August 2015 Peak Performance Newsletter

[Peak PT Administrator 0]

August 2015 Peak PT News   In This August Edition...

• Welcome Aboard Andrew
• Our Newest Office Assistant Tracy
• Can You Help Me?
• Bon Voyage Kyle
• Peak Patient of the Month 
• M&M Contest Winner 

Where you come to be…

TREATED LIKE THE PRO'S AND CARED FOR LIKE FAMILY

 

 

We had a glitch in our monthly newsletter processing.  That’s bad news for us but GREAT NEWS for you!  READ through the entire newsletter and find the Secret Phrase…the first 5 PAST PATIENTS who stop by Peak PT to say hi and mention the Secret Phrase will walk out with a $10 Wegman’s Gift Card !!!!!  Better start reading! (Please call us first then pick up your prize)

 

 

Welcome Aboard Andrew!

Our Peak Performance team is very excited to welcome, Doctor of Physical Therapy to our team.   Andrew moved here from Hamden, CT with his fiance Samantha.  They will be tying the knot in October and taking a Caribbean cruise for the honeymoon.  He also looks forward to sharing his skills with the staff and patients of Peak Performance.

 

Andrew is a graduate of Quinnipiac University with a masters in Physical Therapy.   He 

has already begun his advanced training in that specialized biomechanical problem solving approach called Applied Functional Science that the team at Peak Performance is known for and specializes in.  

 

It is a good thing Andrew moved to New York, being a Bills fan and all.  We also have some of the best brick oven pizza here too which is his favorite!  When Andrew is not working and eating pizza you will find him  training for various marathons and hiking with Samantha and his Samoyed pup named Guinness.  

Outdoor tips that can help you reduce your back pain!!!

 

Another star has joined Peak Performance.  We welcome Tracy Spurling to our team.

Those of you coming for Physical Therapy recently have already noticed Tracy's awesome customer service skills.  She honed those over the years of owning and operating a successful business with her husband.  Tracy is an alumni of MCC and Bryant &Stratton and has brought some excellent computer tech skills to our office team.  Watch out Tracy...you might be the one now getting a call at 7am when the computer doesn't turn on!

 

Tracy appreciated the family atmosphere at Peak Performance and already is enjoying that special connection that happens while helping you, our valued patients, through the process of Physical Therapy care.  We're so fortunate to have someone who truly cares about providing excellent customer service for our patients and referring physician offices.

 

When not at 161 East Commercial St welcoming new patients, scheduling, and answering phones,  Tracy loves spending time with her family, including coordinating the schedules and planning for her five children.  Tracy and her husband Paul love boating and visiting New York's many lakes.   When the occasion calls for it, she indulges in her favorite seafood.

 

 

CAN YOU â€œHELP” ME?

 

Help

 

Is an interesting word.   I think most of us know what “help” usually means.  Making a difference for someone else…assisting….being of service for the needs of another…offering something that can’t be done just on your own or you’re unable to do.  But really, there’s times when we probably need to dig a little deeper to fully appreciate what REAL HELP means.

 

Recently I had a patient, let’s call her Judy, who’d gone to a surgeon for a consult on her low back pain that also caused numbness in her thigh and foot, and had resulted in weakness in her thigh, making squatting activities and stairs very difficult.  She felt unsafe.   The surgeon found an unusual low back disc herniation that appeared to be causing nerve compression.  He astutely noted that she was already improving (with time passing and the Physical Therapy she’d already started at Peak Performance) so he advised Judy she didn’t need surgery at this point.  

 

BUT, the surgeon did tell Judy “PT won’t help” so she could stop coming for treatment and just wait for time to pass.

 

Really?  Wait for time to pass?  That’s it?

 

PT won’t â€œhelp”?   What did the surgeon mean by “help” is my question.

 

I’m guessing what he ACTUALLY meant was that Physical Therapy wouldn’t reverse her disc condition…that it wouldn’t correct her anatomy and resolve her pain, numbness and weakness.  I AGREE!  

 

At that point I had tried a whole host of approaches and treatments with Judy.  Some treatments may temporarily reduce her symptoms but none were effective after repeat sessions or homework.  Osteopathic hands on corrective techniques, various stretches, classic movement techniques, postural correction drills, and traction.  None “helped”…at least not in what appeared to be an obvious and continually progressing pattern. 

 

SO WAS THE DOCTOR RIGHT?  Was PT going to be “helpful”?  

 

Well, that requires we step outside the more likely interpretation I think the doctor was using.  Here are a few key questions Judy needed to ponder...

·         How did I(you) get this way to begin with?  

   Why that L3-L4 level disc?

o    Why on the R side and not the lL?…Especially when this body had gone through essentially the same life together.

