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Pinnacle Physical Therapy: Helping you reach your peak in health
Shelley Gillespie
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Feeling dizzy? Is the room spinning?
Human bodies are amazing, functional systems. When things go wrong, what seems like a simple thing can sometimes cause misery and painful repercussions.
At Pinnacle Physical Therapy in Maricopa, licensed and experienced therapists Dr. Tom Spray and Mike Hacker are available every weekday to help patients alleviate pain and put people on the road to recovery. They treat a wide range of conditions including dizziness, lymphedema (swelling due to lymphatic gland problems), sports and repetitive motion injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, back, neck, and on-the-job injuries, and even a bad golf swing!
If someone is experiencing dizziness, the treatment can be as simple as one to two sessions for positional vertigo, a common ailment.
Lymphedema, however, can require lifelong treatment that initially would require several office visits. The lymph system is responsible for removing toxins and excess fluids from the body. If it is not functioning properly, massive swelling – lymphedema -- can result. Once the condition, which can result from lymph node removal from breast cancer surgery, birth malfunctions, or other injuries is diagnosed, patients are given manual lymphatic drainage treatments, bandaged to move the swelling, and shown exercise and self-management procedures. Pressure bandages are specially fitted, so a patient might receive a form-fitting bandage to keep the condition in check, along with self-management procedures.
If a golf swing has become painful, Dr. Spray or Mike Hacker can treat the repetitive motion injury, which has likely resulted from poor body mechanics or over use. Their results for injured muscles due to this and other sports-related injuries can put a patient back on the course, field, or court.
How does the process work?
Most patients come to Pinnacle Physical Therapy from a doctor’s referral. However, they can take self-referrals and cover all medical plans except for TRICARE Prime. Although Pinnacle can sometimes treat a walk-in patient in the same day, most patients schedule an appointment and are seen within a few days.
Patients undergo a full initial evaluation to determine pain, range of motion, strength, and background information.
Once the evaluation is complete, patients are provided with stretching and other exercises. Doctors have usually determined how often they think patients should be seeing Pinnacle’s staff, usually a number of times per week for a limited number of weeks.
Indeed, where many medical specialties seem to prescribe prolonged treatment, both Spray and Hacker say, “We try to get rid of our patients,” to make them functional and self-sufficient.
Credentials, please
Dr. Tom Spray and Mike Hacker have worked together previously at Good Samaritan Hospital for a total of seven years.
Tom Spray has a Ph.D. in Physical Therapy and state licensure, plus additional experience working at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and Baylor Medical Center in Texas.
Mike Hacker, who just joined Pinnacle’s staff in January, has a BS degree in occupational therapy and state licensure, as well as intense extended training in lymphedema treatment from the Vodder School. He has 12 years of occupational therapy experience. Hacker is one of only about 8-10 lymphedema treatments specialists in the Phoenix area, and the first in Maricopa.
Both therapists are golfers and good friends who even share the same birthday, January 27.
See Pinnacle if you have…
Low back and neck pain, sports and shoulder injuries, post-surgical rehabilitation needs, vertigo and balance problems, sciatica, knee and ankle injuries, and many other conditions are treated by Spray and Hacker at Pinnacle Physical Therapy. Their patients have ranged in age from 10 months to 95 years of age.
Pinnacle Physical Therapy is located at 21300 N. John Wayne Parkway, Suite 107, in Maricopa, south of Ace Hardware. Hours are 7:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M. on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and 7:00 A.M. to Noon on Wednesday and Friday. Call for appointments and talk with their friendly staff at (520) 868-6100.
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Shelley Gillespie / CopaNews.com
Occupational therapist Mike Hacker demonstrates a tool they use to assist golfers regain their swing after injuries as physical therapist Dr. Tom Spray watches.
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