A big welcome from El Paso Manual Physical Therapy
/in Podcast/by dmiddaughDr. David
This is Dr. David physical therapist from El Paso Manual Physical Therapy. Welcome to the show here. This is our first official episode for the podcast. And in order to bring this in right to get a good start. I wanted to bring on my lovely assistant Amber. She works in our office and she is the person that you'll talk to, if you ever give us a call.
This is not going to always be me on the podcast being interviewed. In fact, it will rarely be the case. This is just the first episode. In future episodes, you'll be hearing from physicians, acupuncturist or other medical professionals around town. The point of this podcast is to highlight other medical experts in El Paso. I just wanted to introduce you guys to El Paso Manual Physical Therapy therapy first and then we'll definitely be getting you the tour of a bunch of experts from El Paso. So, without further ado, Amber, welcome onto the show. It's nice to have you here.
Amber
Thank you, Dr. David. Hi. Thank you for having me.
Dr. David
So, Amber has been working with me for coming up on a year now?
Amber
Yes, yes, about a year now.
Dr. David
It's been a wild ride with her, things have gotten so much more happy, cheerful, light-hearted in the office
Amber
Fun. We're having a great time.
Dr. David
It's been awesome. It's been tons of fun, and I've got to know Amber and her two boys and her husband. We have kids roughly the same age, a little bit older than mine, but they love hanging out whenever they get a chance to be with each other.
Amber
They do. They're awesome. Good kids.
Dr. David
Yeah. So, Amber, you are going to interview me? Go ahead and ask away, wherever you want to start.
Amber
All right, Doc, let's start here. Tell me your name, where you are from, and where did you go to school?
Dr. David
Let's do it. So, my full name is Dr. David Middaugh, I'm a physical therapist. I have a doctorate in physical therapy. I even did some advanced doctor post doctorate training and that's called the fellowship. And what FA MPT stands for is the Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists. It's a big mouthful. The gist of it is, well let me start in high school, I went to Jefferson High School here in El Paso. And I didn't go to the silver magnet health school I was not in the medical field at that point. So, I was not interested at all and ended up going to UT Austin in for undergrad.
I got my bachelor's in kinesiology there. And it was during that time that I learned about physical therapy and that's when I decided to do it. Then I went straight into physical therapy school. It was a doctorate program at Texas State University, just down the road from Austin and San Marcos. And immediately after that, I started working in Austin as a PT and then went over into the manual therapy program, also held there in in Austin. All that mouthful, the FA MPT stuff is just on a specialist in handling, and doing hands on work, and helping people prevent surgeries and get off of medications and get back to being active and healthy.
Amber
So, tell us a little bit about your lovely company. That's awesome here. Yes.
Dr. David
We have been going on for almost five years now. And currently we are located at 2601 Yandell, in suite 232 in central El Paso. We are in the office here and we are looking out the window we can see the Franklin Mountains. You see the antennas on top. It's actually kind of a windy,
Amber
cold view here. It's really nice. Yeah, we got a good spot.
Dr. David
Oh, yeah. And we currently have a couple treatment rooms and nice little comfy home setting type office. I love it. The last patient that was here this morning was just commenting about how it feels like a home more than a medical office. Right? We have a
Amber
Good environment. I like being here.
Dr. David
Oh yeah, kick off their shoes here, walk around in socks or barefoot and they just feel
Amber
it is it's like family here. It is really. It's a great place to be. So now tell us, why did you start your own practice?
Dr. David
Yeah, great question. I started because I just knew that I wanted to be able to treat patients one on one with the skills that I have in orthopedic manual therapy. So, the hands-on skills, it just requires one on one time, and then the education piece of happens and showing them the right proper exercises, to do everything that's right and necessary to avoid surgery and avoid living life on painkillers.
I just needed to be one on one, and all the other practices that I've worked at the business models that I've been in, they have overlapping appointments where they see at least two sometimes three, four more patients all at the same time, and everybody is kind of doing cookie cutter treatments for problems like back problems, or whatever it is. It just wasn't a good fit for my skill set, and I just knew I could help people better if I had them one on one. So that's what we do here is it's all one on one appointments.
