Sports Plus Rehab Centers

Adaptive Driving Rehabilitation

Adaptive Driver Education and Training (ADET) is an evaluation and training program designed for persons with disabilities. The goal of the program is to enable persons with disabilities to learn to drive safely and independently in their own vehicles with the use of adaptive equipment and/or compensatory techniques. The evaluator identifies individuals with physical or cognitive impairments that have the potential to drive safely and then works with them to acquire their permit or license. This includes clinical and on-the-road training with one of our certified driving rehab specialists.

Common Diagnosis Served by this Program

• Stroke
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Amputations
• Impairments in Visual Processing
• Spina Bifida
• Alzheimer’s Disease Cerebral Palsy
• Intellectual Disabilities
• Various Progressive Diseases

My legs have been weak all of my life, but they have gotten to where I felt unsafe driving over the past couple of months. The hand controls that I now use are great and I feel safe driving my grandkids to and from school events! Thank you so much for giving me my independence back.”

Pasty M.

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AlterG® Anti-Gravity Treadmill®

The AlterG® Anti-Gravity Treadmill® represents the next stride in physical therapy and athletic training. The AlterG utilizes cutting edge Differential Air Pressure (DAP) technology, developed by NASA, to unweight the user and reduce the impact of walking or running. This ultimately enables patients to exercise in comfort and rehabilitate with confidence, while maintaining their natural gait to avoid bad habits that may lead to further injury.

Thanks to the unique unweighting technology, the AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill provides users with an unsurpassed level of precision and versatility. This degree of control enables users to track progress and pain levels, protect healing injuries without sacrificing strength and cardiovascular training, and enjoy the road to recovery like never before.

The Anti-Gravity Treadmill® gets mobility-impaired patients back on their feet and on the road to achieving a better quality of life. During rehabilitation, the Anti-Gravity Treadmill will help you attain greater mobility by:

• Providing support and confidence to start walking and take more steps in comfort.
• Enabling you to walk or even jog further, faster and with more stability than you may have previously thought possible.
• Preventing falls, which increases comfort and confidence during rehab and beyond.
• Improving health and wellness and helping you achieve more independence in your day-to-day life.
• Reducing stress on joints and injured areas of the lower body.
• Exercising when you otherwise might not be able to because of pain, stress, or instability.
• Potentially preventing functional decline and enabling greater independence during essential activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, getting up from a chair, and using the bathroom.

The AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill helps you achieve greater independence, which results in more quality time with your family and time to enjoy the things you love. The AlterG enables Physical Therapists to give you the care you need to live your life to the fullest.

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Aquatic Therapy

Aquatic Therapy can be very beneficial for patients in different stages of life — pediatric to geriatric. If you have any of the following, you could benefit from aquatic therapy: joint pain, arthritis, fibromyalgia, total joint replacement, arthroscopic surgery, sport specific injury, and more. This type of therapy is open to everyone – swimmer or non-swimmer. Our highly qualified therapists will be with you through each step of the journey, so you will get the most benefit available.

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Certified Athletic Trainers

For over 20 years, our Sports Plus Certified Athletic Trainers have been the biggest fans of West Tennessee’s young athletes. From sports performance enhancement to sportsmetrics injury prevention, we provide services designed to return athletes to health and improve their game.

What is a Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC)?
Sports Plus Certified Athletic Trainers (ATC) are licensed medical professionals whose job is athletic injury prevention, injury treatment, and injury recovery. These professionals can go from dealing with nicks and bruises to responding to concussions, blown knees, heat stroke, and MCL and ACL injuries in the blink of an eye.

What do our Certified Atheltic Trainers do for your athlete?
The role of athletic trainer has drastically changed in recent times with emphasis on preventative injury and sports medicine. The athletic trainers do more than “taping” an ankle before a game or retrieving the water bottles. They teach the athlete how to prevent injuries and to recognize their limits. They dedicate many hours to our students at practice and on the field/courtside. They know each student and their abilities and limitations. The athletic trainer is medically trained to see signs of injury pain and recognize a condition or injury when it happens to one of their athletes. From a minor sprain to concussions, the athletic trainer will assess the condition on the field to determine if the athlete can return to play.

