Optimal Results Physical Therapy

Reviews 3

RI

Richard M

Sanatan Golden at Optimal Results PT was able to help me when no one else could. Until I was referred to him I had assumed my problems were untreatable. Sanatan truly knows what he is doing and genuinely cares about helping me to get better. He has active methods for rapidly improving physical problems and emphasizes teaching: how to listen to the body and to distinguish bad pain from growing pains, and how to take care of problems via incredibly useful, targeted exercises/stretches/etc. My story: I was a serious freestyle bike rider for many years, but after a variety of injuries and getting older, I decided I needed to switch to something more sustainable that would satisfy my love for movement, so I started running. I immediately loved running, but quickly ran into a wall of mounting injuries. Thinking it was too much too fast, I dialed it back, and went back and forth for nearly a year, once using my insurance through Providence for physical therapy where after a number of sessions, I decided that either they were incompetent or I was incurable. I had almost given up. Then through a strange turn of events I found myself in Sanatans office. At that point my feet were so injured that I could hardly walk down the street for longer than 15 minutes without a variety of strange pains and aches. After the first treatment I felt like my feet had opened up, the "neuroma" (pinched nerve) I was diagnosed with at Providence (and simply told to accept as permanent) completely disappeared, and I could walk much farther without pain. I continued to see Sanatan and after 6 or 7 sessions I was starting to run again, had a number of tools to take care of myself, and most importantly he focused on teaching me how to listen to my body. I wished I would have had that as a professional bike rider, it would have saved me from a lot of injury and pain.. In tandem with my treatment I also attended his FREE natural running workshop, where he led a group of runners through basic drills and again, a comprehensive education about how the body moves, breaking everything down and teaching us to gain a real functional awareness of our bodies, both during and after each activity. Between the therapy and the workshop my experience turned into a journey I had not expected, and in a way having the injuries was a blessing: I learned so much that I am now much more able to prevent future injuries, through both proper running technique, exercises, and a greatly expanded awareness of my body. I think I first saw Sanatan around the end of April, barely able to walk properly; yesterday I did a 1 hour run. And so Ive also decided to start working with him on an old separated shoulder injury from bike riding, already seeing progress when no one else was able to help me with that either.. Hes since also worked wonders for a friend of mine too. Even if your insurance doesnt cover it (mine didnt), go see him, its worth it!

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Jim Lindsay

Life changing. That is how I would describe my experience with Sanatan Golden. On two different occasions he has helped me change my life for the better. The first time occurred after another doctor referred me to see Sanatan because a series of overuse injuries was making me question whether it was realistic for me to continue athletic activities now that I was 65 year-old senior citizen. I love windsurfing, but I kept getting the same injuries over and over again. After Sanatan used the ASTYM method, the acute injuries resolved. Then after showing me why weakness in other muscles was resulting in my recurrent knee and tendon injuries, I started a program of strengthening exercises that allowed me to continue the activities that I enjoy without pain and injury. This could have been the end of the story, but life had another surprise for me. The second time I had a non sports related accident with a bad fracture of my knee requiring two orthopedic surgeries and a month of no weight bearing. Even though most people my age with the fractures I had end up limiting their activity and end up with a limited range of motion, Sanatan explained that if I was willing to work with his program, he didn’t see any reason I couldn’t get back the strength and mobility I had before the accident. Now a year later, I have regained full range of motion and am back windsurfing again in Hood River. I haven’t yet regained full strength and muscle mass in my injured leg, but I am seeing gradual improvement. Surprising to me is that despite weakness in the affected leg, in other muscle groups I am actually stronger than I was before my accident. I attribute this to the simple set of home exercises that Sanatan has asked me to do. Because I don’t need to go to the gym to do any of the exercises, I end up doing these exercises almost every day. I had never been to a physical therapist before, so I can’t tell you what is different about Sanatan. What was important to me was his ability to explain clearly what was going on with my injury, inflammation and recovery. This explanation helped me determine that I was doing enough strengthening without overdoing and causing re-injury. I have found Dr Golden and the other staff at Optimal Results to be kind, considerate and supportive to me in my recovery. I highly recommend him.

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Lily Gil

I started seeing Dr. Sanatan Golden a few months ago for scoliosis and the pain/discomfort associated with having an “S” shaped spine. I’ve seen a handful of different physical therapists over the years, and have always been frustrated by the advice to simply maintain a strong core as well as the lack of progress that came from the minor daily movements they prescribed. As someone who runs regularly and enjoys taking circuit training classes and lifting weights, I’d always had a hard time sticking to a physical therapy regimen that asked me to stop all other forms of exercise other than the physical therapy exercises. I had given up on physical therapy, until Sanatan was recommended to me by a friend. His approach from the get-go, was for me to keep running, lifting, etc., by building correct patterns of movement, increasing my mobility and stability, strengthening and activating weaker muscles, and becoming more aware of how I was moving my body so as to avoid falling back into old patterns of movement that increased my scoliosis symptoms. You can tell the breadth of knowledge Sanatan brings to his work, and I was always impressed by how diligently he made sure I was doing the correct movement, and the variety of progressions he provided. I worked with Sanatan about every 2 weeks for about 4 months, and was just blown away by the progress that came from regular appointments and consistent daily exercises. The daily workouts he gave me were always challenging enough to stay motivated, and early on into working with him I could tell a difference in how I was moving and which muscles were activating during exercises. Before working with Sanatan I avoided all heavy lifting because it always left my back in pain, and I just assumed it was something I wouldn’t be able to do with scoliosis. Much like I assumed I would always wake up from a nights sleep with some sort of pain and stiffness. Just a couple months of consistent physical therapy later, I was thrilled to do some heavier barbell and kettlebell lifting work recently without any of the discomfort and pain that I would have experienced prior to starting physical therapy. I’m thrilled that I didn’t give up on physical therapy all together. Huge shout out to the whole team at Optimal Results PT for the positivity, warmth, and stellar handling of insurances!