Kim Nartker is passionate about pain—specifically keeping her clients from experiencing it. As the owner of Stretch Physical Therapy and Total Wellness in West Chester, she observed repeat injuries to athletes-in-training and weekend warriors that would go hard at their sports. Stretch and Recover, launching this month within her therapy practice, is Kim’s caring answer to her patients’ pain.
“Stretch Physical Therapy is for rehabilitation and to help people avoid medications, injections and surgery,” Kim explains. “Stretch and Recover is all about muscle recovery and helping people that are active stay active. It’s for people that push hard and work out daily and need to recover fast: your weekend warriors, CrossFit enthusiasts, bikers, golfers, dancers, runners and we even have some folks in ninja warrior training.”
Spurred by her clients’ frustration as they got sidelined by injuries, Kim consulted nationwide experts to mine cutting-edge methods to curtail athletes’ downtimes due to injury. She hand-picked the latest treatments that offer maximum results in minimal time. Members of the Stretch and Recover program benefit from a menu of high-tech methods designed to prevent injury and deliver quick recovery from tough practice schedules, intense workout goals and taxing sports seasons.
Each month, Stretch and Recover members have a choice of a main session—including one mobility session, two one-on-one stretching sessions or three Blood Flow Restriction training sessions—in addition to up to 20 recovery treatments, including laser, ice and recovery sessions for arms, hips or legs. Additional services are also available to members at a discounted price, offering the option to mix-and-match supportive therapies to meet the needs of each member.
“This is not your typical program,” Kim explains. “It’s different from anything else happening around here or anywhere, really. We don’t do traditional physical therapies. We are more hands-on and work to get to the root of the problems so we can keep people moving.”
Stretch and Recover assigns each athlete a team of specialist trainers, bridging the gaps of care plans that generally treat the pain, but don’t get to the root problem and stop it from occurring. With this kind of care, competitors can stay in motion with nothing to hold them back. Member athletes can push harder and perform at the top of their game without the risk of pain.
“Competitors perform at their peak with Stretch and Recover,” Kim says. “If you are out there competing every day, these products are going to be a quick in-and-out to help you move further and push past limits.”
“Why can’t the common person have the same opportunities our collegiate athletes have?” asks Kim. “Our local athletes are frustrated because they are working so hard on their bodies every single day, and all they want to do is improve their performance and they can’t seem to do it. All of us deserve this kind of help,” she adds.
As a busy mother, grandmother, physical therapy assistant and business owner, Kim knows well the value of time.
“Under recovery care, people don’t have to skip any days in between workouts,” she says. “They can jump back in the very next day, at the same intensity, without the pain.”
“Stretch and Recovery is a commitment to yourself. Set yourself up for success for the new year,” Kim says. “We can get you back to doing those things you want to do.”
Stretch and Recover, inside Stretch Physical Therapy and Total Wellness, 4851 Wunnenberg Way, Suite D, West Chester. 513.874.8800. StretchandRecover.com
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Step Up Your Game
Stay off the sidelines with these four features available to Stretch and Recover members:
Assisted Stretching
Take your post-workout stretches to the next level with hands-on service from trained specialists. The assisted stretching technique targets tightness to improve mobility, allowing athletes to bend freely without the nagging tenderness of overworked muscles. Therapists identify trouble spots and isolate and manipulate deep tissues to eliminate pain.
Deep Thermal Laser Sessions
Do you know that heavy, achy feeling you get after an intense workout? Deep thermal lasers can be used either before or after training to prevent the muscle soreness associated with vigorous exercise. Lasers emit soothing heat and stimulate tissues at the cellular level, regenerating healthy tissues, promoting recovery and preventing pain. Lasers are fast, effective and feel good.
Muscle Recovery Boots and Sleeves
Circulation and inflammation issues can slow down even the best competitors. NormaTec Recovery Boots and Sleeves wrap trouble spots like legs, knees, shoulders and elbows with healing pressure that enhances circulation. As blood flow increases, it flushes out toxins and revives exhausted tissues, improving mobility and speeding recovery. With just a few minutes of treatment, recovery boots and sleeves eliminate swollen and throbbing muscles.
Discounted Services
In addition to the regular, monthly treatments offered to its members, Stretch and Recover includes unlimited discounted services of supportive therapies, ranging from emergency visits to traditional physical therapy exercises, from additional sessions of the techniques featured above to the ancient therapy of cupping (shown on the left). Made popular by stars like Michael Phelps and Gwyneth Paltrow, cupping is designed to create suction to decrease pain, tension and inflammation by increasing blood flow, especially to deep-tissue areas.