Understanding and Addressing IT Band Pain

By: Benjamin Blakely, PT, DPT, CSCS Whether you enjoy biking, camping, hiking, or trail running, summer is the best time of year to live in Big Sky country and enjoy the outdoors. Here at Sapphire Physical Therapy, we work with a lot of patients…

Carbon fiber plated running shoes: are they right for you and your feet?

By: John Fiore, PT, Sapphire Physical Therapy As runners, we are constantly on the lookout for the next great shoe, hoping to find the Holy Grail of running shoes. I am guilty of owning an embarrassingly large number of running shoes. While…

Are calf raises the new anti-aging antidote?

By: Bailey Lodato, PT, DPT Manual muscle testing has been a standard clinical measure used to assess muscle forces since the early 1900s by Lovett and Wright (1, 2). Originally developed in response to polio’s impact on muscular strength…

Understanding Knee Osteoarthritis

By: Erin Williams, PT, DPT Knee Osteoarthritis: To run or not to run? We gravitate toward running because of many wonderful benefits. To name a few, running maintains heart, lung, muscle, tendon, and bone density health - and that’s just…
Running on Mt Jumbo

What goes up, must come down

By: Sam Van de Velde Exercise Physiologist at Sapphire Physical Therapy (and RE's newest employee!) How to get better at running uphill A large component of uphill running is based on having an efficient cardiovascular system. There is a…

Understanding and Treating Plantar Fasciitis in Runners

By: John Fiore, PT Spring is around the corner and as the roads and trails thaw out, Missoula runners will be ramping up their training miles in preparation for 2022 adventures and races. Running on ice and snow all winter can take a toll…