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A personal message from physical therapist, Sasha Digges…

Dear Reader,

• Are you worried about back pain that isn’t going away on its own, no matter how much “rest” you’ve been told to do?
• Are you tired of doing ‘stretches’, or other exercises for your back that just don’t seem to work?
• Are you frustrated that ‘physical therapy’, ‘chiropractic’, or acupuncture, hasn’t worked, and your pain seems to be getting worse?
• Does it concern you that you’re gaining weight? Or unable to get in shape because exercising hurts?
• Are you having trouble keeping up with friends and family, and missing out on your favorite activities because of pain?

If any of this sounds like you, and you are looking to finally get some relief from your back pain, …
And also find a permanent fix to your problem…

Then I assure you, you’ve come to the right place.

The number of people suffering from back problems every day is skyrocketing at a very alarming rate.

And what’s worrying to me, is I hear about so many people who suffer needlessly from back pain, and are often told:

• They are in pain because of their ‘age’ and they need to “accept it”,
• To take these pills (which we know are addicting and dangerous)
• “just rest, or do some stretches”
• You need to have back surgery (which can be dangerous)

However…

Back Pain is much more complex than that…

…and if you are struggling to keep active, or worried about pain that isn’t going away…

And you are someone who wants nothing more than just to get back to your normal, active lifestyle…

then I assure you, you’ve come to the right place…

At PEAK Physical Therapy & Sports Rehabilitation, we specialize in helping people heal their backs naturally, and return to their normal, active lifestyles without pills and surgery.

We understand it can be difficult to know exactly what you should do when you’ve got a back injury. It can be overwhelming with the amount of options that are out there.

• Friends tell you to try this product…
• …or family members tell you to go see this chiropractor,
• …a co-worker mentions this Acupuncturist…
• …a doctor says to try physical therapy…
• … the “experts” on YouTube tell you to try THIS stretch
• …and meanwhile the doctors are instructing you to take painkillers, and saying you might need surgery (which could be dangerous)

It can be hard to decide to seek care, because you might be afraid of what may happen if you make the wrong decision.

We Will Help You Make Sense of it all, to put Your Mind at Ease…

Many people (doctors included) make the CRITICAL MISTAKE of only treating the “symptom” of pain, and not taking the necessary time, or energy to understand the true, “primary causes” of the problem.

When it comes to something as serious as back pain…

Choosing the right provider, and getting the absolute best ‘non-invasive treatment’ could mean the difference between you getting back to your normal active lifestyle, or a life on painkillers and needing a potentially life-altering surgery.

Or goal at PEAK Physical Therapy & Sports Rehabilitation is not only to get rid of your pain, but also heal your body and give you a PERMANENT fix to your problems.
Which is why here, at PEAK Physical Therapy & Sports Rehabilitation, we have created a very comprehensive, 5-step method to not only get rid of your pain, but also fix it for good.

Step 1: Getting to Know You – Meet YOU where You Are!

We understand the frustrations out there in the medical system. It’s hard to get more than 15 minutes with a doctor, or even find a way to get the specialized care you need.

And even with most physical therapy clinics, treatments often feel rushed, impersonal, and not very focused…

Which is why our very first step, before we begin any form of treatment is to get to know you!

Because every single person who suffers from back pain is different. We all have different body types, past injuries, and different levels of pain tolerance.

At PEAK Physical Therapy & Sports Rehabilitation, we understand that every single person is unique, which is why our first step is to get a deep understanding of what is happening to you, and how you want to feel. So we can create a plan that focuses around YOU and your goals.

At PEAK Physical Therapy & Sports Rehabilitation, we have created an environment that was designed for healing.

Which starts with having an open, honest conversation about your health.
We want to make sure you’ll feel comfortable working with us, and to make sure that we will be a good fit, before we begin any form of treatment.

Step 2: Discovering the “Primary Cause” of Your Pain

It can be worrying if you’ve had back pain for a long time, and an x-ray, or an MRI might show “degenerating discs” or “disc herniations”, “bulging disc” or “stenosis”.

Many people are unaware that their symptoms CAN get better over a long period of time even if the “primary cause” was NOT treated & healed correctly.  But this should NOT be your long-term strategy.  Because the next time, not a matter of “IF” but “When”, it will most likely be worse and irreversible damage may not be treatable – even with surgery.  Remember, surgery is not a fix but a correction!

Remember, the body is very complex, and everything is truly ‘connected’.

We often find there are other parts of your body that may not be working ‘correctly’, and makes your back ‘compensate’ for these problems.

Examples of this may include:

• Old injuries which create ‘compensations’ in the way you walk
• ‘scar tissue’ and stiffness that develops from chronic inflammation causing lack of mobility in your spine
• Poor postures that cause muscle tightness which come from sitting for too long, or driving too many hours
• “tight hip muscles” which can pull on your back and create strain without you knowing
• Doing stretches or exercises that might be making your condition worse

But for every single person, the ‘primary cause’ may be a bit different. Because it depends on you, your injury history, your body type, and many other factors.

Our goal is to get to the bottom of the real cause of pain, eliminate it, so you can start your path to getting your mobility back, and return to the things you love the most.

Which is why we perform a full-body movement assessment.

What is a Movement Assessment?

A deep analysis of every single one of your movements, head to toe. This allows us to see very clearly what is different about YOU, and to SHOW you how everything is connected.

Our movement assessment will capture all of these potential causes, determine the “primary cause”, give you clarity, and peace of mind to know that this problem of yours CAN be fixed.

