What can I say about Vivian? She is not your typical physical therapist. I came to Vivian several months ago with a 7+ year history of low back pain, and more recent onset of shoulder pain. My back had troubled me for years with ever-changing pain: sometimes I’d feel pain at my SI joint on the right, then on the left, some days I would feel it deep on my right low-back, and other days on the left. About one year ago after returning back to school (going from an active lifestyle to sitting 8 hours per day) I herniated a disc in my lumbar spine. And most recently I was getting shoulder pain with elevation. I felt like I was beginning to fall apart, and I am only 30 years old.
I finally decided I wanted to conquer the constant pain that was interfering with my life, so I decided to focus on getting myself better. I have seen many physical therapists over the years, some good and others mediocre. All of the positive reviews of Vivian on yelp led me to her website. I liked her holistic approach towards healing, so I decided to give her a try. And since I am a student in a physical therapy graduate school program, I thought that if anything, it would be a learning experience. I had no idea what to expect….
Vivian will make you laugh, scream and cry all at the same time! Not only does she have hands on steel, but she is excellent at analyzing movement. I would say that this attribute has helped me the most of all of the physical therapists I have seen prior. She is very picky about movement, and in a good way. The most valuable thing I have learned from her is how to correct my posture while performing movements and what exercises I could do that would benefit me the most. She has given me the tools needed to take my healing process into my own hands. Yes, she can work her butt off using manual therapy to lengthen muscles or release trigger points which will help improve your ability to perform a task and decrease the pain involved in doing so. But it is then up to you to work your butt off in order to maintain that range and ability, and work on building strength.
One other thing I want to mention is that typically physical therapists spend 30 minutes with patients. The ever changing restrictions imposed by insurance companies on health care providers have cut the length of time for visits over the years. But Vivian actually spends a whole hour with you- this is definitely not typical in the modern day world of physical therapy.
The whole team at Prevent The Pain is wonderful. And Jason is a master massage therapist- I highly recommend him.
My shoulder pain doesn’t exist anymore, my back is better than ever, and my pelvis feels aligned (it hasn’t for years). Of course, a large part of this is me going to the gym regularly and doing my physical therapy exercises religiously. But Vivian is the person that has aligned my body, worked on my issues, and guided me to this point of being independent and pain free. Now it is up to me to maintain myself. I just have one bit of advice: You are the only one in control of your own health, so take charge of it and let Vivian guide you along the way.
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