Momentum Physical Therapy

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Momentum Physical Therapy

We help you recover from back, neck and headache and migraine pain

Helping you quickly recover from back, neck, and headache pain without medication or surgery so you can return to your active lifestyle.

03/06/2025

It’s ’s 10th Annual Summer Trail Challenge and I’m excited to share that Momentum PT is sponsoring the challenge this year.

Every June, our community rallies together and logs ALL the miles they run/walk/bike/hike/horseback ride in the Gallatin Valley (no smart watches necessary) to raise money to build and maintain the amazing trails and open spaces we have here in Bozeman.
This year the sponsor match pool is $100,000, the biggest yet. This means we need to log 100,000 miles by June 30, because every mile unlocks $1 from the sponsorship match pool.

Logging your miles is super easy, you don’t need a smart watch, and we’d love it if you logged your miles to the Momentum PT team, our goal is to reach 500 miles as a team, aka $500 in trail conservation and management.

All miles from June 1 - June 30 count, so if you haven’t logged your miles for the week yet, head to the link in bio.

14/05/2025

Not every workout needs to crush you. Not every workout should crush you.

Mobility, balance, and stability work are as important as HIIT training and lifting heavy weights. That’s why they are incorporated into a balanced training plan.

If your goal is to move well, stay strong, and stay active for the long haul, don’t skip the work that feels less exciting or easier.

This philosophy is built into the training plans I create for my Momentum Training athletes, because all of us need it all. If you haven't been doing any mobility work, you bet I'm going to build it into your plan. If you're new to mobility or don't understand the value, we can work on that too because the plan is custom to you and supporting your goals for NOW and your goals for future you.

If you're interested in Momentum Training head to the link in my bio to learn more and apply today. I have a few spots opening up this month.

02/05/2025

It’s here! Who are you supporting this ?

This year we’re supporting:

Be Well Big Sky

Tag your favorite non-profits in the comments.

16/04/2025

Poor sleep and chronic pain often go hand in hand. In recent posts we’ve been breaking down the sleep, pain, stress triad to help you understand how that affects your ability to manage pain.

We’ve established that restorative sleep is one of the best ways to improve pain. But how can you improve sleep if both stress and pain make good sleep harder to get?

A consistent pre-bedtime routine is one of the simplest and most effective ways to improve sleep quality. It doesn’t need to be elaborate—just consistent.

In this post, we break down five key strategies to help you wind down effectively and actually get the rest your body needs.

Try one tonight and let me know what you think.

12/04/2025

Another piece of the sleep + pain puzzle?
Stress.

Stress makes pain feel worse.
Stress makes sleep harder.
And pain? It’s not just caused by stress—it is a stressor.

Stress activates our HPA axis.
HPA stands for the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. It's a set of three systems: the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal gland. It’s a neuroendocrine system, meaning it deals with both the brain and hormones.

The HPA axis helps regulate a number of body processes—including stress response, digestion, immune system function, mood, and emotions.

When stress activates the HPA axis, it sets off a cascade of neuroendocrine signals that leads to the release of hormones and neurotransmitters.

Frequent or ongoing stress can disrupt this normal response—a state called HPA dysregulation.
And this dysregulation can further disrupt sleep and pain.

So now we better understand how pain, sleep, and stress interact with one another—and the role stress plays in complicating recovery.

Next up: how to begin improving these areas to support healing.

10/04/2025

Sleep is one of the first things I talk about with patients in pain or struggling to progress in treatment.

Poor sleep can actually increase your pain. 😲 Research shows that when we miss out on restorative, quality sleep, our ability to manage pain decreases.

But pain in and of itself can make getting good sleep difficult, creating a sort of 'perfect storm' affecting your progress in your healing.

➡️ You're in pain → You can’t sleep well
➡️ Poor sleep → Increases pain sensitivity
➡️ Add stress to the mix → Even less sleep
➡️ And the cycle continues…

Until we work on establishing more helpful and beneficial sleep patterns, it can be really difficult to make progress in other areas of someone's pain and recovery journey.

26/03/2025

Finding Your Directional Preference -A Key to Effective Back Pain Relief

Did you know that your back pain often has a "preferred direction" of movement? We use this concept—called directional preference—to create personalized treatment plans that work for YOUR specific back pain.

Directional preference simply means the direction of movement that makes your back feel better. When you move in alignment with your back's "preferred" direction, movements become more comfortable and more effective at reducing pain.

Why This Matters For You

Everyone's back pain is unique. Even people with identical diagnoses can respond differently to the same movements. Identifying your directional preference allows us to work WITH your body instead of against it.

What's Your Directional Preference?

Flexion Preference (Forward Bending) If sitting or bending forward relieves your pain, this might be you. Think about how you feel when sitting, tying your shoes, or picking something up.

