The consequence of working in your body, not on it

Sometimes the joint ache just happens, most are not sure what day or what year it started.  Busy in life, with kids, in work, with the community, there is no time to give joint pain some attention, so you plow through it, never seeking a solution to end it.

 

For many, plowing through it led to creeping joint pain, slowly over a period of years limiting function and loss of efficiencies (quality of life).  The pain increases a little more each year.  Over time, the loss in everyday performance will catch everyone that doesn’t create time to step out to work on their body.

 

If the consequence of only working in our body is the loss of efficiencies in our function and pain, then certainly the reward of carving time to work on your body is a more effective and pain-free lifestyle.  When you do schedule the time, the trade-off is a higher quality of daily functional performance to do more.  

So it seems the solution is you. 

 

One hundred and sixty-eight hours are ahead of you this week, consider a solution this week by taking one of them to schedule some time with a Doctor of Physical Therapy.  There is no limitation in scheduling, there is no requirement for a prescription. 

When you get some guidance on how to work on, instead of in, your body, the rewards will surprise you.

Uncomplicated and Free

Access to safety is free and not very complicated.  A google search directs us to social distance, wear masks, and sanitize.

At PTW, take a look in on any day, and you'll see door handles, windows, countertops, and equipment sanitized on a regular cycle throughout the day.  You'll see patients practicing the "wash your hands coming in and wash your hands leaving" request, while our teams stay committed to wearing masks, washing hands between each patient, and practice distancing between the treatment areas.  It seems like we have some time to go before it ends, and a time we will remain stoic in our pursuits of safety. It is another step for us to take in our day, a practice with us for many months to come. Though it has to be enduring, it is not complicated.

Similarly, access to pain is free and not very complicated, just take a hammer to your thumb, no charge.

It turns out, the solution to pain is not the least bit complicated either.

If you don't already know, you have a right to visit an experienced direct access privileged Physical Therapist, without having to see your doctor first.  One less step and a few dollars saved, access to PTW gives you the keys to better movement, less pain, and endurance needed to get through a history-making pandemic.

Over the past 20 years, we have earned our direct access privileges, one PT at a time. We have worked to develop a close network of specialists, including Orthopedic Doctors, Neurologists, pain management specialists, Podiatrists, and many others, to refer our complicated patients when needed. 

The results speak for themselves.  For the first 30 days of treatment, we help make a difference with movement, reduction in pain, enough that most of our patients do not need referrals to a specialist. 

Staying accessible and keeping you and our staff safe at PTW has never meant more.

The PT Treadmill

We get on the Physical Therapy treadmill right out of school, soon to discover an unfortunate reality of feeling wobbly and unsteady for that first patient.  Fumbling with our laptops, asking too many non-relevant questions, not getting to the core of what matters most, we spend energy laterally not forward.  So often we are not sure where to go, we just go.  It’s the price of admission.

Some say it takes 10,000 hours, some say it takes mentoring, some say it takes pro-active self-study and reflection.  Whatever it takes, it ruins some, while others it pushes into a newfound passion. The expensive price of admission is not the seven years of study, it’s gaining clarity that costs us the most.

Managed right, this PT treadmill gives you renewed focus, an endorphin high, or a feeling of balance.  We belong.

The treadmill runs, never stops, needing your constant attention.  Disruptions in our day are the incline, costing you more energy and leaving us short of oxygen at days end.

Discovery is the decline, bringing us momentum of better connections, empathy, the bright light moments that accelerate our skills.  Soon you discover if you push hold to stay in momentum, you lose your legs, it’s too fast.  Life’s balance is disrupted, and you lose footing.

It doesn’t take long to understand how to adjust to the disruptions and discoveries, best by reflecting in the “why” of what you do. 

Blessed to be part of one of the largest Physical Therapy Networks, Ivy Rehabilitation Networks, we often reflect on the “why” in our staff meetings and daily huddles, a review of our values.

