Undeniable Results

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Undeniable Results

As a competitive international junior cyclist, I understand the importance of being injury free, yet after being hit by a car I was in need of some special care. Matt Kramer, with his own athletic passions, understood my need and desire to get back on the bike healthy, strong and fast. After being evaluated by Matt, he developed a personalized rehabilitation program that addressed my specific injuries. Throughout the rehab course he gave me insight into the recovery and strengthening process that gave me a deeper understanding into my own physiology. Matt’s program has had undeniable results, and I am confident I will continue to be pain free. Thanks Matt!

Cody J. Miller

Keeping Me Strong Through My Recent Pregnancy

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Keeping Me Strong Through My Recent Pregnancy

Endurance rehab is the best! The PTs at Endurance Rehab have stuck by me through my hardest times dealing with injuries and keeping me strong through my recent pregnancy. I am convinced Kraemer’s core class helped me bounce back post baby quicker than most first time mom’s. Endurance Rehab has always provided me with a safe, supportive, and educational environment that allows me to succeed and reach my potential.

I have learned a lot and I am truly grateful. You guys are the best support staff an athlete can have. Thank you!

Angelica Balentine

Tightest Human Being You Had Ever Met

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Tightest Human Being You Had Ever Met

You may remember me, you worked with me for several months concluding in June, at the time I bore the mantle of “tightest human being you had ever met”. I had back, hip, knee, and feet problems (you gave my feet the “scraping” treatment), old age maladies that I refuse to face. I was running mummy mountain on the weekends for a training run. Just wanted to give you an update, doesn’t look like I’ll be returning to you in the immediate future. I will be running the South Mountain 20k in two weekends, and hope to be doing the Fiesta 1/2 in December. My knee tends to express its displeasure at mileage north of 10 so I probably won’t be going beyond a half-marathon, but I have made tremendous progress with my running to-date, in particular my mummy runs, they’re almost enjoyable.

My primary intention is to offer my appreciation for your efforts. You were my third trip through therapy, and you provided by far the most thorough and effective treatment. Your hands-on attention to my situation has restored running as my “mental crutch” that it has been for so long. It’s a lot of fun to target a run to discipline and train for. Many, many thanks, best of luck to you and your young family, maybe we’ll cross paths on a run someday.

Rick Mitchell

Running Again

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Running Again

I just want to tell you all that I couldn’t be more pleased with my results from my rehabilitation after my knee replacement surgery in March. After 4 months of therapy, going to Endurance Rehabilitation, at the recommendation of my doctor, I can do almost everything I did before… even run! My special thanks go to this special staff who helped me thru this enduring time… particularly, Lauren Bounds, who was fabulous!! I must tell you that I looked forward going to each of my sessions and was sorry to leave as I actually enjoyed going to my workouts!!! Thanks to everyone who helped me during those months, – Lauren, Nate, Matt, Caroline, Jess, and Shawn… you are the best!

Thanks again
Sandi Weber

Thanks, ER!

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Thanks, ER!

Not all good things come easy. In October of 2004, shortly after becoming a member of the Phoenix Triathlon Club’s Junior Elite team I was referred to Endurance Rehabilitation. Nathan (Nate) Koch took on the chore of analyzing, diagnosing, and putting a specific work-plan together in order to improve my sub par performance in running, and to prevent injury.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I had taken a short break from training to visit relatives in California. During our stay I decided to go rock climbing and bouldering in Joshua Tree National Recreation Area where I fell and broke my talus and tibia (foot and ankle). Within 6 hours after the accident, I had gone through emergency surgery, leaving two screws in my ankle, a plaster cast up to my knee, and a prognosis that I had a 50% chance of being able to walk normally without a limp, and most likely would never again be able to compete in the sport I love. Wow! Just as things were taking flight, a blow like this was mentally devastating.

The first thing I did after coming home from a 3 night hospital stay was meet with the local orthopedic surgeon followed by a trip to Endurance Rehab. I met with Nate and presented him with a formidable challenge of getting me back to where I was before the injury and then moving me past to improve my running. Due to the fact that I was not allowed any weight bearing exercise for 3 months this was not going to be easy, but he was optimistically helpful that he and his staff were up to it.

Not only did my now good friends help me through the physical aspect of recovery, but they also made it easier to keep a positive mental attitude. They share such a great bond with their patients, that going to Endurance Rehabilitation is never a task, or a chore, but always a reward. As a result, I have been able to test my physical and mental limits as well as to understand how to reach for greater levels of performance and satisfaction in my sports.

