Age 83 and Ready to Run Again
Summit Physical Therapy helps active patient with pain so he can enjoy life again.
By: Carol Beck-Round | Category: Health & Fitness | Issue: February 2014
Summit Physical Therapy DPT Cathey Bowling assists Bill Salwaechter with the exercises that helped alleviate his pain and improve his strength so he could get back to his active lifestyle. At 83, Salwaechter is planning to do the 2014 Tulsa Run.
At 83, Bill Salwaechter is enjoying life again. Thanks to Summit Physical Therapy, Salwaechter has plans to do the 2014 Tulsa Run, a 15K or 9.3 miles. “I don’t just run it,” he says, “I do it to have a good time. I make it an event.”
While the 83-year-old has always been active – and has participated in the Tulsa Run before – the last time he ran was at the age of 70. In July 2012, he had replacement surgery on his left knee. “I set a goal in 2013 to do the Tulsa Run,” he says. “My surgery had gone perfectly and I started light training.”
However, about five weeks into his training, Salwaechter began feeling a perpetual discomfort in his right thigh. “It was like a cramp or a Charlie horse,” he adds. “I can stand a little discomfort but this hurt. It took me out of the training process.”
While he still had some discomfort, he didn’t make an appointment to see his primary care physician until after he tripped and fell while descending a couple of steps at a restaurant. “The pain became so significant,” he says, “that I couldn’t sleep.”
With leg cramps and weakness in both legs, Salwaechter couldn’t sit very long and had to avoid stairs. “My social life was also affected,” he adds. “I don’t miss a Claremore High School girls’ basketball game and I love other sporting events, but the pain was disrupting that.”
After Salwaechter’s doctor X-rayed his back, he suggested physical therapy. "I told him I wanted to go to Summit. I trust the therapists and staff."
Cathey Bowling, DPT at Summit, began working with Salwaechter in October of last year. Although his insurance company approved him for 12 sessions, he only needed eight before he was back to his active lifestyle, attending Zebra basketball games, dancing with his daughter at Cain’s Ballroom and preparing for the upcoming Tulsa Run.
“When I started working with Bill, his pain level was rated 7 on a scale of 10,” says Bowling. “By the time we were finished, his pain was zero.”
Bowling and PTA Chris Whisenhunt used an individualized plan – as they do with all patients – to help Salwaechter decrease his pain and improve his strength. “We took a manual approach including stretching as well as other hands-on techniques,” says Bowling. “We also got him started on an exercise program and he continued progressing.”
Bowling credits Salwaechter’s success to his hard work and consistency with the program. “He didn’t miss an appointment and he followed my recommendations by doing his exercises at home. Because of that I was able to progress his exercises appropriately in conjunction with his manual therapy treatments here at Summit.”
After only three visits to Summit, Salwaechter felt much better. “Although I could feel improvement after the first session, by the eighth session I was 100 percent pain free. I would highly recommend Summit Physical Therapy to anyone,” he adds. “I have total confidence in the therapists and staff, and I always looked forward to every visit. I love the people here.”
Salwaechter loves life, loves people. “Now thanks to Summit, I enjoy it more than I did six months ago.”
For more information, contact
Summit Physical Therapy
1071 W. Blue Starr Dr., Ste. 105Claremore, OK 74017(918) 342-3800
About Author Carol Beck-Round
After 30 years in public school education, Carol Round retired and moved from Grand Lake to Claremore, Oklahoma in 2005, where she writes a weekly faith-based column which runs in 14 Oklahoma newspapers as well as several national and international publications. Three volumes of her columns have been compiled into collections: A Matter of Faith, Faith Matters and by FAITH alone. She has also written Journaling with Jesus: How to Draw Closer to God and a companion workbook, The 40-Day Challenge. This past year she has written three children’s books, a series called Nana’s 3 Jars, to teach children about the value of giving, saving and spending money. All of Carol’s books are available through Amazon. In addition to writing her weekly column, authoring books and speaking to women’s groups, she writes for Value News. She also blogs regularly at www.carolaround.com. When she is not writing or speaking, she loves spending time with her three grandchildren, working in her flowerbeds, shooting photos, volunteering at her church or going on mission trips overseas, and hiking. She is also an avid reader and loves working crosswords and trying to solve Sudoku puzzles.
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