Community Columns 49
Ponte Vedra Recorder · October 29, 2015
Physical therapy with heart and soul: Part 2
A conversation
with Aaron Robles
Manual Physical Therapy is outside the
box of the traditional physical therapy
so many of us have experienced in our
lifetime. As I have mentioned, when I
needed a physical therapist to strengthen
me for the hip replacement surgery I am
facing, I knew from past experience that
I wanted a manual physical therapist. The
practice and the therapist I found was
John Goetz Physical Therapy in Jacksonville Beach, a franchise owned by Certified Functional Manual Therapist, Aaron
Robles.
The initial evaluation was long and
detailed. It involved filling out a questionnaire, and a hands-on process of Aaron
determining the condition of my 77 year
old body.
Sheila: “Why is the initial visit so
lengthy?”
Aaron: “It’s because we want to get
as complete a picture of the patient as
we can in order to make a plan of care.
Giving patients time to let us know the
background of their injury or, say, the onset of arthritis and how it affects their life
and what their goals are. Sometimes the
patient’s goals and mine aren’t the same,
being that the treatment can hurt or make
them sore. But I emphasize that it’s necessary for their ability to move. We do some
treatment on the first visit so they can
begin to get out of the cycle of pain and
dysfunction they’ve had to deal with.”
Sheila: “There are so many physical
therapists in Jacksonville. What makes
John Goetz in Jacksonville Beach different?”
Aaron:“The profession of Physical Therapy is geared to rehabilitation
- getting people back to their previous
function. In the past it used a lot of modalities - hot packs, ultrasound, electric
stimulation, and some exercise. More
recently we realized that our hands are
some of our best tools, and that manual
Turtle
Continued from 48
Director of the Whitney Laboratory,
Mark Martindale, thanked addressed the
crowd and thanked them for supporting
the sea turtle hospital.
“I’m constantly amazed at the dedication that the local community has for sea
turtles and for their natural world,” Martindale said.
“This opening of the sea turtle hospital here is an immense opportunity for
biologists like us to learn more about the
transmission of disease in the marine environment about immunology, about the
ecology and behavior of sea turtles and
therapy promotes
better function and
alignment of the
body for optimal
performance. That’s
what we dedicate
ourselves to in my
practice. The hands
on approach to
Sheila Weinstein
rehabilitation finds
Grow Old With Me
what segment of
the body, whether
joint or myofascial
or neural dysfunction, needs help moving
better. What better way to find solutions rather than just giving exercises to
strengthen? I don’t think you can really
understand what’s going on in a patient’s
body without putting your hands on
them.”
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