Longtime Advanced Care Physical Therapy patient, Heather M., shares her story about how physical therapy keeps her strong and independent despite Cerebral Palsy. I don’t know where I would be without ACPT. You see I have CP (Cerebral Palsy), I have all my life. Everyone at ACPT treats me like a human; nobody here focuses on my condition first. My condition is just a part of me, so that means the world to me. Whenever my body is tight and hurting, they are there to ease my pain in many ways. I’ve also grown stronger exercising in the gym at ACPT and through one-on-one work with my therapists who offer me something different each visit so I can improve and become stronger. I want to work hard for them because everyone is so encouraging and caring. I also know after every visit I feel better than when I went in and that is all I could ever ask for. Click here to learn how Advanced Care Physical Therapy will cater to your individual needs with a customized treatment plan!
At Advanced Care Physical Therapy, many of our patients return to us again for the patient-centered care they know they are guaranteed to receive from our dedicated team physical therapists. Longtime patient, Philip P., is no exception, as he trusted ACPT multiple times to help him recover. Read longtime patient, Philip P.’s, recovery journey at Advanced Care Physical Therapy from a knee replacement and torn shoulder. Nine years ago, I started receiving therapy from ACPT after a knee replacement, and have received nothing but T.L.C. since. In June 2019, after being told there was nothing wrong with my right shoulder, I came in to ask for an appointment, I was told to sit down, someone would see me. On the third visit my therapist told me I needed an MRI, which revealed tears in the shoulder. Over the years I have told numerous people, if they need therapy, come to Advanced Care Physical Therapy, I have brought three people to ACPT for care, and many more I’ve told have come and are totally satisfied. I want to thank everyone at Advanced Care Physical Therapy, Inc.
Especially common among senior citizens, deconditioning of muscles can lead to debilitating weakness, balance issues, and even injury. At Advanced Care Physical Therapy, many of our seniors have reclaimed their independence by improving their conditioning, strength, balance, and confidence through physical therapy. Read Ann S.’s story about how Advanced Care Physical Therapy helped her wheelchair bound husband, Glenn S., walk again. When my husband, Glenn, first went to Advanced Care Physical Therapy, he had problems standing, could not walk, and was wheelchair-bound, even after receiving physical therapy at another clinic. Thanks to Advanced Care Physical Therapy, Glenn is now able to walk with a cane and needs no other assistance. He is so much more relaxed and hopeful. What the physical therapist and support staff did at Advanced Care Physical Therapy was a miracle — it was nothing less than that. We want to give a big thanks to Advanced Care Physical Therapy for giving us hope, for until now, there wasn’t any. We will always be grateful for their care and kindness, especially at a time when we needed it most. Click here to learn how you can regain your quality of life at Advanced Care Physical Therapy!
Though many people look forward to wintertime to watch snow fall, wear cozy sweaters, and sip mugs of hot chocolate, winter weather also causes many perils for many Americans. According to the CDC, approximately 1 million Americans are injured annually as the result of falling on ice and snow. Read this story from Advanced Care Physical Therapy patient, David P., about his from a torn rotator cuff and bicep due to a wintertime accident. While helping a friend I slipped on ice and landed on my back. I received MRI and x-ray where my doctor told me I had torn my rotator cuff and bicep. I was scheduled for surgery, and six weeks post-op, I started coming to Advanced Care Physical Therapy twice a week for rehab. At ACPT, my therapists, Mike Nawrocki, PT and Linda Dilley, PTA, started to slowly stretch my repaired muscles so I could regain my range of motion, and after three months post-op, I recovered 90% of my range of motion. At the five-month mark, I was ready to move on to strength training. I finished physical therapy only a month into strength training, which was six months after my surgery. Mike said he wished all of his patients would recover as successfully as I had. He said he has never seen anyone as injured as me heal so quickly. My decision to go to Advance Care Physical Therapy was a great choice. Besides being conveniently located so close to my home, the ACPT staff is friendly and knowledgeable. They were a big part of my recovery and I would recommend them to anyone and everyone. Click here to learn how Advanced Care Physical Therapy can help you recover from your accident injuries!
It is estimated that approximately 40% of the population in the United States will experience some form of dizziness or balance difficulty over the course of a lifetime (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders [NIDCD], 2014). But did you know that vertigo and dizziness can be treated with physical therapy? Read this story from vertigo sufferer, Sue A., about how her treatment at Advanced Care Physical Therapy allowed her to regain control of her life! I initially consulted my primary care doctor after persistent vertigo, dizziness and headaches limited my confidence while driving and caused me to discontinue many of my usual activities. My doctor subsequently referred me to Ted Vlahoyiannis, PT at Advanced Care Physical Therapy. I am very grateful for the help I have received at Advanced Care Physical Therapy as my vertigo and dizziness have decreased, and I have improved my core muscle strength and balance. In addition to just performing my exercises, I learned why I was doing certain exercises and how to perform them independently at home. I have since returned to driving with confidence and resumed an active schedule. I feel reassured that if I face future health set-backs, thanks to the team at ACPT, I now have the tools to cope with these challenges. Click here to learn more about how ACPT can help you defeat your vertigo!
