Mark Hynes is the senior physiotherapist and clinic manager at Back in Motion Physiotherapy's East Broadway branch, where he leads a team of experts in body pain, all of whom are eager to help patients achieve a full recovery. The business goes back some 20 years and includes five outlets, all in the Lower Mainland. Mark’s East Broadway branch offering a very comprehensive list of services: “We have physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, kinesiologists and massage therapists, as well as direct access to medical physicians," he explains."Back in Motion’s model is, ‘How is the client doing? What is it that they need? How do we provide that for them?’” And apparently there are many ways.
According to Mark, physiotherapy can help with all phases of injury. The “acute” phase — usually the first seven days of an injury or the flare-up of an old injury — is characterized by inflammation and, often, swelling with a sharp increase in pain. At this point, the team and the client focus on identifying factors that influence the pain, and coming up with a plan to reduce it. In many cases, the client then moves into the “sub-acute” phase, which is all about regaining movement, strength and stability — getting back in motion, so to speak. The timeframe for this phase is four to 12 weeks, Mark says. “This phase is all about pacing. Working with your body as it heals, encouraging specific adaptation to progressively imposed demands. If diligent you will experience true gains and get back to enjoying those things you love doing," says Mark. "We want to help you get there and stay there.”
Back in Motion offers a number of different rehabilitation tools for these different phases, including manual therapy, needlework (IMS and acupuncture), electrotherapy, spinal decompression, massage therapy and an on-site active rehabilitation gym. Prescribed exercise and movement therapy are key to treatment at this clinic; Mark punctuates the point by quoting the saying “motion is lotion.”
