Back in August, I ran my left hand over with a truck. Yep, a truck crushed my hand, and I did it all by myself. Trust me, it takes years of practice to achieve that level of stupidity. After surgery, I was in a cast until the first week of October. There wasn't much left of the muscle tissue, and the tendons in my hand weren't very flexible. When they took off the cast I had no range of motion in my index and middle fingers. My hand was a mess. The week after I got the cast off of my hand I was frantically trying to coordinate a physical therapy appointment for my hand. Having to coordinate with the insurance company and find an appointment that fit my schedule, was proving to be a tough task. The day I was at my wit's end, one of my customers had the solution. She noticed me favoring my hand, and asked me about my injury. After I got done telling her (Stephanie Blankemieier) what happened, told me that she works as a PT at Peak Form and had me fax my prescription for physical therapy over to her office. She also told me that she really loved working with hands in particular. Not to take away from Stephanie's efforts in any way, but the real MVP of the first week of my treatment was Pat, at the front desk. The reason she was the MVP is because after I tasked her with getting the insurance company on board, it was done. I was officially done dealing with my claims adjuster, she handled all the phone calls and correspondence with them. Hallelujah! Their schedule was very accommodating and their location is very convenient. During the first appointment, Stephanie sat down and listened to my concerns and goals for my recovery. After that, my goals became her goals as well. She never once told me that my hand, "probably wouldn't be the same ever again." (Something I had heard from just about everyone else at this point.) We just kept working, and still work on regaining full function in my hand. I got a treatment packet with exercises to work on at home, and a full treatment plan that ends with me comfortably being able to swing a golf club. I am happy to report on February 28 (less than 5 months out of the cast) I just hit 100 golf balls at the driving range and have regained almost all of the strength and range of motion in my hand. I am doing my normal workout routine at the gym that includes deadlifts and bench exercises. Before PT I had a lot of expectations of what might become of my hand as it recovered, but this has exceeded all of them. More importantly: Stephanie Blankemeier and the team at Peak Form physical therapy in Boulder, exceeded all of my expectations, and are responsible for the majority of my recovery from what could have been a catastrophic injury. I am sharing this because I believe that silent gratitude is not much use to anyone and their hard work shouldn't go unnoticed. Thank you for all of your hard work, and I will always recommend you guys to anyone needing physical therapy in the boulder and Brighton areas.
-Nick read more