·         How can she(you) have any confidence that this won’t just happen again?

·         Is feeling better the same as BEING better?

·         Is better just the absence of feeling pain or numbness?

·         What about the ability to perform life?  Doing what you want to do without getting hurt!

·         Might you get tighter?

·         Might you get weaker?

·         Might you adopt abnormal movement compensations to get around your symptoms?

·         What happens to your body when you get hurt?  

 

YES DOCTOR…I agree.  Judy wasn’t likely to have Physical Therapy â€œHELP” her by resolving her symptoms.  For many, many patients PT does offer that benefit.  But there are some critical needs Judy has that she DOES NEED HELP with – addressing underlying shortcomings in her body that likely contributed to or actually caused her L3-L4 disc to herniate.  (By the way…to my point here, this was a SECOND time she’d injured that disc.  Exactly my point right!)

 

It’s really important that you and your loved ones out there understand that while â€œHELP”  often does include resolving pain or other symptoms, that Physical Therapy approaches like we use at Peak Performance, focusing on searching and destroying those biomechanical CAUSES with our cutting edge treatments HELPS increase your confidence that your risk of this injury recurring has been addressed and reduced.  It HELPS increase your performance capacity, not merely on “feeling” better but having no real substance to your ability to perform life underneath all that. 

 

So for Judy and the rest of you out there…if you or someone you care about is out there having pain or other symptoms from orthopedic injuries or surgery and things aren’t going as you’d like, and you’re not back to living the life you once did….CALL US to see what the PT’s at Peak Performance might be able to HELP you with.

 

 

 

Good Luck Kyle!

 

 

 

Our own Kyle Napierala is off to Ohio University to start the next stage of his college career.  Kyle responsibly chose to begin his college education at MCC here locally so he could save more money.  He's majoring in Business Management with a minor in Sports Management.  Mike and Karen just dropped him off last Saturday and he's acclimating to his new environment really well-he already is showing off his easy to talk to qualities and his leadership skills with coordinating a dorm hallway-wide improvised putt-putt tourney this past weekend.  Feel free to send us an email at the office@peakptrochester.com if you've got a message well wishes you would like to share with Kyle.  

 

Kyle worked both as a front desk position as well as serving as our cleaning crew.  Only time will tell if he takes that cleaning skill set off to college with him!  Kyle, we'll miss you but wish you the best in your new college endeavors at Ohio U Bobcat!

 

Peak Performers for July and August:

Olivia Marie August 2015                                                   

Olivia fractured her tibia in a ski injury, requiring surgery.  She came to Peak PT after a surgical scar release in July with only 50 degrees of knee bending available.  Her hard work improved that but she still needed another surgery.  She's now increased to an awesome 2 degrees short of fully straight and 133 degrees bending and can squat her knee to 73 degrees on only that leg!

 

Olivia says:  My surgeon said I would never walk properly, and now I can walk with no crutch or cane!  Mike told me that the success of my recovery will be in the "team work" between us.  Mike has always pushed me, rewarded me, but above all supported me.  He motivated me with his determination.  He would talk to me with his calm voice and never give up on me.  He knows how to think outside of the box.

 

Mike Napierala says:  Olivia has been so focused, so dedicated, so relentless with her rehab process.  Adhesion that limit joint motion can be a recurring problem, even after surgery- it can be a long, defeating process.  I'm so proud of how Olivia has "owned" her rehab, staying on task...to the point she now has nearly normal motion again and is getting back to the life she once knew.  You're inspiring Olivia- Congratulations and best wishes in your move back to France! 

 

“The August Newsletter was LATE”

 

 

Heather Everett July 2015

Heather began her rehab journey at Peak Performance in December 2014 after dislocating her knee cap.  During arthroscopic surgery they also found a fracture that required she unexpectedly had to be on crutches for 6 weeks.  Heather then began her months long commitment to rebuilding herself.  Heather says:  I am going to miss the conversations and fun atmosphere while being part of the Peak family.  Mike G. really helped me feel confident and physically prepared me for my main goad of returning to running. I am sad not to have scheduled time to visit but ready to get back to running!

Mike Golisano says: Heather has been fantastic, diligent worker throughout her rehabilitation.  She was an example to other patients of commitment, determination and resiliency through her months of rehab.  It was these qualities and her contagious enthusiasm that brought her back to running and her pain free active lifestyle.

 

 

July Contest Winner

Congrats Robin!

Robin Verdonis was able to guess the amount of candies in the jar without going over in our July contest.  She is going to get her chocolate fix with 1152 candies!  

Thanks for all who entered, keep your eye out for the next contest to enter.

 

 

From your Peak  PT team.

 

www.PeakPTRochester.com

 

     585-218-0240      

 

CALL NOW to find out what YOUR BEST could be!