OptimisSportPT

The OptimisSportPT’Wellness’and Performance Center opened November 14 in the Chase Bank Building at Sunset Boulevard and La Cruz Drive. Located between Village Photo and the European Shoe Repair store, facing the public parking lot, the Center moved into a store space that had been empty for years. The room was rebuilt to include an exercise room, a physical exam room and a handicapped-accessible shower/bathroom. Most of the Center’s early clients have been referred by doctors, or have been sent by sports clubs that are seeking enhanced and safer participation by their athletes. The Center offers a new approach to physical’therapy by going beyond’traditional’rehabilitation from injuries and illness to wellness programs that include injury prevention, sports’performance enhancement for youth, adults and masters, and athletic’readiness’tests. OptimisSportPT also specializes in weight management, including nutrition’counseling and training. ‘ ‘ ‘   ’Traditionally, physical’therapists’stay’within the confines of rehab and recovery, which we offer,’ said Tina’Geller,’the Center’s director of physical therapy’and a world-class triathlete in her age group (35-39). ‘[But] we also work with injury prevention in sports.’ Shoulder injuries are common in swimmers and Geller works with several Team Santa Monica athletes to help prevent these injuries from recurring’or happening in the first place. This prevention is one of OptimisSportPT’s goals. Additionally, the therapy is sport- and position-specific. For example, a key physical need for a soccer player is lateral movement, which is dependent on strength and flexibility. Therapists will evaluate a player and then make suggestions for ways to strengthen the weak areas, which will help prevent injuries.   ’Of course, the exercises we give a goalie would be much different than [those for] a field player,’ Geller noted. OptimisSportPT offers sport-training tests to’all’levels’of athletes, including local youth teams’and leagues, to indicate an’athlete’s physical strengths and weakness and address’any’potential’risk for injury. The complimentary tests can be conducted on the field at a school or at the Center. ‘   ’By’offering’these additional services’and supplying clients with our evidence-based tools and programs,’we provide multiple options’for healthy’and active lifestyles,’ Geller said.   The Center’s weight-management program guides clients through’the three key’components for’success: increased movement, metabolic’balance’and sustained motivation. ‘   By’incorporating strength and flexibility assessments,’nutrition’planning with’a staff registered dietitian, and physical activities including Spinning and yoga, clients learn healthy behaviors that help them achieve weight-loss success. Clients also have online access to their workouts, meal plans and educational information.   ’We want to promote healthy and active lifestyles because obesity is costing the country lots of money,’ said David Hwang, a 13-year-resident of Pacific Palisades and the company’s director of marketing.   The Center also works with seniors to give them exercises to maintain strength and keep them active, which is important for health and longevity.’   ’OptimisSportPT programs are designed and guided for each patient by respected medical professionals to address current conditions, set personal goals and monitor progress,’ said Dr. Joe Godgesone, one of’the Center’s physical therapists and the clinical practice guidelines coordinator for the orthopedic’section’of the’American’Physical Therapy Association.   ’The Center is doing a’great job of’bridging the gap between the physician, who likely does not have time to guide a patient’s daily workout routine, and the variety of fitness trainers’who might not’have this high level of medical expertise’to guide the client’s healthcare,’ said longtime resident and family physician Richard Johnson, a member of the nearby Pacific Palisades Medical Group. ‘This group offers patients the means to become healthier through safe and effective exercise, while providing their’physicians a way to collaborate in their progress.’   This is the first clinic for OptimistSportPT, with plans to open others in the future.   Call (310) 573-9340 or visit www.optimissportpt.com. ‘