[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/1″][vc_video link=”https://vimeo.com/138756546″ align=”left”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Listen or Read Ferraro Spine’s Monthly Podcast Interview!
Topic: Functional Physical Therapy- Our Unique Approach to Therapy at Ferraro Spine
Below you will find an easy to read transcript of Dr. Anthony Manzella’s interview on the razorcast™ monthly podcast. You can click to listen to the podcast or simply read the easy to follow transcript below. Enjoy!
Podcast Interview:
RC: Hello everyone, this is Liz Harvey coming to you from our razorcast™ studios in New York City where we are dedicated to bringing you top quality advice from many of the leading expert professionals across the United States.
In today’s episode we are speaking with Dr. Anthony Manzella. Dr. Manzella is the director of Physical Therapy at Ferraro Spine & Rehabilitation which is a multi-specialty wellness facility serving northern NJ and the NY metro area for the past 18 years.
Dr. Anthony Manzella is a graduate of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He developed his passion for health and wellness by training and conditioning some of the area’s most successful middle school, high school and college athletes. Dr. Manzella is a Performance Enhancement Specialist and he routinely works with athletes as well as patients going through rehabilitation.
Dr. Manzella is widely considered to be one of the top doctors of physical therapy in the country and he is also a contributing member of our national network of industry professionals.
Today we are going to talk about a very important topic: Functional Physical Therapy- Our Unique Approach to Therapy at Ferraro Spine
RC: Hi Dr. Manzella, how are you today?
Dr. Anthony Manzella: Hi Liz, I’m doing great. How are you?
RC: I’m doing great, thanks for joining us.
Question 1: Can you please explain what Functional Physical Therapy is and what it entails?
RC: Can you please explain what functional physical therapy is and what it entails?
Dr. Anthony Manzella: Sure, functional physical therapy – I guess the best way to start is – it always starts with the individual first. So let me kind of bring you through the process as I think that may be the best way to go. When a patient comes in for treatment, they go through a thorough examination and really it is to understand their story and what their typical daily activities would look like. This gives us an idea of what movements and positions this person needs to perform each day. Now that we know what they need to do, we need to analyze their biomechanics and the way that they move so that we understand what they can do and try to bridge that gap. So really, functional physical therapy is to bridge that gap between what a patient can do currently and what they need to do and want to do to function optimally.
Question 2: How is this approach to therapy unique in the field of physical therapy?
RC: Okay and how is this approach to therapy unique in the field of physical therapy?
Dr. Anthony Manzella: Well I think this approach is very unique in the field of physical therapy. You know a lot of physical therapists talk about function but they don’t kind of practice what they preach unfortunately. So typically, what one would find in some clinics is that many physical therapists treat only the part that hurts. So give an example of say patellofemoral pain or knee pain. The therapist will look very isolated to just that region alone and this just doesn’t give us a lot of information of how the person functions in their daily life. We call it a ‘tunnel vision view’ of a patient’s injury and complaints.
You know, the difference is really that our system analyzes the person, the individual and so that gives us a much more holistic approach where we look deeper not only at their physical ailments of where they have pain but at the patient’s behavior associated with the injury such as stress, inactivity, nourishment, hydration, self-doubts, fears. That gives us more of a global view of what’s going on with the person so that we can help them both get better from this injury and avoid it from returning.
Question 3: Please describe your typical patient and the most common cases you work with.
RC: Okay and please describe your typical patient and the most common cases you work with.
Dr. Anthony Manzella: Well, no patient is typical. You know something that we pride ourselves in is we treat each person as a unique individual. You know, we could have ten patients with the same injury, with the same diagnosis and there could be ten different causes of what’s going on with that person. We’ve had the opportunity to see a wide variety of different patients from elderly patients with spinal stenosis who can’t bend down to pick up their grandkids to kids suffering sports trauma to repetitive injuries to both current and former professional athletes. We have the whole gamut of different population within the clinic. So although, we treat just about all aches and pains you know our specialty within this practice has always been spinal disc injuries. There, we have been the most successful with rehabilitating and preventing unnecessary surgeries, preventing the return of symptoms. And we do that with proper education and a proper home exercise program to prevent the stresses of their life from causing the injury to return.
Question 4: What advice do you have for someone suffering from an injury who might be delaying treatment or avoiding it?
RC: Alright and lastly, what advice do you have for someone suffering from an injury or someone who might be delaying treatment or simply avoiding it?
Dr. Anthony Manzella: I’m glad you asked that and this is probably one of the most important things that people can get out of this little podcast is prevention. You know prevention is always our primary goal. Preventing further injury or more invasive treatment. Something we always educate our patients on is seek treatment early so it can be prevented and recovered quickly. Many times we get patients that are too far gone and it takes a lot of extensive therapy to get them back to their health. So I would say, jump on it as early as you can because if you get it early then it becomes as I say a small problem is a small rehab bout, a large problem takes longer. So the earlier that you can get in, the better.
RC: Okay thank you so much Dr. Manzella. We know you are extremely busy so I just want to thank you for your time and help today.
Dr. Anthony Manzella: Great, thanks so much.
RC: And for our listeners across the country, if you are interested in speaking with Dr. Anthony Manzella, you can either go online at ferraro1.wpengine.com or call (973) 478-2212 to schedule an appointment.
On behalf of our entire team at razorcast™, we want to thank you for listening and we look forward to bringing you more top quality content from our country’s leading industry professionals.
Click here to receive more information & to schedule your consultation.
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