To begin, I'd like to thank the following people who have unwittingly helped me (and most of whom I've never met) begin this blogging adventure: Jonathan Bailor, Abel James, Dr. Andrei Ostrich, Eric Cressey, Steve Kamb, Craig Ballantyne, Karen Litzy, PT, Gray Cook, PT, one of my mentors, Rick Kring, PT, PhD, and my friend and fellow physical therapist and fitness enthusiast Kevin Ford, PT. As you will be able to tell from the following, the blog is appropriately titled as I go off on a train of thought which invariably leads to other trains of thought and then essentially morphs into a giant mess of seemingly random yet associated topics. So here goes.....
First, I suppose I should tell you a bit about myself. I'm a physical therapist currently living in Memphis, Tennessee. I am originally from Northern Virginia in Fairfax County but had been living in Richmond, VA for the past ten years I have been practicing as a physical therapist for over seven years since graduating from The Medical College of Virginia, part of Virginia Commonwealth University, and have a background in manual therapy, going through Residency and Fellowship training through the Ola Grimsby Institute. I have a passion for treating patients with various spinal conditions as I have been through a similar ordeal myself. In December of 2000, when I was 23, I underwent a laminectomy and fusion at L4/5 for spondylolisthesis. I basically live a first hand account of what's it like to go through this type of surgery and recovery process. I think it gives me more than just an academic understanding of a condition and helps me relate to patients on a deeper level. More on that later.
I also have a passion for health and fitness. I was a college athlete, playing soccer for two years at Mary Washington College, now the University of Mary Washington, or the "The U" as I call it. (No offense, Miami). I got into lifting weights when I was 20 and probably did it wrong for at least 10 years until I stumbled across some of the people mentioned above. But I came to realized one thing as I went through more years of training, reading, and listening. While so much of the information provided by people like Eric Cressey, Jonathan Bailor, Abel James, and Steve Kamb is excellent, well-informed and researched, it did not all apply to me. I have suffered various low back injuries and flare-ups after doing squats and dead lifts, and shoulder injuries from overhead presses and bench presses. Unfortunately, I do love bench pressing and dead lifting so I'm not about to give those up, but I need to do it smarter.
Speaking of smarter, much thanks to Jonathan Bailor and his "Smarter Science of Slim" as well as Abel James, the "Fat Burning Man" for what I would refer to as groundbreaking insights into health and nutrition. Nutrition is also a much overlooked aspect within physical therapy and medicine in general. For people who are either suffering from a chronic injury or who are fresh out of surgery, nutrition can play a very critical role in their healing and recovery and as physical therapists, we are really in the best position to do it since we spend more time with our patients and see them more often than most patients see other healthcare practitioners.
My vision is for this blog to be about more than just physical therapy. First of all, "physiotherapy" sounds so much better, I think the United States needs to adopt that title much like they have in Canada, Australia, and Europe. Anyway, as I struggle to keep up with the thoughts pouring out of my head, I want this to be a coming together of physiotherapy, health and nutrition and especially how they may relate to certain current events, and more importantly, how it may help others who might be thinking the same thing.
Sorry for the long-winded opener, but that's just how it might be.
Regards,
Andrew S. Rothschild