Extension Preference (Backward Bending) If standing, walking, or arching backward bring relief, you likely have an extension preference.

Neutral Preference Some people find relief by maintaining a neutral spine position, avoiding extreme movements in either direction.

Research shows that patients improve more quickly when prescribed movements that match their directional preference. That's why determining your back’s preferred direction is often one of the first things we assess during a physical therapy evaluation.

24/03/2025

In case you haven't see my stories, the FREE online is happening now.

Learn from the global leaders in the field of migraine and headache including doctors, specialists, researchers, psychologists, and advocates about the latest treatments, research, and best practices in migraine treatment and management.

All live webinars are free to attend. Tune in before the summit ends on March 27th.

17/03/2025

Time flies! It's been THREE YEARS since my ACL tear, and I wanted to share where I'm at for those following my non-surgical journey.

The biggest update? I think about my knee less and less with each passing month. I'm back to ALL my favorite activities with zero issues - trail running, nordic skiing, alpine skiing, biathlon, and more.

What's working for me:
• No episodes of instability (still a successful "coper*"!)
• Consistent strength training minimum 2x/week
• Always including targeted knee exercises in my routine
• Include balance training as a minimum of 1x/week

For those who remember my 1-year update, I chose the non-surgical route because:
• I had the gift of time (no urgent need to return to sport for work)
• My tear was isolated to just the ACL
• I experienced no instability after the initial injury
• I could commit fully to rehabilitation
• Activity increases didn't cause swelling or pain

Three years in, this approach continues to work beautifully for me! While I recognize surgery might still be in my future if instability develops, I remain grateful to be active and strong without it.

For anyone navigating their own ACL journey - remember that treatment isn't one-size-fits-all. Work closely with your healthcare providers to find what's right for YOU.

*Copers are individuals who sustain an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture but are able to return to their previous level of sports activity without undergoing ACL reconstruction surgery

10/03/2025

Are you avoiding weight machines because someone told you they're "not functional"? At Momentum Physical Therapy, we believe true functionality comes from purpose, not dogma.

Consider this: After my knee injury (I tore my ACL skiing), I specifically joined a gym with a leg extension machine despite having dumbbells and barbells (and lots of other equipment) in my office. Why? Because every "functional" exercise (squat, lunge, step-up, etc.) wasn't delivering what I needed most - proper quadriceps recruitment on my injured side.

Our bodies are incredible adaptation machines. They find ways to complete movements while protecting injured areas. I could perform all those compound exercises with a challenging amount of weight and good form, but my nervous system was cleverly redistributing the load away from my quad.

The leg extension machine was what I needed. Its constraints eliminated compensation strategies, forcing my quadriceps to do the work they needed to get stronger. In this context, nothing was more "functional" than that machine.

Remember: Functionality isn't necessarily about mimicking everyday movements - it's about achieving specific therapeutic goals. Sometimes isolation is precisely what your body needs to improve.

Have you been avoiding certain exercises because they're labeled "non-functional"? Let's talk about what's actually functional for YOUR body and goals.

28/02/2025

My leg pain is gone but my low back still hurts. Why does my PT say this is a sign I am getting better?

Using low back pain as an example, our patient for the purposes of this post was experiencing what is commonly referred to as sciatica (or more specifically radiculitis). The pain in their back was ‘radiating’ down their leg into their glute, thigh, and calf.

Upon treatment, the pain once again is centralized to their back. This is good! Treatment is working!

The patient is experiencing centralization meaning the symptoms are returning to the origin of pain. In physical therapy, we help determine what movements and treatments centralize symptoms as they can differ for each person as part.

While it can feel counterintuitive to have localized pain be a sign of improvement, know that centralization is a good thing!

Have any other pain symptoms and parts of healing you want me to discuss? Let me know in the comments what topics to dive into next.

23/02/2025

Prescription medication can be an important part of migraine treatment BUT it's just one piece of the migraine treatment puzzle. It's still common for those struggling with migraine headache or another type of headache disorder to be given a prescription and think treatment ends there. It doesn't! And typically, many patients find me because medication wasn't enough and they're seeking more solutions.

One of the consistent challenges those with headache disorders face is building the right team and knowing when seeking out a headache specialist is warranted. If you're struggling with migraine headache, please don't give up. There are experts who know what you're going through and know how to help.

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Opening Hours

Monday	07:00 - 19:00
Tuesday	07:00 - 19:00
Wednesday	07:00 - 19:00
Thursday	07:00 - 19:00
Friday	07:00 - 19:00

Telephone

+14065396993

Website

https://www.momentumptmt.com/, https://linktr.ee/momentumptmt

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