Request Appointment
15
Dec

A Few of Axes’ Favorite Things

0

It’s 2022 in 16 days – we can’t believe 2021 zoomed by this quickly! Last Friday, Axes Physical Therapy had the privilege of getting our entire company together for a Holiday party. We ate great food, listened to fun music, collected 17 boxes of toys for Toys for Tots, raffled off awesome prizes, and shared stories and memories throughout 2021. This got us thinking about some of our favorite things that we discovered over the last year. Our list isn’t quite like Oprah’s, we’re a little more physical therapy minded and a tiny bit more sentimental than material it seems, but we wanted to share a Few of Axes’ Favorite Things from 2021…

  1. At Home Workout Videos
      • Don’t get us wrong, we love and encourage a good gym sesh. In a crunch for time though, Jodi Bielicke, PT, DPT recommends finding a good workout video on Youtube to widen your horizons. There are many different types of programs online that range from strength, yoga, flexibility, and even spin classes that you can do in your home gym, living room, porch, etc. Lately, Jodi has been loving Body Project.

  2. BlazePods
        • We’re adding a few new gadgets to the mix inside the clinic – one of those being BlazePods. The Wentzville team won a set of these at our Christmas Party. Sam Bixby, PT, DPT says, “Over the past year Farren and I have been using different colored post it notes in order to stimulate sport specific reactive drills for our athletes. The blaze pods will help train our athletes cognitive performance, speed and agility, and will help to improve decision making and reactive time within their sport. I’m excited to stimulate different sport specific drills with an important reactive component to get our patients back to their best possible performance pain free. It also keeps physical therapy fun and exciting, especially when the athletes can compete in an activity with the blaze pods in the clinic. I’m thinking a Blaze Pods Olympics? I should go text Farren about it now…”

  3. Hypervolt 2
      • Mitch Hammack, PT, DPT recommends a good massage/percussion gun. These instruments help when addressing deep muscle soreness and tenderness, with adjustable intensity. This gives the patient a good treatment and experience, while also making it easier on the therapist, as they don’t have to use so much of their own hand/thumb strength to dig into the muscle.
  4. Frenzel Goggles
        • Derrick Wolk, MPT, CMPT uses Frenzel Goggles with the recording app to assess and track eye movements. This has been a particularly helpful tool in helping properly treat out vestibular and concussion patients.

  5. Balance and Proprioception Training
      • Joe Schmersahl, PT, MTC, CMTPT’s favorite ‘thing’ is a type of training that he believes 100% of people can benefit from. Balance and proprioception training enhances athletic performance and improves safety during daily activities. Joe says this type of training is even more fun because he gets to be really creative in designing these programs for his patients, adding in a wide array of tools to increase difficulty as his patients and athletes progress.
  6. Apple Watch
      • Stacey Collins, PT, DPT, CMPT religiously uses her Apple Watch 7! She recommends a fitness and activity tracker to all of her patients to keep them on track in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, keep you moving, and manage stress levels.
  7. Custom Splinting and Casting for Motion
      • Laura Jenkins, MS, OTR/L’s favorite thing is something she uses nearly every day in hand therapy – splinting and casting. Laura’s goal is to take pressure off of nerves and redirect/reeducate the brain for motion. She also gives her patients wrist self mobilization techniques to do at home, with the objective of training your brain away from pain using specific imagery (imagined or real). Did you know that simply imagining moving a painful part of your body, pain-free, helps to train your brain to stop creating pain?
      • @axesphysicaltherapyCustom fitted splints in shorter than the time it takes you to stream an episode of the office. 🙌♬ The Office – The Hyphenate

  8. Slide Boards
      • Slide board exercises allow for lateral movement, as opposed to front-to-back, which better engages the major muscle groups that make up your core and provide stability and balance for your body. Emily Helton, PT, DPT uses the slide board more year after year. She enjoys using it for dynamic strengthening exercises like mountain climbers, bridges, and lunges. It takes those exercises to the next level!
  9. Creating Healthy Eating Habits
      • Ray Bauer, MSPT, CMPT says he made it a point in 2021 to learn more about nutrition to create healthy, sustainable habits in his life. Making positive changes to his diet and creating better eating habits allowed him to lose almost 20 pounds and FEEL so much better! The best part is that these aren’t fad diets – these are lifestyle changes to existing habits that will continue to work as their consistently applied. (special thanks to Mandy Carter, MSPT, CMPT, ATC, CWC and Sarah Schroeder, MOTR/L, CHT, Astym Cert. for their advice)
  10. Kinesio Tape
  11. You!
        • Obviously, there’s no link to this product or video to describe this – but my goodness does this deserve a spot on the list. Seeing our patients hit their goals and recover is the most gratifying thing to people like us. Farren Holman, PT, DPT’s patient sent this heartwarming follow up text thanking her for treating her daughter for nearly a full year. We are lucky enough to receive messages with similar sentiments every single day. What a gift.

These gadgets and concepts gave us more tools to use when doing what we do best – getting our patients back to the things they love to do, safely. If we had to pick our one, true, most favorite thing – it would be you, our community. From our patients, clients, employees, friends, partners, and colleagues – we would not be here without your trust and support. We are honored to be of service to you – that is our most favorite thing of all.

Axes Physical Therapy wishes you a happy, healthy, and safe 2021 Holiday Season.