• One Ivy
  
• We collaborate with the best and the brightest in the industry
• Love what you do
• We are surrounded by others who share a passion for the difference we can make
  
• Do the right thing
• When headwinds and whirlwinds fill our day, we rely on what is right
• I belong
• We accept and respect people for who they are, and expect to be accepted
  
• Get stuff done
• When obstacles seem large, we get through it
• Grow
• No status quo, we expand our skillets and knowledge base and never sit still
  

·        Here at PTW, we are lucky to be part of something bigger than us.  It’s been eighteen years of adjustments to the incline or decline that gives us a chance to engage with our market, celebrate victories, and share a common sense of purpose.

Lean on Me

Lean on me

If you like music, you may have hummed words to the song  "Lean on Me" sometime in the past.  As a call out to lean on and support each other, its a reminder to help you gain perspective to connect and help friends in need of help.

Although several other roles I am asked to serve, such as husband, son, brother, and others (equally as important), I can't be more honored to serve as a father to three incredible kids (biased). Our roles with each other are in constant evolution, as we all mature and grow.

A favorite drive home podcaster Chris Hogan speaks in a recent broadcast; "There are four types of people we all have to intentionally have in our lives".       

• A Mentor to show you the lessons of the roads previously crossed
• A Friend to be brutally honest with
• A Coach to help you explore ways to get better, day in and day out, honestly and openly
• A Cheerleader; giving you optimism in your most difficult times

In our rapidly changing society, I have a hunch, at any giving time, most of us don’t have the perfect four, but must fill the role of any or all of the four on any given day, especially with your kids.

I will lean on you, and you can lean on me, to better understand important matters in your life, in mine, and in community. You can count on it. 

If your view of the future has some challenging times ahead, lean on someone to help round out your foursome.  

Somebody's rule of 90

 Business books are filled with rules, laws, and bullet points. 

There must be a rule of 90 somewhere.  A 90-day law.  A guide for the first 90 days, maybe the second 90 days.  If there is not, perhaps we call it "Coronachange 90".

The first reported case was 90 days ago.

Those first 90 days rocked our worlds.

Fear filled the air, essential concerns filled our emails, while our self-talk confused even ourselves. During the first days of action, what we didn't do never seemed right, while most of what we did do seemed wrong.  To no one's fault, and out of everyone's control, countrywide confidence waned, and the economy suffered.

Ninety learning days later, it seems most of us are ready to resume a new shared-risk norm.  Though not fully defined, it's not much different from the old norms. We got this; we have the controls in the new norm society.

Our entire team got together this week (virtually) to celebrate, not our climb completed from the bottom, we still have some way to go, but rather the work we have all done together over the past 90 days.  Amazingly, over the course of 55 minutes, many of our teammates spoke from the heart with words that spawned a spontaneous list of lessons, all starting with the letter R:

• Resolve; It's been tested
  
  
• Restore; We have to change to get us back
  
  
• Resiliency; We worked together to recover quickly, still more to go
  
  
• Resources; We learned of doing more with less
  
  
• Reinvent; We will change personally and professionally to align with the new norms
  
  
• Re-engineer; We have re-engineered our clinics and processes, some permanently
  
  
• Relationships; We have a deeper understanding of each other and our customers
  
  

We will lean and reflect often on the 7 "R"s over the next 90 days while thinking with an end in mind to restore our industry, our clinics, and our patients. How we change towards the new norms in the next 90 days may define our industry for 90 years to come, perhaps ourselves, for a career.  

Let's start with doubling down on what we do great already:

• Delivering industry best one on one healthcare
• Serving unparalleled service
• Engaged and Empathetic relationships with referral sources and customers
• Agility; willing to do whatever it takes for best outcomes

We changed nearly everything for the first 90 days.  We had very little control.  Now we do. What we've been through has shocked our systems, broken us down.  What we now have is a team with a renewed sense of courage and resolve. We had to work through some things together; as a result, team unity has strengthened.  We have a gift of 7 lessons beginning with "R" that has left us filled with optimism for our future.

 We are looking forward to the next 90!