to schedule a daily walk. (more…)

Did you know that one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime¹? Common surgeries and procedures to treat women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer include lumpectomies, mastectomies, sentinel lymph node biopsies, and axillary lymph node dissection². Mastectomies are the most common surgery for breast cancer but are the most invasive type of treatment. Mastectomies are recommended to decrease the likelihood of recurrence and lower the risk of further surgical procedures in the future. (more…)

With the fall weather and cooler temperatures here, running has become a more popular form of exercise. With increased running also commonly comes an increase in injuries, specifically hip pain. Hip pain can have a variety of causes, and it can be structural, overuse, weakness, etc. Most commonly in runners, hip pain is caused by increasing mileage too quickly and muscular imbalances/weaknesses. Hip pain can be prevented in runners by increasing mileage at an appropriate rate, performing a dynamic warm-up and cool-down, and performing hip strengthening exercises. Below you will find strategies to help prevent hip pain while running. (more…)

As fantasy football players enter the sixth week of the football season, many are scrambling to fill gaps left in their roster due to injuries and bye weeks. For advice on who you should play or bench this week, Brandon Bowers, PT, DPT, Astym Cert. provides the following tips in this week’s Athletico Fantasy Football Injury Report. (more…)

Squat, bench, chin up and deadlift. What do all of these exercises have in common? They stimulate a lot of total musculature and are a great start to building a strong and aesthetic physique. Most people will progress just fine focusing on those few exercises; of course, they can sprinkle some others in there, but the nuts and bolts are there. While these exercises stimulate many muscles, they don’t do a great job of stimulating all of them effectively. It's these body parts that need some extra work to get enough stimulus to make adaptations, and these muscles are key to providing support to your joints during your workouts and your life. (more…)