Dry Needling

Physical therapists use dry needling with the goal of releasing or inactivating trigger points to relieve pain or improve range of motion.

What is Dry Needling?
Dry needling is a treatment that involves inserting a very small needle into an area of muscle tension/pain or trigger point to help that muscle relax, thereby also reducing pain and improving function.

The term dry needling refers to the fact that there is no solution being injected into the muscle and therefore the needle is “dry.”

What is a Trigger Point?
A trigger point is a taut band of skeletal muscle located within a larger muscle group. Trigger points can be tender to the touch, and touching a trigger point may cause pain to other parts of the body.

What Kind of Needles Are Used?
Dry needling involves a thin filiform needle that penetrates the skin and stimulates underlying myofascial trigger points and muscular and connective tissues. The needle allows a physical therapist to target tissues that are not manually palpable.

Who can benefit from dry needling?
Dry needling can be beneficial in many conditions, including but not limited to:

• Muscle Tension Pain
• Joint pain
• Myofascial pain syndrome/chronic pain conditions

Who should not receive dry needling?
Dry needling is not recommended in the following situations:

• Active infection
• Active cancer
• Systemic inflammatory conditions
• Uncontrolled diabetes
• Bleeding disorders or patients taking anti-coagulants
• Lymphedema
• Surgery in the past 8 weeks
• Uncontrolled seizures
• Allergy to metal
• Multiple Sclerosis in an active state
• Fear of needles
• Unable or unwilling to provide consent to treatment

Dry needling can be included in your physical therapy treatment or done as a private pay service. If you have further questions about dry needling treatment, please contact your nearest Sports Plus or Lift Therapy Clinic location. We look forward to serving you!

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Hand Therapy

Hand Therapy is therapy performed by a licensed therapist on patients with conditions affecting the hands and upper extremities.

• Injured Tendons or Nerves
• Wounds
• Scars
• Burns
• Amputation of the Fingers, Hands or Arms
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Tennis Elbow
• Stroke
• Arthritis

Our therapists provide therapy to help your hands return to normal function after injuries and effects of conditions that have affected them.

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Low Vision

The Low Vision Rehabilitation Program at Work Plus Rehab provides a comprehensive service to assist persons who have low vision.

Low vision is commonly caused by macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma or cataracts. It may present as a loss of visual field, light sensitivity, distorted vision or loss of contrast. Many visually impaired individuals experience difficulty with regular activities of daily living such as cooking, shopping, managing finances and medication, watching television, reading, and driving.

Our occupational therapists will work with you, the primary physician and/or ophthalmologist to conduct an initial evaluation. Based on the results of the evaluation, a treatment plan will be established. The therapist will provide individualized instruction to help you achieve your personal rehabilitation goals.

• Evaluate what activities are difficult because of decreased visual functioning and explore ways to improve activity performance
• Education about your eye problem and its affect on function
• Introduction to glare control, contrast enhancement and lighting to improve ability to see
• Strategies for writing, watching television, reading, cooking safety and use of optical/non-optical aids
• Trial use of magnification devices
• Recommendations for home and community safety/community mobility
• Information on community resources, support services and driver safety

Our goal is to maximize your independence and safety while performing everyday tasks.

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Manual Lymph Drainage

Lymphedema is a condition where there is an accumulation of fluid in the interstitial tissues of the body. Manual Lymph Drainage (MLD) is a specialized massage technique performed to stimulate the flow of lymph from an affected area. MLD is performed by a certified and licensed therapist.

Lift Therapy offers MLD services to effectively treat patients with lymphedema and other swelling disorders.

Common Diagnoses

• Primary Lymphedema
• Secondary Lymphedema
• Venous Insufficiency
• Post Surgical
• Post Mastectomy
• Lymphedema due to treatment of other cancers

Therapy Treatment & Benefits

• Manual Lymph Drainage
• Patient and family education on compression bandaging
• Instruction on proper skin and limb care
• Custom exercise programs

The main goal of our MLD program is to return the patient to his/her normal lifestyle. There is no cure for lymphedema but we strive to assist and teach patients how to successfully manage their symptoms and prevent future complications. We strive for maximal edema reductions to normal or near-normal limb volume, followed by fitting the patient with appropriate compression garment or device.

