Searching for a health care professional who can relate to your athletic lifestyle is difficult at best. A quick search of “sports medicine and physical therapy” yields many hits that are essentially strike outs. Looking for “sports medicine” within a company’s name does not ensure that the medical treatments are different or better than a general orthopedic practice.
All too often, endurance athletes are simply advised to “take it easy.” Some medical professionals recommend cortisone injections to help “deal with the pain.” Some athletes are encouraged to just “hang up the bike cleats, running shoes, and Speedo.” While a good case can be made for some to give up the Speedo, injury shouldn’t be one of them.
There is often a disconnect between the heart and passion of an athlete and the mindset of his or her therapist. Endurance athletes in the DC Metro area no longer have to worry about that concern. A new PT clinic in Falls Church, VA was established to meet the unique needs of endurance athletes. Founder and owner, Kerri Kramer, MPT, is a triathlete herself. She, along with her clients, lives, eats, and breathes this stuff. She relates to her patients emotionally and intellectually. Kramer designed her physical therapy practice, Fast Track, to treat existing orthopedic injuries AND the underlying causes. Additionally the practice also provides for preventative care and sports enhancement through cutting-edge, innovative options that are difficult to find elsewhere.
This multi-part series highlights some of those innovative options which set this clinic apart. Athletes in the DC metro area have a unique and exciting option for their orthopedic and sports-enhancement needs. One of the several factors that sets Fast Track apart from all other “sports” clinics is the 1:1 care.
Factor #1: 1:1 Care with a Physical Therapist: High Quality and One-Hour Treatment Slots
Traditional therapy typically includes an extended first evaluation with a certified physical therapist. Subsequent visits often entail a brief 20-minute session with the therapist followed by treatment from the ancillary staff of assistants or aides. Fast Track is dedicated to an alternative approach.
Clients receive a 1:1 evaluations and treatments by the therapist who has extensive athletic experience and can provide a highly customized treatment plan specific to the clients’ sport. The 1:1 approach also includes the following:
Emphasis on dynamic biomechanical analysis within the environment that is causing dysfunction
Essentially this means that if a cyclist is experiencing pain during a run, the therapist will evaluate that pain in the most natural environment possible through a dynamic running analysis. This dynamic analysis goes far beyond a typical static analysis. A body responding to stress in motion responds differently and more authentically than it does while merely sitting on an exam table.
Consultation with Coaches
Sport-specific movement retraining is provided as well as specific training instructions as you return to sport. Fast Track also networks with local coaches to provide thorough and consistent coaching to reduce training technique flaws and prevent future injury.
Whole vs. Part Philosophy
Aristotle said it best when he stated, “the whole is more than the sum of its parts.” Fast Track therapists evaluate each patient as a whole and avoid focusing on only the injured area. An evaluation for back pain may reveal that the back is not the source of the pain. It may be the biomechanics of the feet instead. The body is intricate and its parts are interconnected. It is treated as such at Fast Track.
90 Revolutions is a grassroots company dedicated to providing education, tools, and services to reduce injuries for those training for triathlons and duathlons while helping them optimize their performance. The founder, Steven Berkey, is a licensed, orthopedic physical therapist specializing in endurance athlete rehabilitation, injury prevention, and performance enhancement. After working to bring [...]
On a snowy weekend, my family and good friend, Kerri Kramer, traveled to Arlington, VA to talk to Team in Training. What an opportunity! Team in Training is an awesome group devoted to competing for a cause. Team in Training has raised over $1 Billion dollars for cancer research and services to help those [...]
This past week was a blast. I had the opportunity to speak at the Tri-Fred meeting in Fredericksburg, VA. Tri-Fred is a triathlete club devoted to serving the beginner to elite athlete. They are in the process of starting a beginner program to ensure that people start right and can enjoy the [...]
Exercise Central has launched. This PT-created database is an ever-growing collection of stretching and strengthening exercises designed for the unique needs of endurance athletes. In time it will morph into specific programs that target specific goals and injury types. It’s like having your own personal physical therapist on retainer. Answers are only a click or [...]
It is challenging to find the right physical therapy clinic to treat endurance athletes. At many STINO clinics (”Sports Therapy in Name Only”), it is not uncommon for athletes to be evaluated only to be told they should avoid running or cycling.
For those who share a love for endurance activities and have trained so [...]
What is the Running Analysis?
Oftentimes, runners experience annoying injuries that slow their running or force them to refrain from running altogether. A running analysis examines your running technique, frame-by-frame. The analysis assesses for the presence of movement errors or biomechanical faults.
Being able to determine underlying causes leads to more effective treatments with the reduced likelihood [...]