 Sharon Sellers is an educated health-care consumer. Having torn her rotator cuff twice, she knows what makes an excellent physical therapy experience, because she finally found it at the National Rehabilitation Hospital.
A self-described “type A personality,” this 52-year-old healthcare administrator works out twice a week with a trainer, twice a week with her tennis team, plays competitive tennis on Saturdays, and in her spare time, jogs with her dog in Rock Creek Park.
Sharon first tore her rotator cuff playing tennis in 2006. She had surgery and began a physical therapy regimen. Four months later, an inattentive physical therapist asked her to lift weights that were too heavy, and she re-injured her shoulder. “At this facility, therapists were required to see five or six patients an hour. It was unusual to get more than 10 minutes of a therapist’s time. I asked my therapist to spend more time with me, and he was disciplined for spending too much time with one patient!”
After her second surgery, Sharon wasn’t going to trust just anyone. “I began visiting therapy centers and interviewing directors as soon as the pain medicine wore off,” she said. She began outpatient therapy with Chris Parker at NRH in February of 2007.
“Chris was great at talking me through each exercise and getting me to relax. My goal was to play tennis again, so he designed a program to help me do so,” says Sharon. “At each session, we discussed what was working, what hurt, how to get past the pain, and how to get the most out of my home exercises. And we laughed, too. We both were avid Redskin fans so we celebrated or cried together every Monday.”
In January of 2008, Sharon started practicing with her tennis team again. “Things are going very well!” she says. “I can now do 25 push-ups: the real kind that men do!” |