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Neurological Rehabilitation

Patients with a neurological disorder may require the services of a combination of physical, occupational and speech therapies in order to improve function and achieve greater independence.

Neurological conditions treated may include:

• Brain Tumors
• Guillan Barre Syndrome (GBS)
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Post Concussive
• Stroke ( CVA)
• Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

We will provide a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary plan to neurological rehabilitation that includes muscle and sensory re-education, coordination activities, range of motion, and speech therapy to those patients who have experienced a neurological disorder such as a stroke or spinal cord injury.

Our Therapists are licensed, highly skilled professionals who offer specialized care to the neurological patient. Each treatment program is individualized to meet the specific needs of the patient.

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Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy provides treatment to people who have difficulties with functional daily living skills. Some patients require specialized treatment to achieve their maximum, individualized level of independence.

Following a complete evaluation by the occupational therapist, a specific plan of treatment is developed involving the patient, the staff and the family whenever possible. The occupational therapist may treat areas such as:

• Functional mobility: Facilitating motion, strength, sensation and coordination of affected extremities.
• Activity of daily living: Instruction in areas including eating, dressing, grooming, bathing and homemaking.
• Splinting and positioning: The occupational therapist is specially trained to fabricate splints and design positioning devices to meet the needs of each patient.

Specialized education and a home evaluation is given to staff and family members to ensure maximum independence and quality of life for the patient.

Orthotics

A simple insert in your shoe can significantly improve your activity level and reduce pain throughout your body. At one of our Jackson, TN, Sports Plus locations and our Lexington, TN, Sports Plus location our staff can help you learn more about orthotics.

I just wanted to say thank you for doing the orthotic thing for employees. I don’t know exactly who authorized that, but I am so thankful. Mine are life savers. They nearly killed me the first day that I wore them. I have adjusted now and my feet and legs feel so much better. I have been walking routinely at lunch at the hospital. I have been meaning to say thank you long before now. Thank you again for all of your help. This was the best money that I have spent in a long time.

Charlotte

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Orthopedic Rehabilitation

Sports Plus Rehab Centers/Lift Therapy/Work Plus/Sports Plus Aqua Therapy provides orthopedic rehabilitation in an outpatient setting to ease pain, prevent further damage, and regain movement.

Our licensed staff is experienced in providing skilled outpatient therapy for a wide range of orthopedic conditions, including the following:

• Post-surgery orthopedics
• Joint replacement therapy
• Post-surgery spine conditions
• Back pain/sacroiliac
• Neck pain
• Knee pain/injury/sprain/strain
• Frozen shoulder
• Rotator cuff dysfunction/strain
• Sports injuries
• Tennis/golfer’s elbow
• Plantar fasciitis/foot pain
• Ankle sprain
• Post-fracture
• Carpal Tunnel
• Tendonitis/bursitis
• Arthritis
• Traumatic injuries

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Parkison's Disease

Specialized Programs for Parkinson’s Disease

More than 1 million people in the United States are living with Parkinson’s disease, including thousands of people in Tennessee alone. To help those in our communities manage the disease and slow its progress, Sports Plus Rehab Centers offer specialized programs for Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s disease, or PD, is what’s called a “progressive disease,” meaning it worsens over time. Because there’s currently no cure for the disease, treatment involves therapies that help alleviate symptoms or teach coping mechanisms for managing those symptoms.

At Sports Plus, we’re committed to making those therapies accessible to those throughout west Tennessee with several unique programs for Parkinson’s disease.

Helping Those With Parkinson’s Disease Find Their Voice

Parkinson’s disease causes movements to become smaller and slower over time, often impacting the parts of the body involved in speaking, such as the face, mouth, throat, and chest. Over time, PD can also disrupt connections between the brain and the body, making communication more challenging.

These changes can lead to softer speech, a monotone voice, or difficulty finding the right words. At Sports Plus, we offer an innovative program called LSVT LOUD, which trains people with Parkinson’s disease to use their voices at a more normal volume. Through one-on-one therapy sessions, patients learn how to strengthen their voice, allowing for improved voice quality.