I would love to give a sincere “thank you” to all of those at Endurance Rehabilitation who have helped and continue to help me succeed: Nathan (Nate) and Ashley Koch, Matt (Whammo) Byers, Matt (Kraemer) Kraemer, Darlene McClellan, Melissa Spooner and Bill Tjaden.

Sincerely,

Claire Moty
Junior Elite Team Member, Phoenix Triathlon Club

Susan Loken

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Chances for Children Program Director

As the Chances for Children program director and Team Chances coach of hundreds of endurance athletes of all shapes, sizes and conditioning levels and as an elite athlete myself, I highly recommend Endurance Rehab to anyone struggling with an injury. In the ten years I have been running competitively, I have received physical therapy from several clinics in the Valley. Endurance Rehab is now where I go for my physical therapy needs.

I first went to Endurance Rehab because I want to be treated at a clinic where the therapists are themselves athletes; only another athlete can understand what a runner is going through when recovering from an injury. I continue to go to Endurance Rehab, however, because of an even more important reason: the therapists and staff truly care about ever patient. It doesn’t matter if you are a long time competitive athlete or someone being reintroduced to benefits of exercise, Endurance Rehab will work to get you past your injury and teach you ways to prevent injuries in the future.

Endurance Rehab doesn’t just say they care about ever patient, they prove it by their actions! Endurance Rehab therapists volunteered countless hours to helping our Team Chances athletes train for various races. Their physical therapists gave seminars, counseled runners on injury prevention and came to many of the workouts to answer our athlete’s questions. Endurance Rehab also cares about the community. Andi Felton from the Scottsdale clinic coached and lead the Scottsdale fundraising team for Team Chances, helping the organization raise over $200,000. These fundraising proceeds are used to prevent childhood obesity by providing Valley children fitness programs to teach them to lead a healthier and more active lifestyle.

And because of the help and guidance of Endurance Rehab therapist Matt Kraemer, my own nagging hamstring injury is becoming a thing of the past. I have struggled with this injury for over seven months but in just one month of working with Matt I feel as if I’m back to my old self and plan to be conditioned enough to possibly run a PR at my next marathon in April.

Team Chances owes a debt of gratitude to Endurance Rehab for what they have contributed to our program and, on a personal level, so do I. If you are in need of some help with an injury, Endurance Rehab is the place to go!

Susan Loken

Michele Hutchinson

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Story of Successful Lung Transplant

It is amazing to be able to breathe without aid of oxygen and without cough or wheeze. I cannot even put into words how incredible it feels and how fortunate I am to have received this gift of donor lungs.

The Surgery was performed at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center by Dr’s. Bremner and Nigro also assisting post surgery was Dr. Smith. My post transplant care is overseen by the Heart and Lung Institute (St. Joes) Dr’s Walia and Hodges are taking great care of me.

Everyone at St. Joe’s Hospital was wonderful and it showed that they had my best interests at heart. Everyone was very excited to be part of the transplant process and eager to have me do as well as I possibly could with it.

Before the surgery even began Dr. Bremner did a bronchoscopy and removed a half cup of puss / mucous from my lungs. During the surgery he removed an additional 1.5 cups from one lung. He told my Husband that he has no idea how I was able to breathe at all.

The surgery took place on Saturday 10-20-07 at 06:30 am. They did not wake me up until sometime on Monday so that I could rest. When I woke up I had an oxygen mask on and Dr. Walia informed me that the surgery is over and all went well. At that point I had no idea it was Monday and thought it was Saturday afternoon… it was not until much later that I found out that I had been in a drug induced sleep. I am happy that they decided to do this and chose not to wake me up until I was extubated .

I only had one small bump while in the hospital with a small air leak in my upper left lobe. The lung had not fully expanded and was slightly leaking air which was corrected within two days by simply adding suction to the chest drain tube to allow the lung to expand and touch the chest cavity to seal the leak… I tell ya it is amazing what can be done with modern science and an incredible team of doctors and surgeons.

Michele Hutchinson

KEVIN’S LAST WALK

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Greetings Nate,

I wanted to write you a letter to express my sincere appreciation for all of your support. You were a key part of preparing me for the journey of a lifetime!

During my journey from Gilbert, Arizona, to Kalispell, Montana, I shared the story about what happened to Kevin with more than 8000 people. This does not include the many thousands (probably hundreds of thousands) who learned about Kevin’s Last walk through the many interviews I did with newspaper, television and radio. As I have been told many times, I will never know how many lives were changed as a result of this effort.

