Dr. Kelsey Calhoun at Onward Physical Therapy in Montgomery is passionate about proactive care, especially for student athletes. She has a deep understanding of sports performance and gets athletes back to their sports as soon and as strong as possible. Dr. Calhoun answers our questions about treating and preventing sports injuries.
Q: What are the signs that a student athlete needs therapy?
A: "A red flag that your student athlete needs attention is if they're having frequent injuries or the same injuries, over and over. If they're often sore, or repeatedly mentioning a specific pain, they could use some injury prevention physical therapy. Also, if they're a multi-sport athlete or doing sports year-round, they're requiring a lot of their body. Onward can help."
Q: Which of Onward’s services are helpful for athletes that are trying to get back in the game?
A: "Onward provides dry needling with electrical stimulation to activate or relax muscles, release inflammation and generally help speed up the healing process. We also do cupping, or what we call myofascial decompression, to bring fresh blood to the injured area and release noxious, painful fluids out of the body. We also offer soft tissue massage, scraping, joint mobilization and manual activation.
"A lot of people will come in only after they've been hurt, but at Onward, we're really big on preventing the injury before it happens. We offer movement analysis to look at how joints are moving, evaluate mobility and conduct strength testing to improve form. None of us is perfect out there, so there’s always something we can work on and do better. Come in for a personalized plan."
Q: What do you enjoy about your job?
A: "I love being an athlete and have learned so much by being an athlete. More than just winning and losing, I've learned how to be a good teammate and how to be coachable. I truly went into physical therapy because I want to help athletes keep doing what they love to do."