We recently took our young son to the Maryland Zoo. Our little bambino loves animals, as most young children do, and we were excited for him to see his first real life lion, elephant, and giraffe.
The outing didn’t disappoint as most of the animals were out and about in beautiful spring weather. The highlight of the trip were two polar bears swimming laps and diving off the rocks.
Our son loved the outing and was happily making elephant and lion noises the rest of the day.
The trip had an unexpected outcome too as it triggered my physical therapy brain to start analyzing the movement of all these different animals.
It was amazing to see the different way that these animals move and adapt to their environment. From the long muscular necks of the giraffes to the incredibly nimble swimming polar bears, it got me thinking how the animals are all perfectly shaped to their place in the world.
I then started reflecting on our abilities as humans compared to our animal counterparts.
As humans, I must say that we are the most amazing movers out there. Our bodies have the ability to adapt to such a wide variety of tasks and environments that it is truly incredible.
Who else in the animal kingdom could take a swim in the morning, rock climb during the day and play a lacrosse game at night?…. No one, not a single animal, besides humans, have the ability to be so versatile in the activities that we do.
That versatility is what makes our abilities so amazing and what makes our day as physical therapists so interesting. We get to work with people who love all different types of activities.
From a physical therapy perspective every activity has its own unique demands on the body and should be met with a unique approach.
There are no one size fits all exercises or treatments for everyone out there. Every person and activity might require a uniquely different approach.
That is why our patients see us, for a uniquely individual approach, tailored for their body, their activities, and their goals.
We aren’t going to give a stock handout of exercises and tell you to go do them. We aren’t going to leave you alone to kick around on some machines. We aren’t going to show you an exercise, cut you loose to do it yourself and then go catch up on notes from earlier in the day.
We aren’t going to do any of that. We are going to develop a treatment plan based entirely on your goals and needs and be there one-on-one every step of the way to make sure you succeed.