As winter adventures turn into summer ones, the owners and physical therapists at Sparq Physical Therapy in Castle Rock provide expert advice for managing sore muscles and injuries.
"Being in Colorado, there is something for every season and most people partake," explains Kristine Godsil, co-owner of Sparq and physical therapist specializing in pelvic floor, pediatrics, and orthopedic conditions.
Colorado's glorious setting invites adventure, but injuries often occur while snowboarding and skiing in the winter and hiking and biking in the summer.
"In our winter sport set of activities that come with Colorado, like skiing and snowboarding, I certainly see concussions from those injuries," says Kelsy Rayl, co-owner of Sparq and concussion, vestibular, and orthopedic specialist. "I would say more commonly knees and shoulders, just how they fall and catch themselves. I think hiking is probably more of just an overuse injury."
"And I would say," Kristine chimes in, "anybody who does prolonged activity, whatever their weak point is, gets revealed."
That's where Kelsy and Kristine, who hold Doctorates of Physical Therapy, bring their knowledge to assess each patient's problem areas and work to provide individualized therapy to help them recover. At Sparq, they ensure they treat the person and not the injury.
Kelsy explains their patient-first philosophy: "We were really intentional about how we built our business to make sure we could build time in for people and treat people as a person instead of just a number that came through."
She continues by adding, "I think our specialities too, there are a lot of times that those niches are very vulnerable, like from a pelvic floor standpoint, of course it's very intimate, and from a concussion standpoint, sometimes they lose a lot of sense of pieces of their identity. So, making them feel comfortable and sharing what works to help them along the way was a big part of our start."
Now in business for almost three years, Kelsy and Kristine have helped many people recover from adventure-related injuries. When PT isn't required, but muscles are aching, they have foolproof guidance on managing that pain.
"Anytime you do a weekend activity or something you don't do regularly and you're doing it for a long period, you can always hedge your bets on things like managing your inflammation with ice or over-the-counter medication options, like getting ahead of that, can be useful," Kristine advises.
She explains, "I think a big misnomer of some of the gentle, mobility stuff, especially afterwards, if something is cranky, more often than not, a dynamic stretch or working through it so it's nice even motions is better than static."
Both women stress how useful massage guns are and how tennis balls penetrate hard-to-reach areas to relieve pain. Speaking of tennis balls, Bowie, their red golden retriever patient liaison, greets patients with a tail wag to ease anxiety and promote the patient-first experience. Their space feels open, comfortable, and trusting, which helps patients struggling with pain to feel safe.
"We want to create this environment where you feel comfortable telling us what went well and what didn't," Kelsy says. "That way we can keep adjusting."
Adhering to Kelsy and Kristine's advice ensures people enjoy their summer adventures. Still, if injury should occur, they are ready to guide patients back to health with personalized care, the Sparq way.
"We want to create this environment where you feel comfortable telling us what went well and what didn't."