Loudoun County, Va. — With the 2017-2018 school year starting less than a week ago, you might still be in need of a backpack along with a laundry list of items on your child’s back-to-school supply list. While narrowing down the essentials, budgeting and trying to appease your little ones’ ever-changing fashion preferences, it’s easy to overlook important matters such as finding an ergonomically friendly backpack. Unfortunately, the incidence of backpack-related injuries continues to climb each year as kids get overloaded with homework and transport multiple textbooks, notebooks and binders to and from school each day. School-aged children and teens often…

Loudoun County, Va. — Phone. iPad. Xbox. Couch. OR Kickball. Relay Races. 4H camp. Neighborhood Hide N’ Seek before the street lights come on. It’s quite possible that if you were born before the year 2000, your summer vacation consisted primarily of the second list of activities. I’m a product of the early 90s, and growing up, my friends and I would do anything to be outside and active as much as possible on summer break. Nowadays, summer vacations can look a little different for kids as various technologies are at our fingertips. If you’re a student-athlete who participates in sports year-round, you…

Loudoun County, Va. — The first day of school is quickly approaching which mean fall sports seasons are right around the corner. As the fall sports season gets started, a lot of parents and coaches should start thinking about the possibility of their athlete sustaining some type of injury. Unfortunately, it’s bound to happen especially if players have been relatively inactive over the summer. Jumping back into timed runs, sprints and various drills for their sport can be a shock to their bodies. With most injuries, the athlete will display visible symptoms of injury like a bruise or swelling, or…

Loudoun County, Va. – 120 hours in a week. Subtract the 40 hours you spend at work. 80 hours. Now, subtract the recommended 8 hours of sleep each night. 40 hours. And don’t forget the 2 hours you have to spend each day on things like  grocery shopping, cleaning the house, laundry, cooking. 30 hours. If you have kids, any remaining hours are spent parenting. Hectic schedules leave minimum time to fit in a workout. That’s why the so-called “weekend warrior” lifestyle has become more popular. What is a “weekend warrior”? The term refers to those who only participate in physical…

Loudoun County, Va. —  When people discuss strengthening the body, it’s common to automatically think of heavy weight lifting as the only way to build muscle. I am not disagreeing with the concept that lifting improves strength; strengthening is a key component to focus on when trying to improve an athlete’s performance. However, before any kind of heavy lifting occurs, the athlete must understand the basic movements needed to perform their sport. This is known as biomechanics. Mechanics of the sport: Flexibility Technique/Core Work Appropriate Strengthening Program Adequate Rest GAINS Mechanics refers to the working parts of something. Imagine trying to…

Loudoun County, Va. — Mile 10…okay, just 16 miles to go. That’s just 4 miles, 4 times. I can do that. Mile 17…single digit miles to go…just 3 miles, 3 times. Easy. Mile 23…just about a 5K left. So close. Mile 25. Just 1.2 miles. That’s barely a lap around my block. We’re almost there! I’ve never been a fan of numbers. But I have to say, when I was running my first marathon in April, numbers were all I could think about after a certain point. I started negotiating with myself because my body was so tired. I turned the remaining mileage…