Our Approach
It’s About the Skills: PT Motion Lab is the brainchild of its founder Jim Rivard. With over 30 years of clinical mastery of orthopedic manual physical therapy and exercise rehabilitation, Jim has brought the same innovation to Preventative and Performance as he did to Founding MTI Physical Therapy as a premier teaching and training center for orthopedic manual physical therapy. Our physical therapy staff have residency and fellowship training consistent with making them movement experts. There is so much more to movement than just regular training and exercise. We understand both the hardware and software that makes your machine run, and run well. Match your skills with our movement experts.
It’s About the Cause: While traditional medicine waits for pathology to occur, we focus on the cause of lowered performance and injury, as well as an eye toward injury prevention. Tissue breakdown and pain is often the symptom of a deeper biomechanical impairment involving both the hardware (joints and muscles) and software (nervous system). Testing joint motion and mobility of the nervous system is a foundational movement analysis step that is not performed in the athletic training and coaching worlds. Our Hardware Analysis involves a hands-on approach to properly diagnose joints that move too little or too much and how this informs the rehabilitation and training program. Our Software analysis not only looks at muscle strength and coordination but also the deeper timing and sequencing of muscle activation that is disrupted with even minor injuries. The Software and Hardware approach clears you to return to a level to perform your best in practice and competition. You can only be your best by taking these steps first.
It’s About Data and Specificity: Specific tests and measures provide data that leads to specific interventions, specific exercise design and specific dosage. Stop guessing, using a protocol or searching the internet. Use data from testing your joints and muscles, measuring your movement and performance, to create a customized rehabilitation and training program. If you are coming off an injury, the prevention goal is to make you better than you were before the injury. If you are reaching for your personal best, the goal is to identify and destroy any impairment that is in your way.
It’s About the Equipment: Tissue repair training and returning from injury training requires specific therapeutic equipment to safely train and obtain the results you want. Rubber bands come in pretty colors and are easy to use but they do not train tissue properly for repair, train coordination or provide isotonic resistance throughout the entire range. Therapeutic pulley systems provide advanced exercise design and dosage options for almost all your needs. Balance training equipment can improve your stability whether affected by concussion, vestibular system impairment, ocular impairment or lower quarter joint injury. Blood Flow Restriction training equipment allows you to enhance tissue repair and improve muscle hypertrophy and strength at very low load training. Also, learn how to best move your training program into the equipment you have available.
It’s About You: Too often we see athletes struggle to return to the sport they love, despite having gone through traditional therapies. Others have been told by the medical field that being active is no longer an option due to tissue injuries or degenerative changes. Our beliefs and experiences are different. Both research and our experience demonstrates that when challenged the right way, our bodies are capable of a life of active movement. Our intentional focus on addressing both the hardware and software issues that can reduce injuries risk and improve performance can defy conventional therapies and provide a long-lasting benefit for individuals willing to invest in themselves and do the work.