HomeNews

96 MDG physical therapy rehabilitates lives

  • Published
  • By Minty Knighton
  • 96th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The 96th Medical Group's physical therapy team's job is to rehabilitate Team Eglin warriors recovering from surgeries and injuries, but they said treatment goes beyond rehabilitation - the team said they give hope.

"There are patients who have had pain for as much as two years who, within a week, are walking perfectly; It's just incredible," said Capt. Laura Kovensky, physical therapist. "We take a different approach; we listen."

Injuries are not always the result of accidents or mishaps, some are from health conditions.

"There are those who have had strokes who may have lost the ability to make beds or hold a pot," said Maj. James Dauber, Flight Commander for Physical, Occupational and Chiropractic Therapy. "What we do is help them get some of that ability back. Our incentive is to get people better as fast as possible."

With a staff of 12, the team gets close to 29,000 visitors seeking relief from all types of pain. Eglin's staff specializes in several fields including occupational and chiropractic therapies.

Captain Kovensky, one of three certified doctors of the Eglin physical therapy team, began in sports medicine and started her career with the Air Force Academy Falcons football team.

"I liked working in sports, but I wanted to help others," she said. "To me it [Air Force] means contributing to something much larger."

Most of the physicians are physical therapists focus on reconditioning which helps bones and joints regain strength, speed and agility.

Major Dauber demonstrated one type of technique called "manual therapy" where he took a specific joint of a finger and manipulated it to follow a natural pattern of movement.

"After an injury, the body has been trained to work differently from its natural movement, so we go in and retrain the body parts," he said. "It involves mobilizing and manipulating joints and is meant to restore normal movement and patterns. Mobilizing can be done with almost any joint."

The other physicians specialize in occupational therapy. It utilizes bracing to rehabilitate hand, wrist and elbow injuries. "Occupational" refers to active roles in life verses a specific placement.

Eglin's chiropractic therapists manipulate the back and spine, one of the highest percentages of injuries seen by the therapists.

"Many active duty members get lower back injuries from wearing body armor, but we also see those with pain from just sitting at their desk," said Major Dauber.

Other visits to the physical therapist office are due to sports and age related injuries; ten percent being active duty members returning from deployments.

"We see more dependents and retirees, but active duty personnel are our priority," said Major Dauber. "Our primary goal is to prepare ready deployed persons for their jobs in Iraq and to return them to duty service after injury."