Research shows that the program helps improve vocal loudness, breath support, voice quality, intonation, and speech articulation, offering real results for those experiencing diminished speech. LSVT LOUD is offered at our Sports Plus locations in Dyersburg and Lift Therapy (Jackson).

Getting Parkinson’s Disease Patients Moving

As nerve cells in the body break down or die, the brain produces less dopamine, which leads to movement problems throughout the body. As Parkinson’s disease progresses, it can cause disruptive symptoms such as a tremor, slowed movement, rigid muscles, difficulties with balance, and a loss of automatic movements such as swinging the arms while walking.

Physical therapy can help those with Parkinson’s disease learn tools for coping with movement problems. At Sports Plus, we offer LSVT BIG, a specialized form of physical and occupational therapy for those who have PD.

LSVT BIG provides personalized training to address movement problems, along with other symptoms of Parkinson’s disease such as emotional and cognitive changes. During therapy sessions, patients receive coaching to help normalize their movements.

Research shows that the program can help patients achieve faster walking, better balance, an improved ability to twist at the waist, and more confidence in performing activities of daily living. LSVT BIG is offered at our Sports Plus locations in Alamo, Brownsville, Dyersburg, Jackson, Lexington, Martin, and Milan.

Providing a Steadying Force for Managing Parkinson’s Disease

While any type of physical activity benefits those who have Parkinson’s disease, there’s some evidence that boxing movements can be particularly beneficial. At Sports Plus, we offer Rock Steady Boxing, a boxing-based program for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

The program includes noncontact boxing movements specifically designed to address the symptoms caused by PD, including slowed or small movements, diminished balance, and stiffness. As with other programs for Parkinson’s disease, Rock Steady Boxing can be personalized and adapted to meet a patient’s individual needs and abilities.

Research shows that the program improves balance, coordination, strength, and overall fitness, providing patients with renewed confidence, improved mood, and enhanced motor skills. Rock Steady Boxing is offered at our Sports Plus locations in Dyersburg, Jackson, and Martin.

Pelvic Health

Sports Plus Pelvic Health Program is individually designed to meet the unique needs of each patient. Pelvic pain can have negative influences on a person’s daily life. Physical Therapy can assess and address the musculoskeletal dysfunction that can cause pelvic pain. The program goal is to educate and train patients to manage and, in some cases, eliminate their pelvic pain or other musculoskeletal dysfunction as it relates to their diagnosis.

Our Pelvic Health Physical Therapists have over 40 years of experience and have undergone specialized training to provide pelvic floor rehabilitation. Sports Plus has four convenient locations that provide Pelvic Health Therapy.

Most Common Pelvic Health Diagnoses

• Urinary Incontinence
• Pelvic Pain
• Dyspareunia (pain with intercourse)
• Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain/painful urination
• SI Joint Dysfunction
• Pelvic floor myalgia (muscle pain/muscle spasm)
• Post-surgical pelvic pain

Benefits

• Increase in functional activity and returning to normal daily-life activity
• Decreased pelvic pain and discomfort associated with condition
• Increase knowledge of causes and instruction in self-management of pain
• Intercourse without pain

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Physical Therapy

Physical therapists are movement experts who improve quality of life through hands-on care, patient education and prescribed movement. Our staff provides evidence based practice to patients of all ages to allow patients to regain their strength, mobility, decrease pain and restore their independence.

Our Physical Therapy team is qualified to treat patients with orthopedic, neurological, musculoskeletal and pain-related disorders. Our therapists strive to stay on the cutting edge of new treatment techniques through outcome measures and evidence-based practice.

Each patient who is referred to Physical Therapy receives a comprehensive evaluation performed by a highly skilled, licensed physical therapist, who will then devise a treatment plan based on findings and in concurrence with the referring physician’s recommendations. However, a doctor’s referral is not needed for physical therapy. List to thiss episode of the WTH podcast We Talk Health, when Will Kwasigroh interviews Cathy Sudbury and LeAnn Childress on Direct Access through Sports Plus Rehab Centers. Direct Access is a fancy way of saying “self-referral”. Through the Direct Access program, you do not have to have a doctor refer you to go see anyone at any of the Sports Plus or LIFT Therapy locations.