I realize that walking 1400 miles in less than 4 months is not any sort of record, but it is a record in my book. You managed to take a short, pudgy, bald, 49-year-old dude and prepare him for the journey of a lifetime! I ended up averaging more than 90 miles a week. The training schedule you kept me on and the advice you gave me regarding stretching and nutrition, no doubt, made a major difference in how this journey ended up. By being patient and following your advice, I actually felt better the further I went!

I started out only wanting to walk 5 days a week. I would walk 20 miles a day for 3 days and then 15 miles the other days. I found the 20 mile days to be difficult to recover from with very little time left to stretch once I arrived back at the hotel. I settled on walking about 14 miles a day, 7 days a week.

If you can prepare a guy like me to accomplish this, I can only imagine what you can do for those that have some physical ability!

If there is anything I can do to help you out, let me know.

Something very good will come from this,

Barry Adkins
www.kevinslastwalk.org

FORE CRYING OUT LOUD

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FORE CRYING OUT LOUD

Keep your head down!

While it’s down there, you may want to take a look at your feet. It’s been my experience that most golfers only notice their feet when addressing the ball or if they’re sore enough to end a round. Truth be told, there is no more important part of the body during the swing than your “dogs.” If your feet are not properly aligned during key points of the swing you will lose both distance and accuracy.

What are potential causes of poor foot alignment? Often times poor trunk and hip flexibility cause a top-down reaction that changes the foot’s position. This position change, in turn, causes key force-producers in the hips to shut down. From there any number of unfavorable outcomes can ensue…power loss, hitting thin, slicing…you name it. Other times, the feet are simply misaligned and require a custom footbed/orthotic to allow them to meet the ground properly.

Which of these scenarios is contributing to your stalled handicap? Chances are both are a factor. However, it would be best to have a physical therapist assist you in deciding exactly what your problems are and how to correct them. Being highly trained in both foot/ankle biomechanics and flexibility assessment, the physical therapists at Endurance Rehabilitation can help you start shaving strokes off your score today.

FORE-SEEABLE TROUBLE

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FORE-SEEABLE TROUBLE

As spring approaches and duffers like me decide to come out of golfing hibernation, it is times like this that we tend to see a rise in orthopedic overuse injuries. Now I know that many of you have read in the multiple golfing magazines about “Improving Core strength will add 15 yards to your drive.” Or “battling back pain.” I figured that I would bring to light one of the injuries that do not get much attention. Maybe it’s due to its association with its other country club counterpart, but lateral epicondylitis or “Tennis Elbow” can be a real pain literally and figuratively if not dealt with properly.

Lateral epicondylitis is an inflammatory condition that is associated with the wrist extensors and rears its ugly head at the lateral epicondyle or common extensor tendon; this is the little knobby bone located on the outside of your elbow. The risk of overuse injury is increased 2-3 times in those who perform repetitive motions (i.e. swinging a golf club) more than 2 hours of play per week and 2-4 times in players older than 40 years. Much of this comes down to improper technique, decreased flexibility and decreased strength. With golf, the most likely location of injury is at the left lateral epicondyle of a right handed golfer due to the increased demands for stability at impact of the ball – and the ground!

Lateral epicondylitis begins as micro-trauma to the common extensor tendon which can lead to symptoms of severe, burning pain on the outside part of the elbow. In most cases, the pain starts in a mild and slow fashion and can gradually worsens over weeks or months. The pain can be made worse by pressing on the outside part of the elbow or by gripping or lifting objects. Lifting even very light objects (such as a small book or a cup of coffee) can lead to significant discomfort. In more severe cases, pain can occur with simple motion of the elbow joint while in severe cases, the pain can radiate to the forearm.

Treatment is simple, be proactive! At the earliest onset or knowledge of symptoms, its best to begin utilizing ice and an over the counter Ibuprofen, this will help to minimize the inflammatory response. Stretching of the forearms is appropriate to maintain flexibility and decrease the soft tissue restrictions that become present from your body’s production of scar tissue at the injury site. Scar tissue is the body’s mechanism for patching up injuries; the problem lies in that when it is laid down your body does so in a very haphazard manner. This leads to the fibers of the tissue being very chaotic, and thus a decreased tensile strength of that tendon and a high likelihood of re-injury. If you have had no success at palliative care independently, it is time to visit your physical therapist for more aggressive treatments and a comprehensive rehabilitative program that will address strength, flexibility and improve tissue integrity via ASTYM that will have you back on your way to qualifying for the next U.S. Open.