Atomic PT

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Atomic PT Physical therapy for the outdoor enthusiast. We provide world-class therapy services, tailored to the uniqueness of your activity.

We are a Physical Therapy company based in Boulder, specializing in Sports Medicine and Orthopedics for active outdoor individuals and athletes, including hikers, climbers, mountain bikers, skiers/snowboarders, and trail runners. We don’t implement quick fixes. Our focus is making you better than ever: preventing future injuries, enabling you to go further and continue doing what you love. We deeply care about building trust and rapport with our customers, which is why we offer a FREE 20-minute introductory consultation to every new customer with no commitments or obligations. Get started with your recovery with Atomic PT today!

There are a lot of things you can buy as a runner, some worth it and some not so much. Outside of the above, what else d...
09/07/2026

There are a lot of things you can buy as a runner, some worth it and some not so much.

Outside of the above, what else do you think is worth the money?

09/06/2026

Hip adduction angle shows how much your femur drifts toward the midline while you run, measured against your pelvis in the frontal plane.

We look at the peak angle during stance, right around midstance when your leg is taking the most load. A bigger drift here often points to weaker hip control, and it tends to show up alongside knee valgus or a dropping pelvis on the opposite side.

This is one of the patterns we watch closely with runners dealing with knee pain, IT band issues, or certain shin injuries. Better hip strength and a higher cadence can both help bring this number down.

Curious what your hip adduction looks like on 3D? That's exactly what our gait analysis is built to show you.

Injuries that show up in your forties and fifties are not always a training error. A review in Annals of Rehabilitation ...
09/04/2026

Injuries that show up in your forties and fifties are not always a training error. A review in Annals of Rehabilitation Medicine looked at how the hormonal shifts of perimenopause and menopause affect bone, tendon, and muscle, and proposed that injuries often come from a mismatch between the load you are still carrying and the tissue that has quietly changed underneath it. The answer is not to back off, it is to load differently.

If you are in your forties or fifties and picking up injuries from training you used to handle, that is not you being fragile. Comment BONES for a free week of Dr. Emma’s strength programming for women dealing with this exact issue.

Source: “Hormonal Shifts and Structural Strain: A Literature Review of Menopause and Perimenopause in Relation to Overuse Injuries and Stress Fractures,” Annals of Rehabilitation Medicine, June 2026.

Jury’s in! Strength training with supervision improved injury profile risk compared to those performed alone. So why not...
09/03/2026

Jury’s in! Strength training with supervision improved injury profile risk compared to those performed alone.

So why not supplement your running program with our Strength for Runners class, led by Dr. Emily Hill, a running specialist and Doctor of Physical Therapy.

Comment TOGETHER and we will send you sign up form.

09/02/2026

So your 3D gait analysis shows excessive hip adduction. Now what?

Most runners take that number home and start doing hip strength and there is actually a study on that exact approach. The study showed female runners with excessive hip adduction confirmed on 3D analysis completed six weeks of hip strengthening. The outcome? They got stronger and their single leg squat improved but their running did not change.

So why bother with strenght? Well, strength is still worth doing as it gives you the capacity to hold form and the durability to handle your training but it does not teach your body the pattern.

The pattern changes while you are running, with someone cueing you in real time. That is what our follow-up gait training sessions are for. The research shows up to 8 sessions are needing with feedback pulling back in the later half of your sessions so your body keeps the patterns without help. Runners in the research held most of the change at three months, meaning it's not something that you will get and then lose.

The right cue depends entirely on what your report shows. A dropping pelvis, a collapsing femur and a narrow crossover stride look the same from behind and need different instructions. That call is the reason to do this with a PT and not an app.

Sources:
W***y RW, Davis IS. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2011;41(9):625-632. W***y RW, Scholz JP, Davis IS. Clin Biomech. 2012;27(10):1045-1051.

09/01/2026

Most women arrive at perimenopause having never lifted anything hard.
Not because they couldn't but because nobody programmed for it.
This phase of life changes what your bones and muscle need from training and the programs most women are handed (light dumbbells, high reps, "tone") aren't built to meet it. The load has to be enough to demand adaptation, or you're spending an hour doing something that feels productive and isn't.
Heavy is relative and shouldn't be attempting without the proper build and supervision. Training needs to start with the biomechanics, unloaded, until it's clean. Then we can start building load and power.
Women are not fragile and are far more capable than we've ever been taught.
Comment BONES and we will send you a 7-day free trial of Dr. Emma's Built for Bones monthy program.

08/31/2026

If your knee caves in at midstance or your hip drops when you get tired, your glute med usually has something to do with it.

We can address glute med strength a variety of ways, but at Atomic, we usually always incorporate these exercises as part of our programming:

- Side plank hip abduction for isometric glute med work for the bottom leg and isotonic glute med work for the top leg.
- Captain Morgan hinge for a loaded version of the side plank hip abduction. Working both glute meds as once both in isometric and isotonic loads.
- Fire hydrant pulses at the wall to incorporate rotation while still stabilize with the glute med.

Tired of planning your own strenght program? Click to access a free week of our strength for runners program - https://marketplace.trainheroic.com/workout-plan/team/atomic-race-team-strength-program?attrib=600916-yt

None of this replaces getting looked at if something hurts, but it is a solid place to start.

08/30/2026

After completing your analysis you will be categorized into one of six main running types:
OVERSTRIDER
CADENCE
COLLAPSER
BOUNCER
GLUTE AMNESIAC
WEAVER
This information will allow Dr. Emily H to build your program and set your drills specific to your areas of improvement to improve your running form and mitigate future injury risk.

If you’ve been through menopause, you’ve probably been told that the goal from here is to slow things down. Manage the d...
08/28/2026

If you’ve been through menopause, you’ve probably been told that the goal from here is to slow things down. Manage the decline, protect what’s left. It’s not wrong exactly, but it’s a fairly bleak way to frame the next thirty years, and it leaves out something worth knowing.

There’s a meta-analysis in the Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research that pooled 17 randomised trials of 690 postmenopausal women, and across those trials bone density actually went up at the spine, the femoral neck and the hip. Not held steady, went up. And every one of those women was already through menopause.

The catch (there’s always a catch) is that it took genuinely heavy loading to get there. Light and moderate weights didn’t significantly improve bone anywhere, which is worth sitting with if your current bone routine is a resistance band and a set of two pound dumbbells.

That’s the thinking behind Built for Bones, and it’s open to women at any stage of their menopause journey, not just the far side of it.

Comment BONES and I’ll send you a free 7 day trial.

Calf and Achilles pain are beyond frustrating. It’s sometimes hard to believe how long these injuries can take to heal. ...
08/27/2026

Calf and Achilles pain are beyond frustrating. It’s sometimes hard to believe how long these injuries can take to heal.

It’s important to note that the time line does not mean you are inactive but that full healing of the tissue does not usually occur until then. Also, severity and chronicity of the injury also dictates time.

Which timeline are you most surprised by?

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1800 Broadway #190
Boulder, CO
80302

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+17208691857

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