Saebo

Our occupational therapist at Sports Plus Milan and LIFT Therapy have been trained by Saebo, Inc., to provide their innovative Saebo Arm Training Program. Saebo, Inc., is a company founded by two occupational therapists who developed a new approach to treating patients who have had a stroke or other neurological impairment.

This program is designed for those people who have limited hand and/or arm function following brain injury. The Saebo Arm Training Program is based on research that documents our brain’s ability to “re-program” itself. This approach has been shown to be effective even 20 years after injury!

A customized device that is worn on the hand and/or arm allows one to immediately grasp and then release a ball. Through guidance by the therapist, this grasp and release activity will be modified into an exercise program that is completed at home at least twice a day.

If you have had a stroke or other neurological injury and have lost the use of your arm and/or hand, you might qualify for The Saebo Arm Training Program. Our occupational therapist can screen you to see if you are a candidate for this program. To receive this innovative new treatment, an order for therapy from you healthcare provider is needed. The customized devices are covered by Medicare and some commercial insurance companies.

The Saebo Arm Training Program is not right for everyone, and the amount of recovery gained can’t be guaranteed. However, as someone who has survived a neurological injury, you know that even the smallest gains can make a big difference in your quality of life.

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Schroth Method for Scoliosis

The Schroth Method is a specialized type of physical therapy used to treat scoliosis in adolescents. It offers an innovative method of treating curvature in the spine without surgery.

During therapy sessions, patients are guided through exercises by a Schroth-trained physical therapist. This approach, which originated in the 1800s, is not one-size-fits-all—exercises are personalized for each patient’s individual needs. The goal of therapy is to shift the curvature of the spine caused by scoliosis into a more natural position. 

The Schroth Method includes exercises designed to better align posture and restore muscular symmetry. As therapy participants go through these exercises, they’re taught to be aware of their posture and use a breathing technique called “rotational angular breathing.” This type of breathing rotates the spine with each breath to help reshape the rib cage.

Participants in Schroth Method therapy typically benefit in many ways, including:

• Better pelvic alignment
• Improved core stability and strength
• Improved posture
• Increased lung capacity and easier breathing
• Reduced pain

Because the Schroth Method teaches participants how to improve their posture, it can also help to prevent scoliosis from worsening, keeping the spinal curve from progressing.

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Speech Therapy

Our Speech Therapy department provides the highest quality of care and cutting-edge treatments to assist patients in all areas of communication and swallowing. Speech Therapy services are provided to patients of all ages with either developmental or acquired speech, language or swallowing disorders.Our dedicated speech-language pathologists can assist patients with an array of disorders associated with stroke, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, dyslexia, autism and ADD/ADHD.

We provide advanced sound therapy to aid patients in all areas of communication. This therapy has been shown to improve attention, concentration, memory and language.

Our speech pathologists also perform swallow studies and Vital Stim therapy for swallowing deficits. This therapy has been proven to help patients of any age or disorder regain swallow function. It is the goal of our speech-language pathologists to ensure that patients achieve their maximum potential in terms of communication and swallowing regardless of age.

Vestibular

The Sports Plus Dizziness and Balance Clinic is a clinic that specializes in the treatment of the Vestibular System: dizziness, vertigo or balance dysfunction. The Vestibular System is a very complex system that includes parts of the inner ear and brain that help control balance and eye movements. If the system is damaged by disease, aging, or injury, vestibular disorders can result and are often associated with one or more of these symptoms:

• Vertigo and dizziness
• Imbalance
• Vision disturbances

Sports Plus Physical Therapists are trained in the assessment and treatment of a variety of vestibular disorders. Goals of therapy emphasize returning the vestibular system to a normal functioning state. Patients receive extensive education to aid in self-management.

Inner ear disorders are usually treatable with physical therapy and are often completely correctable.

Treatment may include:

• Eye and head movements
• Balance exercises
• Repositioning procedures

The goal is to retrain the brain to recognize and process signals from the vestibular system in coordination with vision and proprioception. This often involves desensitizing the balance system to movements that provoke symptoms.

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Workers Comp Rehabilitation

The Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act of 2003 aided those who experience injuries in the workplace. Work Plus Rehab Center staff have 60+ years of clinic experience and will work with your doctor to help you recover.

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