When your mobility is limited or you are experiencing pain, your quality of life changes for the worse. Physical therapy can help you return to normal pain-free living. Accelerate the rate of this return to your everyday activities by seeing a Concierge Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), where 100% of your therapy is provided by a licensed, doctorally trained physical therapist who will customize your program to meet you where you are currently at and take you to where you want to go.
At DPT Sport Concierge, where the center of our geographical patient coverage area is in and around the Burr Ridge/Hinsdale area, Dr. Christine Klody is a compassionate and experienced DPT with a long-standing reputation for excellence in care in the community and is the preferred physical therapist of many physicians and their families. She utilizes her specialized knowledge of anatomy and movement science and the current research to perform a comprehensive evaluation of you as an individual. Did you know that the location of your symptoms is typically different from the location of the origin (or cause) of your symptoms? And that the cause of your symptoms can be very different from another patient with similar symptoms? Dr. Klody uses the information that she gathers from your evaluation and pairs it with your personal goals to create a safe and effective treatment plan to reduce your pain, restore your mobility, and help you be the best version of yourself. Dr. Klody is well versed in treating both acute and chronic injuries/conditions.
Physical therapy is a successful, and proven in the research, way to treat symptoms or mobility problems conservatively often without the need for expensive orthopedic surgeries or never-ending maintenance treatments by chiropractic practitioners. Dr. Klody is also well versed in post-surgical rehabilitation following procedures such as total joint replacements and ligamentous repairs and can help you return to an active, physical lifestyle safely and quickly.
Our first goal following examination and assessment is to reduce your pain and any other physical symptoms you may be experiencing such as swelling or decreased joint range of motion. Our therapy often involves a mixture of hands-on manual techniques, therapeutic exercises, movement retraining, muscle activation retraining, and patient education including some tips and tricks to make your daily activities easier. We then work with you to build a solid foundation of stability and mobility to prevent these symptoms from returning in the future. Upon discharge, not only will you be feeling better, we make sure you understand the ins and outs of your customized home exercise program (complete with lifetime access to our private client portal with videos and instructions for your custom exercises) so that you can soar to new levels that you never knew were achievable. Dr. Klody also offers customized MVP fitness training should you decide to continue your "new you" journey following the completion of your rehab.
Sports Injury Rehabilitation
Using her extensive knowledge of sport biomechanics with how the body works, Dr. Klody will tailor a treatment plan aimed at helping you regain your strength, mobility, coordination, and power.
Following the combination of manual therapy techniques and therapeutic strength and conditioning exercises, Christine will design a customized return to sport progression program just for you, to get you back out on the court/field as quickly as possible and once back, prevent reoccurrence of your injury.
Together we can team up to help you recover from your current injury quickly and safely while elevating your level of play to achieve new, higher levels of sports performance in your game.
Pre- and Post-Surgical Rehabilitation
Research supports a program of physical therapy both before (“pre-hab”) and after surgeries such as total joint replacements and ligamentous repairs (i.e., rotator cuff repairs, ACL reconstructions). Knowing what will happen and understanding immediate post-surgical care as well as the goals of rehab are paramount in starting a successful post-surgical rehabilitation day one. In addition, taking part in pre-surgical physical therapy can bring your swelling down and improve your joint range of motion and muscle strength so that you begin your post-surgical rehab at a higher baseline; this typically leads to a shorter length and more successful post-surgical rehabilitation.
After surgery, the goal is to hasten healing time and help you restore complete mobility. Working closely with any recommendations that your surgeon may have, we will implement an evidence-based treatment program to reduce swelling and pain and help set you on a path to return you to all of your favorite activities.
In addition to your Concierge treatment sessions, Dr. Klody will set you up in our custom client portal (which is smart device user friendly) with a home exercise program (HEP) specifically designed for you to speed up your recovery and get you back to what you love doing as quickly as possible. She goes to great lengths to ensure you fully understand the importance of your HEP ("the why") as well as how to properly execute your exercises, as improper form can activate the wrong muscles or stretch the wrong joints, making all of your hard work unfruitful.
Fall Prevention and Balance Training
The fear of falling is a significant yet often unspoken worry of individuals as they age. Because our bones can become more brittle as we age and they are slower to heal, a bad fall can dramatically change our ability to live an active lifestyle and send you into a downward health spiral.
Whether you fall on a regular basis or have never had an incident but are concerned about falling, Dr. Klody will perform a comprehensive assessment including both the tests vetted by the CDC as the gold standard for determining fall risk paired with her own custom fall and balance evaluation to determine your level of fall risk. She will then design a customized balance training program focused on helping you strengthen your muscles, improve your balance, enhance your flexibility and increase your joint range of motion. All of these target areas combined will help decrease your fall risk as well as lower the likelihood of injury should a loss of balance occur.
Your treatment plan will include comprehensive education including possible home modification suggestions and new, safer ways to move and get around aimed at lessening your risk of falling. She will also evaluate your need for assistive devices and any other special equipment that might be helpful in and around your house. This Concierge therapy right at your door makes this customized assessment of your environment and needs ideal that in a traditional setting would not be possible.
Orthopedic manual therapy is typically included as a part of your physical therapy program. This involves either one-on-one manual therapy techniques focused on your joints and/or muscles, as well as other tissues and nerves. Dr. Klody is specially trained in the use of IASTM (Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization, i.e., Hawk Grips, Graston) as an adjunct manual technique to help treat soft tissue dysfunction and lay the foundation to improve inefficient and problematic movement patterns. Dr. Klody's background includes teaching seminars and training other doctoral clinicians around the state in the use of IASTM.
While our manual techniques are only one piece of the puzzle in your rehab plan, these gentle and pain-free techniques can be very effective at reducing muscle tightness, improving joint range of motion, and restoring function. We tailor our choice of manual techniques to your body and include you in goal setting.