These movement assessments are unique to: You; Your history; Your Injury; Your Pain!

Step 3. “Hands-On Treatment” To Help You Quickly Ease Pain and Restore Your Mobility & Movement

People are usually told to ‘stretch’, or do some ‘back exercises’, or even lay on ‘traction machines’ for their back pain. But the problem is, it is impossible to do safe, effective exercise when you are in pain!

And in some cases, doing the WRONG stretches or exercises can make the pain worse.

Which is why, BEFORE you start to move, or exercise it is important to alleviate the PAIN, especially with movement.

We accomplish this through “Hands-On Therapy” or in Physical Therapy jargon – Manual Therapy.

What is Manual Therapy?

Manual therapy is the art of using highly scientific, targeted techniques that will help you QUICKLY restore mobility, reduce pain at rest, and alleviate pain with movement BEFORE you do any form of exercise. We use our hands, and different tools that will help you feel better by:

• Breaking down scar tissue that built up from old injuries
• Unlocking stiff, cranky, and inflamed joints
• Releasing tension in ‘knots’ or ‘muscle spasms’ that create discomfort

These treatments work by removing the “restrictions” from areas that are chronically injured. It will increase blood flow and circulation into these areas…which will improve the flow of oxygen and promote a much healthier environment for your tissues to heal.

Our clients are usually SHOCKED to see how quickly their mobility returns just after a few short treatment sessions.

No, it’s not like “chiropractic”

While we do have the ability to perform these types of “cracking” techniques, our ‘manual therapy’ techniques are much more targeted to treat the ‘soft tissues’ which will take pressure OFF painful joints, instead of directly ‘adjusting’ an area.

We have developed our manual treatment methods from decades of training and clinical practice as Physical Therapists. In order to give you the quickest, most effective, and safest way to restore your motion before you start to exercise.

Step 4: Re-establish Your Brain-Body Movements Through a Personalized Program

Most people make the critical mistake of believing that once the pain has gone down, that your body has healed.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

Most people don’t realize when back pain happens the connection from your body to your brain is also injured.

A lot of people wrongly assume that for back pain, all you need to do is “strengthen your core” or to “do some stretches” and think it’s enough to get rid of the pain for good…

But when there is something as serious as chronic back pain…

There is MUCH MORE to it than just doing some ‘ab exercises’ or some ‘stretches’…

When people suffer from back pain for a long time, the brain learns to cope with it by trying to ‘compensate’.

Examples of these “compensations” might be:

• Using your hands to climb up your thighs when standing up after you’ve bent forward to pick something up from the ground
• Increased pain, or pressure while standing in once place for too long
• Having to use ‘momentum’ to get out of bed, or out of a chair, because of stiffness, or increased pain while trying to move after a long period of sitting
• Constantly feeling limited in your ability to twist, or bend, or move freely without feeling the constant ‘tightness’ in your lower back
• Or an inability to do normal exercises, or house chores because the back just doesn’t allow it to happen

Why Does This Happen?

Because the brain is trying to protect your body from doing movements it might consider harmful!

Unfortunately, most ‘exercise protocols’ you may see on YouTube, in magazines, or handed out by medical practitioners or even in physical therapy, only focus on building ‘strength’, which does nothing to restore these very important brain-body connections.

At PEAK Physical Therapy & Sports Rehabilitation, our personalized movement program offers much more than a “sheet of exercises”, or some ‘core workouts’…

We provide highly personalized, individualized, in-depth training of your movements in a safe, but also challenging (but rewarding) way.

We do this by using advanced neuroscience and exercise physiology, and give you absolute laser focused attention into every single movement that you perform.

This will allow you to QUICKLY:

• Restore your confidence with ALL movements throughout the day that you may have been fearful, or guarded about
• Help you return to exercising again, but with PROPER “Form, and technique’ so you don’t have to worry about hurting yourself in exercise
• Help you develop much more ‘body awareness’ so you can “feel” when you are doing a movement improperly and correct it
• ENJOY moving, and exercising again, instead of dreading it
• Help you get back all the ‘little things’ that you may take for granted throughout the course of the day, like getting out of a chair, or bed without thinking, or just touching your toes for the first time in years

Step 5: Restore Your Quality of Life

We work best with people who are motivated, who have a strong desire to become active again, and with people who feel like their body has so much more to offer…

But just feel stuck about what you should be doing.

If you are willing to put in a little bit of work, if you are willing to learn a bit about your body, and if you are ready to get back the quality of life you want, then you will be a great fit with us…

And you can expect to see amazing transformations.

• A life where you can sit and drive without pain, or having to pull over every 30 minutes
• A life where you can bend down and do house chores without being in constant pain
• Get back to exercising again, but without any pain holding you back so you can finally get in shape again
• Be able to play with and pick up your kids or grandkids without any worry of your back going out
• Be able to sleep comfortably through the night, and wake up with much less pain and achiness
• Restore long lost movement, and energy so you can keep up with friends and family again, without being weighed down by the constant burden of back pain
• A return to your active, normal, lifestyle without having to take pills or bother the doctor for this problem again

Call or email us, and we will have an honest conversation about your health and decide if we will be a good fit to work with one another. If you feel lost from your back pain, come see us and you’ll truly find what You have been looking for – Answers and Resolution to Your Back Pain.  Also, we are conveniently located in Williamsburg, VA. to serve your physical therapy needs!

Sincerely,

Sasha Digges
Senior Physiotherapist

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