Tom B. had one goal: to walk his daughter, Amanda, down the aisle at her wedding. Struggling with knee pain for years, he eventually became so unstable his knee would give out and even prevent him from walking. After undergoing a total right knee replacement, Tom came to the therapists at Advanced Care Physical Therapy to rehab him back to health. Tom’s ACPT physical therapist, Mike Nawrocki, PT, made it his mission to not only help Tom reach his goals, but to surpass them. Tom’s main rehabilitation goal was to no longer miss out on life’s big moments, and he did just that. Tom not only walked Amanda down the aisle at her wedding, but sporting his healthy, new knee, was able to join Amanda on the dance floor in a father-daughter dance. Join Tom and countless other ACPT patients who live life no longer on the sidelines, but on the dance floor. Click here to learn how Advanced Care Physical Therapy can help you rehabilitate your knee replacement!
Do you need to improve your balance? Have you been trying to improve your cardio and strength, but are held back by debilitating pain or unsteadiness? Come take a dip in ACPT’s 600-square foot, heated, indoor therapy pool. Though we cannot claim it’s the fountain of youth, we can promise you will discover life-changing benefits of aquatic therapy. First, let us explain why water makes for such an effective therapy medium, according to MedBridge. 1. Buoyancy — So much more than floating, buoyancy allows for hands-on elongation and strengthening. It also allows for decreased weight bearing (including following surgery) and increased upper extremity weight bearing (including making it effective for torticollis treatment). When water is at your waist level, your body weight is reduced by 50%. When water is at your chest level, your body weight is reduced by 75%. 2. Therapeutic warmth — The warm temperature of the water helps decrease spasticity, offering an opportunity for strengthening therapies. 3. Viscosity — The viscosity of water allows for slower movement. In turn, this provides patients with more time to react to balance challenges and making them more willing to challenge their balance. The viscosity of water also offers the opportunity to perform functional activities without assistance. For instance, a patient who walks on land with a reverse walker may be able to walk in water using only a long buoyant bar. 4. Surface tension — Water’s surface tension offers resistance, which helps to increase strength. It also helps improve body awareness. 5. Hydrostatic pressure — Water pressure helps decrease edema, which is particularly beneficial following surgery. The pressure also increases stroke volume, which leads to improved cardiac output. 6. Refraction — Because vision is limited or altered in water, proprioception is promoted. 7. Turbulence and flow — Increasing resistance allows for increased strength and endurance as well as improved balance. At ACPT, our highly trained therapists consider all of these healing properties and more when customizing your exercise program. Heated always to 96 degrees F, you will not only improve your physical conditioning in our therapy pool, but you will suffer less wear-and-tear on your joints due to the low resistance nature of aquatic therapy. Click here to learn more about our Aquatic Therapy program!
You now may have noticed your favorite elite athletes using K-tape—Kerri Walsh Jennings, Andy Roddick, James Harden to name a few. Guess what, K-tape is not just for the pros, but it can greatly benefit your healing and everyday functioning, too. K-tape has three main uses: pain mitigation, decompression and neurosensory input. The K-tape achieves these effects in two ways. Firstly, K-tape mechanically decompresses the skin and underlying tissues, eliminating pain by relieving pressure from these pain nerve endings and promoting better circulation to the area taped. Secondly, K-tape provides stimulation to many types of sensory nerves which send messages to the brain about touch, pain, temperature, and pressure. This stimulation by K-tape also effects underlying fascial tissues which sends messages to the brain for proprioception—how your limbs know where to move without the help of your eyes. Both stimulation to sensory nerves and fascial tissues by K-tape are very important for encouraging normal movement and preventing injury. Just like when you bang your knee on a sharp corner and mindlessly rub the painful area to make it feel better, K-Tape works similarly when adhered to your body. As the skin and fascial tissue are “pulled” by K-Tape, your brain becomes more focused on the K-taped area, reducing your pain. So next time you are watching TV and see colorful tape on the shoulder of a basketball player or the thigh of a volleyball player, you will know the science behind that weird spider web of tape. But know that this is not something just for the pros. K-tape can be applied by your physical therapist to you. If you want more information about K-tape or need treatment in physical therapy come see us at Advanced Care Physical Therapy.
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