Sarah has a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Ithaca College and practiced as an outpatient orthopedic PT in multiple clinics. She is educated to diagnose and treat any musculoskeletal or neuromuscular pathology with extensive knowledge of anatomy and kinesiology. Sarah has experience with post operative rehab as well as conservative management of pain and dysfunction. She specializes in sport rehabilitation and has successfully returned patients to high level athletics and recreation.

Dry needling is a treatment performed by skilled, trained physical therapists, certified in the procedure. A thin monofilament needle penetrates the skin and treats underlying muscular trigger points for the management of neuromusculoskeletal pain and movement impairments.

It’s important to note dry needling is not the same as acupuncture. It uses similar tools, but that’s where the similarities end. Dry needling is performed by different practitioners with different training. Acupuncture is based on Eastern medicine, while dry needling is rooted in Western medicine and evaluation of pain patterns, posture, movement impairments, function and orthopedic tests.

Dry needling can be instrumental in treating most orthopedic injuries.

Course: Intricate Art Spine & Body Solutions

Sarah is licensed through the NSCA as a CSCS. Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists are professions who apply scientific knowledge to train athletes for the primary goal of improving athletic performance. They conduct sport-specific testing sessions, design and implement safe and effective strength training and conditioning programs and provide guidance regarding nutrition and injury prevention. Sarah has been the Performance coach of the Jefferson DII Mens Soccer team since 2018 and has extensive experience working with collegiate, professional and recreational athletes.

Course: National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA)

Graston is a unique technique using stainless steel instruments to enhance the treatment of scar tissue and fascial restrictions during rehabilitation. This mobilization of tissue allows for faster rehabilitation and with greater success when the goal is restoring range of motion, eliminating pain, and restoring normal function.

Course: Graston Technique LLC

Sarah spent 6 years working at the Vincera Institute specializing in core muscle injuries (CMI). She treated some of the best athletes in the world and worked closely with Vincera surgeons to develop a core protocol and participate with research on CMI. She has extensive experience with injuries in the pelvic region both conservatively and post operatively.

A Core Muscle Injury can involve any of the anatomy from the nipple to the knee. Dr William Meyers and Dr Alexander Poor are the only surgeons in the world successfully treating muscle injuries of this type. Sarah has successfully returned elite athletes back to peak performance after this surgery with minimal loss of playing time!

The Vincera Institute

Sarah is licensed in Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) training and has utilized BFR with operative and non-operative patients. BFR involves the application of a specialized tourniquet cuff to the proximal portion of an exercising arm or leg to reduce arterial inflow and restrict venous outflow into the limb. Exercising in this manner allows the use of low intensity exercise to elicit positive adaptations in muscle size, strength, or endurance typically associated with much heavier loads or higher intensities. With BFR, resistance exercise with weight as light as 20-40% of an individual’s 1 repetition maximum can facilitate changes typically seen with lifting heavy weights. This can be useful for athletes that are in season or cross training and want to avoid lifting heavy weights. This can also be crucial for post operative strength training when lifting weights is contraindicated or the patient is non weight bearing/immobilized.

Course: Owens Recovery Science

Sarah worked at the Vincera Institute which specializes in hip/core pathology. The hip and core muscles are very closely intertwined and often these injuries occur in combination and must be addressed simultaneously. She became an expert in diagnosing these pathologies and differentiating between muscle and joint pathology. She is well versed in treating femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and labrum tears/repairs. She has worked with numerous hip surgeons and athletes across all sports to return to full sport with no limitations.

Cupping is an ancient healing therapy that some people use to ease pain. A provider places cups directly on the skin over the treatment area. Inside the cup, a vacuum or suction force pulls skin upward. Suction from cupping draws fluid into the treated area. This suction force expands and breaks open tiny blood vessels (capillaries) under the skin. Your body treats the cupping area like an injury. It sends more blood to the area to stimulate the natural healing process.

Cupping is a form of traditional Chinese and Middle Eastern medicine. People have practiced cupping therapy for thousands of years to treat chronic and acute musculoskeletal pain.

(Cleveland Clinic)

Sarah has taken coursework to specialize in gait analysis to add to her baseline knowledge as a PT. She learned how to assess running/gait patterns and dysfunction, provide corrective intervention and monitor progress with continued assessment of biomechanics. This intervention helps normalize gait after surgical intervention or immobilization to prevent secondary pathology that is caused by abnormal gait. It also allowed her to treat athletes that run competitively or recreationally. Efficient gait/running form can prevent joint disease such as arthritis that can lead to eventual surgical intervention.

Course: ACE Running LLC

Dysfunction in the sacroiliac joint (SIJ) can cause low back pain , flank pain, hip pain and leg pain. This dysfunction can be particularly difficult to diagnose because the sacroiliac joint lies next to the bottom of the spine, below the lumbar spine and above the tailbone (coccyx).

It can be difficult to differentiate low back pain and SIJ pain if you are not experienced in treating this area of the body as the symptoms are similar. Sarah has taken coursework to specialize in treatment of sacroiliac joint (SIJ) dysfunction. This knowledge allows her to more effectively narrow down the cause of pain and treat the pain at the source.

Course: SIJ Dysfunction: Treatments to stop the pain in as little as 4-6 sessions

As a DPT Sarah has extensive knowledge of anatomy and movement. This advanced knowledge allows her to provide targeted soft tissue intervention to address injury and pathology and preventative intervention to avoid imbalances and abnormal movement. She will integrate other techniques to her soft tissue work such stretching and joint mobilization in conjunction with traditional massage.

The sanctioned provider of training and certification in the McKenzie Method® of MDT, a scientifically proven assessment process that will identify the best treatment solution for back, neck and extremity problems. Part A focuses on lumbar spine evaluation and treatment.

This systematic method of diagnosing and treating back pain (including nerve pain) is research based and highly effective.

Course:

The McKenzie Institute USA