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The Fast Twitch physical therapy program, with its team of medical professionals and trainers, is beneficial for everyone from athletes recovering from a traumatic injury to the general public who are trying to improve their overall body function.
Let’s start by describing the main components of the Fast Twitch Physical Therapy Program and who the typical patients might be.
Chris Tuttle: Of course. So, we have a wide variety of people that come in and use the physical therapy program. When people think about physical therapy, they generally think of the old school methodology and the movements with it. For us, we want to incorporate, obviously very data-driven, understanding every detail about how the body works and the movements and the functionality of it and we use a lot of technology for that. We do multiple assessments and then we get hands on with the physical therapists.
I think what’s hard for some people to understand is that you don’t have to just be an athlete coming back from an ACL injury to do this. You don’t have to be just someone who might’ve been in a car accident to come in and use it. It’s finding small things that may be hindering your day-to-day living or your activity, because it’s something that is very fixable, but maybe just because of the way your body’s been moving or adapted to certain postures throughout the day, that you might need some work.
So we have a lot of athletes and a lot of return to play athletes that come in from one traumatic injury. However, a lot of the general population can really benefit from this because whether you’re someone that’s coming in with a sore upper back, when you come in and you’re working hands-on with our physical therapist, and then you’re going hands-on on the floor with one of our coaches, a lot of our coaches have the highest level of certification that you can get in training and conditioning, you’re getting two professionals working on you during one session. The smallest detail can change the way you feel on day to day living. I think that’s super important. And I think some people miss out on that, just because of what it appears to be from the outside. Again, you don’t have to be a high-level professional athlete to go in and get physical therapy if it’s not coming back from a surgery. So, getting people to understand just they come in and get your body feeling right. I think that’s a big piece of it.
What type of medical professionals are included in the physical therapy program and what functions do they serve?
Chris Tuttle: We have physical therapists, we have chiropractic, acupuncture, and massage therapy. We have many professionals that are hands-on based on what it is you need. And again, they’re all going to play a role because at some point or another, like myself, I get treated, I get chiropractic twice a week and I get acupuncture once a week. I’m not coming back from any major injury. I just do it because there’s little things in my day-to-day life that I need that for. So, as you’re going through physical therapy, there might be a day where your hips feel a little bit off and you need a hip adjustment from our chiropractic, which is available to you if you’re going through our program, which I think is a big, big piece. Again, because everyone used to say, the core is the engine to the body, when the new concept that’s come up is that it’s actually your hips because the slightest degree off your hips are, it’s going to mess with your spine.
Taking care of your body, using the professionals that we have, because they’re all available to you, I think that’s a big piece that we can offer to people and really help people in getting back to just feeling good. The way your body feels has a direct effect on your mental state as well.
What level of importance does sports nutrition have in the Fast Twitch Physical Therapy Program?
Chris Tuttle: I always say, if you’re not eating well, you’re going to be stepping over one hundred-dollar bills to pick up nickels. It starts there with the nutrition, sleep and hydration. You can get all the physical therapy and all the training in the world that you want. If you don’t start with the three basic things that you have control over, your body is never going to work optimally and function properly. So, we try to link that up. We have registered dieticians and we have nutrition coaches on staff that we like to link people up with. All of our verticals to getting you moving optimally need to align. So, we make sure your recovery, your training, your nutrition, your sleep is all working together to get you to where you want to be in feeling the way that you want to feel.
Can you describe the different therapies used such as massage or range of motion exercises?
Chris Tuttle: Yes, of course. A lot of people believe that massage therapy is just to go feel good, get away for the day, going to the spa. But that’s really not the case. We spend so much time during training and physical therapy that our muscles are in a contracted state and are limiting our range of motion. It’s very, very important to increase and lengthen the muscles because strength is really only beneficial if it can be used in a full and functional range of motion. So, breaking down tissue, lengthening the tissue and your muscles to be able to have that full range of motion is going to A, improve and increase the way you perform, whether it’s on the field and B, and increase and improve how you feel just day to day if you’re not an athlete. I try to get a massage once a month. I kind of get some crap from it sometimes from my friends, but I think it’s super important because of the way it allows your muscles and your body to really function the way that it’s supposed to if you’re in that contracted state a little bit too long.
Does the physical therapy program include an exercise plan for patients to do at home?
Chris Tuttle: Yes, of course. So, in a perfect world, we would love to have everyone stay in the facility and do all their training there. However, we know it’s not realistic. People are busy. We do offer in-home training that follows through with your program, through our coaching app that we use. Your workouts are uploaded. We can track what you’re doing. We have video accessibility and full communications through the app. So, you can take your training home with you. But again, in an ideal world, we have a program that people could come in and still do it with us. That would be ideal. However, again, we know that’s not realistic, so we’ve made it accessible to be able to do at home on your own, do it remote. We have a lot of people that travel for work, so we’ve made that available to them.
If you are interested in speaking with Chris Tuttle at Fast Twitch Saddle Brook please visit www.fasttwitch.com or call 201-490-8778 to schedule an appointment.
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