Amber
Right and we do have those one on one appointments. Now tell me something unique about your practice.
Dr. David
So, besides the one on one appointments, a lot of the visits, probably 95% of every visit is pretty heavy with the hands-on skills and techniques that we implement with our patients. Basically, patients come, or they are here for the stuff that they can't do on their own. We teach them what they need to be doing on their own. But of course, you know, getting a certain joint loosened up or muscle unstiffened or just getting them to move the right way.
Like a lot of people move funny in their knees and don't even know it and we have to just put our hands on them and guide them through the motion. That's something that we truly take the time and get our hands-on people, and even with initial visits here, the first-time people come in, we do what's called a discovery visit. We get our hands on them and we check out their knee problem, their hip, back or shoulder problem, whatever it is that we're seeing. It's a big drastic change from other medical offices that may just talk with them and run a diagnostic test and never put a hand on them and try to come up with a diagnosis without having laid hands on them. So, we touch everybody so that we can do the best job possible.
Amber
Nice. Nice. Can you tell us a little bit about knee problems?
Dr. David
Yeah, knee pain. That's a doozy for sure. Well, we see people with knee pain all the time here. It is definitely one of the most common problems where people get surgery for, and it can be completely avoided, I'd say and 9 out of 10 times.
Amber
Which we definitely do see around here a lot coming in. They were going to have surgery and then they walk out of here in a nice little timeframe. Yeah, I've seen it quite a few times.
Dr. David
Just a few days ago one of our patients Suzy was in here. She came in for a meniscus problem and she had her first visit. She had an MRI showing a torn meniscus. She was doing some stuff with her church and took a funny step, her knee popped and swelled. She was on crutches for a while, freaking out about possibly needing a surgery. She's in her late 50s, and she loves to be able to move fast, clean her house, take care of everything she needs to at home and with family and friends. And she loves going out to visit people. She just was all of a sudden slowed down tremendously you know, fast forward to today.
Amber
Hold on. Let me stop you right there. And let me go back to yesterday. She was in here doing weighted squats.
Dr. David
Yes. Okay. It's been two months. And she had a 45-pound bar on her shoulders and was doing squats.
Amber
Unbelievable. When she came in. She was on crutches.
Dr. David
So, it's pretty awesome. It's really cool. And she's got to do that because it's just the way to prevent the problem from happening again. So not everybody will do squats, but it’s just a great testament to how fast people can improve and never have to have a surgery.
Amber
Right? So, what got you interested in focusing on knee pain, overall?
Dr. David
I have had knee problems over the years when I was in high school playing football. I also ran track, I did cross country, and I was always been active. During my years as a personal trainer I did competitive running as well. I've had patellar tendonitis. I've had this really rare injury called the poster lateral corner injury on the right knee. I thought I was going to have to have surgery a couple years back. And as soon as I heard those two statistics about having to have surgery for that. I said, “Hell No”, what can I do to make sure this doesn't happen?
So, I've always been interested in the knee and I've been able to, thankfully help a lot of people with their knee problems as well. It's just something I enjoy dealing with and I always have to look at contributions from the foot, the hip and even the back. And it's just an awesome puzzle for me to solve. I love it, it's just entertaining for me. On another level it's just I'm passionate because it's so rewarding when I get people like Suzy they come in and it's like you went from crutches to weightlifting in a matter of weeks! That's incredible!
Amber
Right! So okay then, what makes you an expert?
Dr. David
Well, I've done the training beyond the doctorate in physical therapy. Well first off, not every PT is required to have a doctorate degree, there are plenty out there practicing with a master's and, and even with a bachelor and you know, many of them have gone through extra training and are definitely pretty darn good. I just thing that the doctor levels, you know, it’s just the pinnacle. And then I've done the post doctorate work.
So, I'm a specialist in being able to, by hand assess and treat the knee and other parts of the body, but also with the exercises of the movement. So, we use the focused exercises, those are critical for making sure that the problem doesn't return. I've seen tons of knee injuries and some really bad ones that have gotten way better. Now of course we see the post-operative knees, those are kind of easy, because they have already had a surgery and we know what was done with the surgery. A surgery is pretty much a controlled injury of slicing you open and then nipping certain things and sewing it up.
