Dr. Steve Ryland assists a physical therapy patient with balance and strengthening exercises on a balance board.
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n a recent survey, 57 percent of senior citizens said they have never been members of a gym, let alone followed a consistent
exercise schedule. In 2006, the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) reported over half a million injuries among basketball players. Another two million injuries were associated with bicycling, football and other sports. Meanwhile, based on a report by Connect With Kids, 30 percent of parents report that their children have been injured while playing team sports, and 22 percent of soccer players, 25 percent of baseball players and 12 percent of softball players all admit to injuries while playing their respective sports. Furthermore, studies show that 8 out of 10 Americans suffer from lower back pain. This all means that virtually 100 percent of the population can benefit from preventative care and maintenance programs.
PHYSICAL THERAPY’S ROLE IN HEALTH & WELLNESS
As a response to these growing statistics, Steve
Ryland, PT, DPT, turned a long-term vision into a reality and opened Beachside Health Studio in the fall of 2008. “When most people think of physical therapy,
they think of a place or person that they would go to for ‘serious problems,’” explains Dr. Ryland of a common misconception. “They don’t think of physical therapists in health and wellness roles, or as the forefront leaders in exercise education, nutritional counseling, injury prevention and keeping people healthy before injury and illness sets in.” That said, the concept of helping individuals
of all ages stay healthy, age gracefully and stay injury free is what fueled Dr. Ryland to open Beachside Health Studio. Offering services such as personal training, physical therapy, private Pilates classes, a wide variety of group classes, yoga and massage therapy, the Indialantic studio can help anyone achieve their short-term and long-term goals.
A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
Dr. Ryland’s passion for helping clients achieve their highest level of health and well being actually started years ago after he sustained a crippling back injury. “When I was in my 20s, I was a competitive
weight lifter. One day in the gym changed my life. I blew out a disk in my back that took me to my knees. I suffered for nearly two years. I went through the whole process of treatments that I see my current clients go through, but I would only get temporary relief. I was told I needed surgery. While waiting for my surgery date to come, my surgeon ordered physical therapy to get me stronger for a faster recovery. In six weeks, I was 90 percent better! My surgery was postponed and I was told to continue strengthening,” he explains. It was this life-changing incident that caused
Dr. Ryland to pursue a career as a physical therapist. “I was headed for law school but I decided to give that all up and go the medical route. I felt a calling to help others the way that I had been helped,” he says.
Dr. Ryland received his bachelor’s degree in
physical therapy in 1996. He worked in the field for a few years but still felt something was lacking. “At that time, there was a big push in the field of physical therapy for research and discovering why injuries occurred,” he explains. “More importantly, researchers were interested in learning how to prevent those injuries from occurring in the first place.” Dr. Ryland decided to go back to school
and received his doctorate degree in physical therapy a few years later. While doing research in this field, he started to see patterns as to why individuals sustained certain injuries and why these injuries were sometimes slow to heal. He began to do his own research and discovered that through exercise, diet, nutrition and education, an individual could be put on a fast track to recovery. This research brought him into contact with all the top professionals in his field. Many of those professionals shared the same passion toward educating individuals the way he had been educated at the time of his own injury.
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