Ignite Phyzio & Sports Performance

Ignite Phyzio & Sports Performance Concierge Physical Therapy and Sports Performance business

12/10/2025

We talk all the time about how we use our tech in the return to run, return to sport, and return to play phases of ACL rehab. It’s a staple and we alter the test battery based on their sport, goals, and timeline

is 8+ weeks post op ACLR with patellar tendon autograft. Rehab has been smooth sailing so far for this division 1 soccer stud except for some slight irritability on the front of the knee (not the tendon) that is more related to a lack of ankle mobility and hip strength/control

Since we hit 2 months, we’ve decided to start getting some baseline strength measures for hip abduction and adduction on the Force Frame (video 1). This allows us to. Establish a floor for hip strength, identify asymmetries, and guide my programming for her as we get deeper into periodized strength training in the middle stages

We’re also showing that the Force Decks are about more than just plyometrics and strength testing. I’m a big believer in using the decks for early stage biofeedback for both limb symmetry with compound movement patterns since we know that ACLers love to bias their non-surgical side with most early stage strength tasks

The other key piece of info I love getting from the Force Decks is related to center of pressure. Knowing whether she biases weight bearing through her toes or heels more during the concentric or eccentrics phases of a movement or if she relies on one versus the other when she fatigues allows me to create constraints in exercise selection to hopefully optimize movement quality

Moral of the story: Data will always be queen. How you use to and how you interpret is is far and away more important than whether you have it or not.

But I can tell you one thing: If you don’t have the data, you don’t have a clue

12/09/2025

And you should be able to control the range from both sides of the joint

Too many only focus on quads controlling extension and hamstrings controlling flexion

But that’s short sided because of the importance of co-contraction

Both sides of the joint being supported allows your nervous system to put down its weapons and stop protecting against going into a range it perceives it can’t control

So here, we’re using the quad to get the knee into extension initially.

Holding that quad contraction, a strong band pulling the leg into hip flexion lengthens and loads the hamstrings eccentrically

We try to be as proactive and forward thinking as possible when it comes to early loading

We want the most load possible to create adaptation without excessive stress on the joint and graft site

Because stress on the joint and graft site is a good thing so long as we keep it away from excessive territory

12/06/2025

Pitchers. You’re not just an arm. So act like it

Full body approach and end ranges. Exposes so much of what you’re missing and can fill a lot of gaps

12/05/2025

When we talk about getting back to walking in the early stages post ACL reconstruction we often talk about how difficult it is to achieve full knee extension while we are weight-bearing on the involved side

But one thing I don’t see talked about often enough is flexing the knee as the leg finishes stance and begins the swing phase

I think two very underrated skills are knee flexion with the hip in extension and initiating knee flexion from end range knee extension

In video one, you’ll see that we prepositioned .t.miller (4 weeks post op) in hip extension in order to work on end range knee flexion and terminal knee extension, both of which will take pressure off the front of the knee as the leg swings through during the walking cycle

In video two, we promote full weight-bearing in knee extension against resistance and emphasize controlled knee flexion until the heel wants to come off the ground. This allows him to initiate the very early stages of knee flexion, which strengthens the popliteus, a muscle we fight a ton when somebody lacks knee extension

give these a try if you’re walking mechanics could use a boost

12/04/2025

Posterior chain/Pelvic control 🤝 Single Leg Stability

1. Hamstring sliders with resisted TKE and adductor/tibial IR moment

2. Single leg bridge isometric with hip abduction isometric

Posterior chain and hip control are a powerful combination in early ACL rehab

11/28/2025

Taking the foundations and adding more intention in ACL rehab

1. Wall sits are a staple. Wall sits with a band around the knees spice it up to engage the hips. Wall sits with band and BFR are amazing for overall tissue loading. Adding the to challenge cognition and dual tasking is applying a sport-like demand to an early stage pattern

2. Single leg balance with TKE is the staple. Adding a cross body chop will change the weight distribution through the foot and increase the single leg challenge

3. Heel sliders hamstring sliders are a staple. Adding a band and cuing tibial internal rotation to hit medial hamstring and politeus harder is a nice way to make a staple exercise more effective

11/27/2025

Terminal Knee Extension @ 7 weeks post ACL, college soccer player at

We all have our go tos for dialing in extension in weight bearing. Here’s some I like to build extension capacity

1. Slant board TKE: This one is a staple. The slant board increases length of the calf muscle complex while also allowing a walking based pattern to be achieved. I like incorporating hands on the wall to promote the Shin angling forward, which is what happens during late stage of the stance phase of walking. Bonus cue: hips go forward, drive the heel into the ground, quad drives the knee back

2 + 3: I love the idea of loading the quads from extension to flexion and back into extension. Most day-to-day tasks and most early stage issues revolve around being unable to control flexion from an extended position. So if we really emphasize controlling extension into flexion, and vice versa, we begin to train the knee to be OK moving in and out of extension with confidence. Think of this as a progression to going down the stairs with more confidence and strength.

11/26/2025

Frontal plane. Please please please don’t forget the frontal plane when it comes to strength, force production, deacceleration, and progressive, high-level agility

These three videos are a sample of what a frontal plane focus session could look like

Video 1: overcoming isometric in a change of direction posture to increase peak force development

Video 2: lateral sled pushes to facilitate expression of force with pelvis crossover step, which translates to change of direction

Video 3: immediately following sled pushes (contrast style superset) we focus on expressing force development into explosiveness with five consecutive single leg bounds

11/25/2025

I could put together a super long post about change of direction and high level deceleration and how important bit is to return to sport

But essentially if you can overload the eccentric portion of the movement then you’re doing a good job of trying to replicate high level deceleration

That’s where we enter the kBox and really leverage the principle of eccentric overload

The faster we can move against gravity the faster we will get pulled back down, which is where our deceleration prep really gets dialed in

11/21/2025

Sound on for this one. It’s long but it’s a good example of how I like going about cuing our athletes and giving them the grace and freedom to just figure s**t out on their own

Let them feel the movement and get a sense of what’s ok and what’s not. This is how we restore confidence. We have to let them get acclimated again and normalize the fact that every single rep isn’t going to be perfect.

Helping them understand why we’re doing what we’re doing is most important. Then I shut up and just let them figure it out

IMO knowing when to shut up is the biggest skill we all should be better at.

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La Habra, CA
90631

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