I wanted to take the time to thank the people who made the decision to use the services of Advanced PT. As a firefighter/paramedic, my livelihood depends largely on the physical ability to do hard work, day in and day out, sometimes ALL day and night. After overa decade of doing this kind of work, and loving it, I began to wonder if this would be a sustainable career. In some ways, professional firefighting can be likened to certain professional sports. Each are great, action packed careers, and each take a devastating toll on the body. Between the demands of the job as we all some special family circumstances regarding our children, the last seven years have resulted in significant pain in my lower back, my upper back, my arms and my shoulders. Each of these culminated in the winter of 2017-18.

In January of 2018 at the recommendation of Fire Chief Kujawa, the City of Wausau made the decision to hire the services of Licensed Athletic Trainer, Traci Tauferner. Twice a week Traci or another specialist from Advanced PT comes to the Fire Department to offer insight, customized exercise programs, and physical therapy to anyone who might have questions, fitness goals and, like me, pain.

What I appreciated most about the interaction I first had with Traci was that she didn’t simply address the pain that I was experiencing by giving me exercises and customized workout program. While that was great, she also asked what I now consider a very critical question, “What are your long-term physical fitness goals?” I hadn’t made an appointment to discuss anything long term, but it led to a discussion about my hobbies. I explained that the one thing I love to do more than anything else is is hiking, camping, bowhunting in the mountains, which can be extremely physically demanding. I explained that I enjoyed preparing for those trips by taking our daughters for hikes up Rib Mountain, and bike rides around arou neighborhood. I told her I enjoy fishing, and that I can’t wait to take my girls fishing for the first time. And I told her that given the problems I was experiencing, all of these past-times were being threatened.

After doing an initial fitness assessment, Traci encouraged me, saying she could help. She showed me specific exercises for each of my aches and pains. She wrote customized workout plans to strengthen the areas that had been neglected by my ignorance for many years. She scheduled routine checkups to monitor progress and tweak workout rgimens. And it worked!

I recently returned from bowhunting elk in the Rocky Mountains. This was the 14th year I’ve been blessed to do it, and I can honestly say it was the best year I’ve had to date. My shoulders, arms and back were all pain-free for the first time, and my cardio conditioning was the best it’s ever been. I’m still far from being a mountain man, or even a good elk hunter for that matter, but Lord-willing, I look forward to more similar adventures.

I’m so incredibly thankful for my job, the people I work with and for, and the services offered by Advanced Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine. Thank you very much for investing in your firefighters. Your support and effort to maintain our health and career longevity is very much appreciated.