Exercise physiology is the study of the function of the human body during various exercise conditions. Every exercise routine, sport training program, and therapy guided program to prevent or rehabilitate from injury incorporates a thorough understanding of how the human body adapts to stress.
Given that exercise is one of the most intense stressors to which the human body can be exposed, anyone who participates in exercise can benefit from a better understanding of how their body responds. Aside from gender differences, every individual’s physiology also varies. This is evident in the fact that some of us exercise at a recreational level while others compete on an international scale, some are body builders while others are gymnasts or dancers, some are marathon runners and others are sprinters.
Regardless of your aspirations, the insight gained from a physiologic assessment can help improve your workout efficiency, optimize your athletic performance, prevent injury, and/or heal from injury faster.
For example, be inspired as you discover how 75-year-old senior triathlete Brad Leonard won the Senior Games and the World in 2009 for his age group.
We can easily list dozens of factors that can affect performance. Not only do they individually affect exercise output, but they interact and affect each other. This makes for a complex system which must be broken down on an individual scale.
At Alpine Physical Therapy, we have developed a thorough physiologic assessment combined with components of a traditional physical therapy evaluation to help you realize your potential. This program has been developed by Alpine PT Leah Versteegen, who holds a Masters degree in Exercise Physiology and a Doctorate in Physical Therapy.
The physiologic and therapeutic assessment is noninvasive and includes the following:
- Range of motion and joint mobility
- Muscle strength and flexibility
- Basic biomechanics
- Heart rate and blood pressure response to exercise
- Estimated optimal training heart rate and max heart rate
- Estimated lactate threshold
- Body fat analysis with skinfold testing
The subsequent training guidance includes:
- Exercise prescription to meet your strength and flexibility needs
- Biomechanical adjustments
- Off-season, pre-season, and in-season training guidelines
- Basic sport hydration and nutrition
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