It's nice afterwards because the rehab process is straightforward because we know it was cut on. But if there has never been a surgery, then it's kind of a puzzle to figure out, and it's not always something that the surgeon might be an expert in, or even a physician. Somebody like me a manual physical therapist is the best person to see for an injury that's never been addressed surgically, and something that you're looking to treat without surgery. If it's a mechanical problem, meaning there's a meniscus problem of cartilage, muscle, bone, joint, ligament, or tendon, all that stuff has to deal with the mechanics nerves as well as to the mechanics of the of the joint. That's right up my alley. That's what I live and breathe every single day my life.
Amber
Right. Okay then. So why should people here in El Paso, come see you for knee pain?
Dr. David
Yeah, well, to my knowledge, we are the only clinic in town that specializes in avoiding surgery and getting off of painkillers and being active. Most of the clinics they may not outright advertise or talk about themselves as being specialists in any certain way. But they tend to see a lot of post-operative cases. In other words, the ACL repairs, the total knee replacements, the discectomy is where they cut off a chunk of the meniscus. And that's all they see all day long. And they are really good at doing that. They are fantastic at doing that. In fact, if you have a surgery, you are probably going to do really well, just about any PT clinic here in town.
But if you are looking to avoid one of those surgeries, then that's a different ballgame. If you are talking to a therapist that has that, you know, day in and day out, sees post-operative cases, and you have never had a surgery. They are just not going to be a specialist. It's kind of like if you drive a Mercedes, and you take it to the mom and pop dealership, and you see a bunch of older, lowe- end cars parked in the shop. You might want somebody with a little more skill to deal with your Mercedes so you can get it back up and running.
Amber
Most definitely, absolutely. And I can actually say that I do get to see a lot being in here being in the clinic with you. I do see the before and after, of when the patients and clients come in. And it's really neat to see that they come in here with sometimes little or no hope. And then, in a short time they are walking out of here without a surgery. It's really awesome to see it from my aspect, from my point of view, and to actually be able to talk to everybody.
I fall in love with them, when I hear their story. And it's just amazing that they came in here, just so beat down and ready to have surgery and give up on everything. And some people like Martha, she told me she was at the end like there's nothing anyone could do for her. And she is at home and her daughter called me “Please tell my mom to stop sweeping the driveway. She's doing too much.” You know, it's just amazing that I get to see these people firsthand. And I think it's really awesome. So, I want to know, when should they reach out to you?
Dr. David
So, you know if you have knee pain that just started today, or even in the past couple days, that's not a situation where, you would need to call us right away. Now if you have a chronic problem, like it's been ongoing, it comes and goes for months or even years, that's when somebody like me could definitely make a big change. Our clinic is set to help people like that. So, if, let's say, you sprained your knee, you take a funny step and it swells up, and you can't move it very well and you're limping. Give it some time. Try the natural stuff. You might even try a little pain medication over the counter type stuff, as long as you know your doctor is okay with it and you don't have any issues with that.
Simple pain relief treatment might get you through that if you feel like you're 100% after a week, no big deal. That's not a point to call somebody like us. But if the swelling has been going on for weeks, months, years. If you feel like sometimes you need a cane or a crutch to walk on. That's definitely a point to call us.
The most common reasons people call us for knee problems though is that they can walk, they can do everything. But when they do a little more, for example, if they go to the gym and start jogging on the treadmill, or get on the elliptical, or if they have to climb, go up or down a lot of steps so they go for a hike because it's nice. The mountains are really nice hiking areas, and then they have knee pain and it's frustrating when every time they try to be active, or cleaning the house, getting down and kneeling and squatting, the floors and all that a lot of people have trouble with that. But everyday things it's no big deal.
Another one is people that get knee pain after sitting for too long, they might be fine most of the time. But if they have been sitting at work for an hour or more or going to a movie and their knee just aches and the first few steps after they have been sitting for a while. Or if they have been asleep and they get up. Those first few steps can be very painful in the knee. That's a situation where there is some underlying problem that needs some sort of specialist help.
