Travel physical therapy professionals witness breakthroughs in patient development. PT enables individuals to get back on their feet and move forward with their lives. For a Rhode Island man named Timothy Haitz, PT completely changed the direction in his life.
When Haitz was 14 years old, he was hit by a car while riding his bike. He spent days in a coma, weeks in the Intensive Care unit and months in traction. In high school, kids would call Haitz "swivel" for the manner in which he walked. Because he never properly rehabilitated his injury, he went on to live with significant pain and discomfort. It wasn't until his late 30s that Haitz started working with a physical therapist. His success story started here:
Taking the first steps
Early on, the prognosis was grim. His injury had severed his hamstring muscles among a host of other problems, and the doctors were considering amputating his right leg. Fortunately, that procedure was not necessary. After being on his back for seven months, Haitz was able to take those first difficult steps. But he said the injury had altered everything – his friend group, his athletic prospects and his aspirations.
Meeting a physical therapist
Years later, Haitz met physical therapist Michael Noonan, a clinical instructor for the University of Rhode Island's physical therapy program. Noonan said Haitz had significant physical challenges, including scoliosis, SI joint dysfunction and no ACL. Newman's initial goal was to reduce his pain, taking one day at a time. They started with a gradual lift to stabilize his SI joint, and after two years of intense physical therapy, Haitz experienced no pain.
"Thank goodness I met Michael,'' Haitz said in a press release. "He saved my life.''
Still, he longed to get back to the person he was before the accident. So, he got back behind the handlebars and began biking again. Initially, Haitz won all of the local events offered in New England, and from there, he became sponsored by a several major cycling companies. He become a nationally ranked cyclist and went to the national cycling championships in Belgium three years in a row.
"Tim is an amazing guy,'' Noonan said in the press release. "He's got a lot of integrity, and a lot of drive.''
Today, he said his level of pain is intermittent and nothing like what it was before going to physical therapy. Haitz also ventured down the road to become a certified physical therapist too. He wanted to make the same difference in others' lives as Noonan had made for him.
"The only thing I could realize I wanted to go back to school was to be a physical therapist, because I realized how my life was changed by a physical therapist," Haitz explained on Blog Talk Radio. "I would to be a person like who Michael is."
Travel physical therapy can make a huge difference in people's lives. For Haitz and thousands like him, working with a physical therapist helped him achieve his potential.