Physical Therapy

Staff
Get back on the health track with one-on-one work with the staff at Sierra Sports and Physical Therapy. Mary Sutton and her professional staff including physical therapist, athletic and personal trainers, massage therapists and yoga instructors can all help you on your path to getting well.

General Information
After an evaluation by a licensed physical therapist, a program will be designed to meet your specific needs. We may incorporate education, soft tissue work, strengthening, stretching, therapeutic exercise and/or various modalities to help you to recover quickly and safely from any injury. From simple aches and pains to post-op knee reconstruction, total joint replacement, spinal surgery or even post stroke or heart attack, our goal is to make you feel better and get you back to optimum health and function as soon as possible.

Orthopedics / Sports Injury
We have years of experience treating every type of orthopedic and sports injury problems. Let us help you get back in the game, back to your recreational sport or back to your everyday life activities by promoting healing, decreasing pain and speeding up your recovery time.

Aqua Therapy
We have a warm pool which is 10 feet wide by 20 feet long. It has a shallow 4 foot area and a deep water well for non-weight bearing exercises.  The temperature is maintained at 95 degrees. Our pool is beneficial for people with a variety of diagnoses from all orthopedic related problems to neurological patients who maybe recovering from a stroke or head trauma.   
The pool is a very healing environment with many benefits.

• Let the water alleviate pressure off of painful joints while allowing the body to move with less effort and help to restore mobility.
• Use the resistance of the water to improve muscle strength while decreasing weight bearing stress from healing bones or soft tissue.
• Float in the deep end while suspended with water supports to unload pressure off the spine and allow irritated nerves and injured disc to heal.
• Restore balance reactions, agility and/or the ability to walk with the guidance and the assistance of a physical therapist.

Neck and Back Rehab
If you are suffering from any type of back or neck pain, either from a specific injury or for no apparent reason, the staff at Sierra Sports and Physical Therapy can help you get better and stay better!  Pain, whether fairly constant or cycling, chronic pain, can affect our life dramatically from our ability to engage in social events, recreational activities and/or work tasks.  It can even take it’s toll on our personal relationships. Lets face it, pain makes us crabby and is really a drag.

The goal of our spine rehabilitation program is for you to have a speedy recovery from pain that has a long lasting result.  Depending on evaluation results, a program will be designed which may include some or all of the following.

• Education:  We want you to understand spine biomechanics and how the spine reacts to postural stress and repetitive movement so you can take better care of yourself.  Learn what you can do to reduce stress, strain and cumulative trauma on the spine at home and work.  It is often what you do, or don’t do, when you are away from therapy that makes a difference in your recovery.  You will find out the “why’s” of proper body mechanics.
• Exercises:  Stretching, strengthening, postural awareness and cardiovascular fitness exercises are all part of our program.  There are ways to stretch, strengthen and get in shape, or stay in shape, without placing additional stress on your neck and back.  We want you to be flexible and strong while promoting the healing of inflamed, painful tissues.  Come find out healthy, effective ways to exercise without stressing your spine.
• Soft tissue Massage:  Muscles become tight and changes occur in the soft tissue due to inflammation and injury.  Massage helps normalize tissue and decrease pain.  And it feels soooo…good too!
• Aqua therapy:  We have a warm therapeutic pool that we use as a healing modality for our spine patients. It is also a soothing environment to do stretches and functional body mechanic exercises.  By reducing the affects of body weight and gravity on the spine in the water, there is a decrease in disc pressure which in turn alleviates irritation on inflamed tissue, nerves and joints.  This allows healing of these various structures to occur.
• Functional Re-education:  You will learn to do functional activities that you  need to do at home and/or at work while keeping your spine in a safe posture. From brushing your teeth, to sitting at your computer, to weeding your garden or shoveling snow we will be specific to your needs.  We want you to feel better as soon as possible.  And that means learning to take as much stress off your spine as possible when you are away from therapy and engaging in daily tasks and activities. It is often what you do, or don’t do, during the time you are away from therapy that makes a difference in your recovery time.

Spinal Stabilization Program
Many of you will be referred to therapy for a Spinal Stabilization Program. This program encompasses many of the above components under Neck and Back Rehab. Basically this is an exercise program. The goal is to teach you to be able to move your body through space, while keeping your spine in a safe, neutral posture. If you become an expert in stabilizing your spine and changing your daily, functional body mechanics, your spine will begin to heal and you will be on your way to feeling good again.

Ergonomics
Tired of that nagging little back or neck pain? Or perhaps your shoulder is a little irritated? It may be how your work space is set up, or isn’t! Let us fit your work space to meet your body’s optimum postural needs and to alleviate soft tissue stress. We can help rearrange an existing work area or  design a new customized office space.  Or we can assist you in selecting new office chairs and furniture all for your body’s optimal alignment.

Employer Injury Prevention Programs

• Pre-Placement Screening: Hiring physically capable employees can reduce future risk of injury.  The information obtained from a pre-placement screening can be compared to a physical job description to determine worker suitability for a specific job position.  It is also useful as it documents current physical status and any pre-existing problems.
• Work Site Evaluation:  Do you have a work area or job position that seems to have a high incidence of injuries?  Are you remodeling an existing work area or moving into a new workplace?  Ergonomics is the science of fitting the workplace to the people.  Consultation, evaluation and recommendations are available in regards to workstation design, layout, job tasks, tools equipment and the work environment.  All of these factors impact safety, productivity and quality in the workplace.
• Training Programs:  Let us train your employees so that they develop the skills necessary to facilitate safe work habits and are able to set up their work area for optimum performance.  Training programs are available for “People Who Move” and for “People Who Sit”.
• Fitness:  We believe that healthy and happy employees make for a healthy and happy work environment.  Improve productivity, keep injury rate low and promote a positive working atmosphere by keeping your employees fit and letting them know that you care.  We have a full fitness gym and offer a variety of wellness programs that are available to your employees at a discounted, corporate rate.