You want to give us a call and discuss what kind of options are available to you for fixing this knee problem, because you should not be living with knee pain no matter how old you are. It's not normal. Yeah, a lot of people say that though. I'm old. I'm getting old. So, she's probably getting old. But no, you can be 78 years old plus and feel fine.
Amber
Absolutely. Yes. So, what is something helpful that you often share with your patients that they usually don't know?
Dr. David
Arthritis in the knees is a huge problem, and a lot of people are told, especially those in their 50s and 60s, if they have a knee problem, the typical routine is like go to the doctor. The doctor says, well, let's get an X-ray. Let's look at the knee. Then they go back for the follow up results, or maybe if they do it in the office, the doctor shows them on the X-ray, hey, here's your knee, and you see this bottom edge where the joint is? That's all arthritic, you have arthritis in your knee. And then, if the doctor isn't a specialist at rehabilitating, they will just tell you something like, it's because of your age and you are only going to get older and your arthritis is going to progress. That's why your knee hurts and they might just leave you hanging and say that that's the best they can do with the knowledge they have.
The reality is, and what most people don't know, is that you can have painless arthritis. In other words, say your same situation. You go to the doctor, get the x-ray, they show you the arthritis, your knees hurting, that's why you went to the doctor. If you do treatment, kind of like we might prescribe. And if you were to go back and get an X ray, your knee would probably look the same. With the line of arthritis inside the joints. As long as your arthritis isn't super severe, your chances are you are going to do really well despite the arthritis.
Amber
Okay, now do you have anything else you'd like to share with our wonderful listeners.
Dr. David
Yes, so we are also really good at treating back problems. We see a lot of people for problems in the back, like muscle spasms, pinched nerves, and sciatica problems. We also see people for neck problems and nerve problems associated with the neck like they call it ridiculous apathy, where people get numbness and tingling in the arms, and shoulder problems. A lot of people complain of knots in the neck and shoulder area. And it can get pretty bad to the point where people can't focus and concentrate on just the work, or their family and relationships. The worst is when people say they go home grumpy,
Amber
Or they want to go to the emergency room. Oh, yeah, that one we had with my lovely friend Jordan. She said she was fine, but she wasn’t. I told her to come here. She is one of my favorites. She came over. She was actually stuck bent over, and she couldn't even stand up.
We talked to her right before going into the emergency room.
Dr. David
Right. And and of course she didn't know what to do about her problem. She is probably going to get muscle relaxers and pain relievers. They might even do an injection and then tell you to go home and rest. And that's like the worst thing you could do. I mean, if it calmed her pain down, she could actually, sleep, but it didn't go away. It just masks the symptoms. But when she started coming here, she started progressing week by week. 10, 20, 30% and the girls lifting weights now.
Amber
Yes, she is and she's doing wonderful. She just called me and thanking us again. So, if someone in El Paso wants to learn more about our clinic, and possibly even make an appointment, what's the best way to get in touch with us?
Dr. David
Yeah, super easy. So, you can look on our website. The website is www.EPManualPhysicalTherapy.com. Or you can call us at 915-503-1314. And if you call that number, you'll get to talk to Amber
Amber
Yes, you are going to talk to me!
Dr. David
And then you'll have a fun time talking to Amber. What I love about what Amber does is, most people that call our clinic, are not the happiest. They are dealing with some problems. They are on the verge of going to the ER, that kind of situation. And Amber makes you feel so much better. She makes you feel glad that you call the right place. And I frequently get people come in once to see me because we'll talk to Amber first, and when meet with our patients in the treatment room, they say, “I love talking to Amber!”. There are many times where I'm done with one patient and the patient before, is still there talking with.
It's really nice when you are having a rough spot, because of your knee, or your back or whatever it is. And you have a ray of sunshine to brighten your day.
Amber
Thank you. Thank you so much. Yes, I do love having everyone that we have in here, they turn into really good friends or even like our family. So yeah, it's been really fun.
Dr. David
Yeah, well thanks so much Amber I really appreciate you for coming on. I hope to do more maybe we'll hear from you in the future as well, and to those of you that end up meeting us one day you'll definitely love meeting Amber
Have a wonderful day everybody. Bye.
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