Physical Therapy after surgery: Just the right amount of encouragement and a little push

"Three years ago, I crashed my bike in the mountains of Greece and sustained a broken ankle with multiple tendon injuries and tears, including a torn Achilles tendon. I was flown to Athens for surgery and had several more surgeries to have it repaired at Emory University Hospital and Emory Crawford Long Hospital when I returned to Atlanta. Dr. Sam Labib performed the surgeries and he was outstanding. The surgeries left me fairly incapacitated so I started going to rehab at the Emory Sports Medicine Center. Emory's staff Physical Therapist, Chip Hewgley, my trainer, was really excellent. They were very compassionate, helpful and attentive with just the right mix of encouragement and a little push to make sure you do a little bit more than you did yesterday. I have a busy professional schedule and they could accommodate me at convenient times. I also found the place to be very easy to get to and easy to get in and out of. The whole experience was gratifying. It really is a pick me up to be able to exercise after you've been ill for a while. After you're injured, it's hard to build back strength on your own. It helps to have somebody with expertise about how to begin to build strength back without re-injuring yourself. Almost everybody would benefit from that kind of therapy. They worked on me three times a week and gave me a series of exercises. If you do the wrong kind of exercise after an injury, you can aggravate the injury, slow the progress and have a rapid setback. Having somebody who knows exactly how to begin an exercise program, what exercises to add at the proper time, how much weight to use and how much time you should spend on each exercise, is very important."

David Harrison, M.D.
The Emory Clinic
Professor of Medicine at Emory University
Director, Division of Cardiology