Pursue Physical Therapy & Performance Training — Attraction in Verona

I had the privilege of completing my third clinical affiliation at Pursue Physical Therapy and Performance Training this past Spring and the knowledge and experience I received while being in the clinic has been invaluable as a new grad physical therapist. To begin, the passion and extent of understanding that Brandon Cruz has for the field physical therapy is unmatched. Brandon mentors his students in way that simplifies the treatment approach and clearly delineates the optimal plan of care for patients. Aside from the one on one, evidenced based, hands on approach I had adopted from Brandon and Pursue PT, I was also educated on the subjective side of patient care. The art of listening to the patients’ values and circumstances is heavily engrained in the culture of Pursue PT, as they understand that every patient is different and has different experiences, which influence their pain and dysfunction.

Personally, during my clinical affiliation, I had the pleasure of mentorship from Allan, Marta, and Brandon. Each therapist influenced me and my treatment approach in various ways while possessing similar values and beliefs about how to treat patients in the ideal manner. Allan showed me the extent of influence the therapist’s attitude has on patient care. He is able to uplift everyone in room and make others around him feel important and confident in their abilities, whether patient or doctoral intern. Marta exemplified the benefit of being an authentic and compassionate physical therapist. She is able to make everyone around feel comfortable and confident in themselves, allowing areas of improvement to be understood without the feeling inferioriority. Last but not least, Shannon, the patient coordinator, never hesitates to provide honest feedback on manual therapy techniques to ensure the techniques are effective and comfortable to the patient.

In summary, the culture of Pursue PT is one of integrity, compassion, and self-overcoming. Each member of the team want their doctoral interns and clients to become the best version of themselves and strives to keep those who they influence on the line between comfort and discomfort, where true growth takes place. Furthermore, each of the clinicians are constantly working to become better clinicians to better those around them, as well as the profession of Physical Therapy. If you are seeking a place to accomplish your goals, whether you are a client or student, Pursue PT is the place and I am very grateful for the bonds I have made and the influence they...

Staff presented a conference worthy class!

Review: I came to Pursue PT to attend an educational seminar on how to evaluate and treat concussions. The class was engaging, organized, and practical. I came in with a general knowledge of concussion evaluation and triage; I left with the ability to better recognize concussion (and concussion-related) symptoms and the tools to manage my athletes for the long game.

Comprehensively, I was impressed by the content, the facility, and the facilitators. Dr. Brandon Cruz did a great job of balancing theory and practical information. The problem with most big-name conferences and CEU's is that I am left to figure out how to decipher a bunch of PowerPoints. In those cases, I just don't have enough time and I end up resorting to my default techniques. But, a few days after this class I was able to instantly match Dr. Cruz's techniques to a couple of my athlete's experiences. Tried some of the exercises on my athletes and they responded well! I also liked how clearly the content and objective were packaged. It made it easy for me to share education and explain the "backdoor" goal (trying not to spoil the plot) without much client confusion.

I enjoyed the facility the class was in, Pursue Physical Therapy, which I believe is Dr. Cruz's private practice. His clinic was spacious, well-equipped, and clean (vital in these times). You can tell that his practice is what he preaches. My suggestion here would be to invest in a bigger display screen for future classes.

Finally, the facilitators, Dr. Anisha Varghese and Dr. Cruz, did a phenomenal job with pacing, instruction, and follow-up. I appreciate that we quickly went through the assessments and background information but slowed it down for the manual practice, which is my preference. Kudos to Dr. Varghese for using her background as both an ATC and DPT to adjust the pace. Between Dr. Varghese and Dr. Cruz, there were a lot of options and opportunities to get comfortable with the techniques. Finally, Dr. Varghese did a great job of following up and making sure I had everything I needed before and after the class. With her service, I couldn't drop the ball even if I wanted to.

Overall,...

In September of 2017 after suffering a major loss of strength in the toes of my right foot, I had a microdiscectomy (back surgery).

The surgery was NOT a success and my foot was still mostly useless. My back was also in extreme pain.

A few months after surgery, in a state of depression over the whole thing and heading towards a second back surgery, I let myself be talked in to Physical Therapy. My sister, who works in a related field, told me that I have to travel the 25 minutes each way to use Brandon Cruz as a therapist.

Skeptical and not exactly wishing to drive so far each way, I went to Brandon.

And that's where everything changed for me.

Over the course of 3 or 4 months Brandon changed my life.

I'm not exaggerating. He really changed my life.

First, he identified me as a bit of a head-case and spent a lot of time talking to me and getting rid of my preconceived notions of what was really going on in my back. He convinced me to stop being scared every time I felt something and to stop living my life tensed up and exacerbating my issues subconsciously.

Second, he worked with me on core exercises until I felt strong enough to move on to other regular exercises. He taught me and motivated me and did both with extreme professionalism.

Ultimately, much to my surprise (I'm usually a big skeptic) my foot and leg and back had gotten close to how I was pre-incident.

Since then, I've walked around Disney World with my family for 6 hours straight...no issues.

I've walked around for work daily...very little tiredness or weakness.

I lift up my kids everyday and do so without fear of my back doing something horrible.

I'd say I'm 90% of my former self...and I was probably 30% when I first went to Brandon.

I know this is a long review, but I cannot stress enough how instrumental Brandon was in my recovery and I'm very thankful to him.

I will NOT be having a second back surgery!

If you're having issues like I did and you're down in the dumps, do yourself a favor and go try out Brandon before you consider any surgery or other physical therapists. I'm pretty confident you will be happy with the...