Bozeman-based DPT and performance coach. Gallatin OrthoSport is the practice I built around a simple idea: training is more effective and safer when the person writing the program also understands how bodies break.
I'm a Doctor of Physical Therapy and certified personal trainer working out of Trifecta Fitness in Bozeman. The people I work with cover a wide range - mountain athletes (skiers, snowboarders, trail runners, climbers, mountain bikers), middle-aged adults rebuilding around old injuries, post-surgical athletes earning their way back to sport, and people who just want intelligent programming. The thread connecting all of it: training designed with an eye on what your body has been through and what your goals are pulling you toward.
Where I spend the most clinical attention is ACL return-to-sport and knee-related recovery. The demands of skiing in particular - variable terrain, high eccentric forces, rapid deceleration, asymmetrical loading - sit on top of what most rehab programs structurally prepare for. That gap is where ACL Bridge lives. I also offer one-on-one ACL rehab outside the Bridge program for clients earlier in recovery - the clinical side I provide as a DPT at Highlander Physical Therapy, in the same building as Trifecta Fitness, so rehab and the return-to-sport bridge stay under one roof. Reach out to discuss.
In the clinic, I kept watching the same pattern: insurance would dictate timelines, athletes would get discharged on a calendar instead of on criteria, and the actual gap between "PT clearance" and "ready for the mountain" rarely got closed. People came back to sport guessing at their own readiness. A meaningful number of them got hurt again.
Gallatin OrthoSport is the practice I wanted to exist when I was watching that play out: clinical-grade reasoning, performance-grade programming, no insurance gatekeeping the timeline. You progress when your body earns it.
In Bozeman I offer 1-on-1 Personal Training, the small-group Mountain Athlete class (year-round, shifts between trail and ski focus), a PT-supervised Longevity class for lower-impact strength work around old injuries, the in-person ACL Bridge return-to-sport program, ACL rehab, Ski Team Consulting, and Big Sky ski-day prep + manual therapy recovery. For athletes outside the Gallatin Valley, the digital products live on Montis - same system, delivered remotely.
Every program here runs on the same backbone: criterion-based progression, not calendar-based. You don't move forward because the calendar says you should - you move forward because the testing says you can. For ACL Bridge, that means objective markers like quad symmetry, single-leg force production, eccentric tolerance, and movement quality under repeat-bout demand. For the rest, movement quality, force output, and tolerance under load govern when we advance the work.
It's slower for some athletes. It's safer for everyone. And it ends with a body that's truly ready, not just a calendar that says it should be.
ACL Bridge and the Mountain Athlete / Longevity group classes are structured performance programs. They're built around clinical reasoning but delivered in a training context, not as medical intervention. ACL rehab is a separate, clinical service. If something flags during assessment of any client - pain that doesn't pattern with mechanical loading, joint effusion, neurological symptoms - the person goes back to their surgeon or referring PT immediately.
If you're a surgeon, PT, or athletic trainer evaluating whether to send patients into ACL Bridge, the referral page covers the workflow and communication standards. Or reach me directly at eddie@gallatinorthosport.com or 406-580-0210.
