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Recently Mary Rachford - Physical Therapist and WorkSpace WorkOuts co owner - was interviewed by the PT Talker team.
Click on the link below to read/hear the interview:
Desktop Exercise Calendar Doubles as Marketing Tool for Physical Therapy Clinics
Sitting too much can be hazardous to your health. In fact, a study featured in the March 26, 2012 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine found people who sat for over 11 hours or more per day were 40 percent more likely to die from any cause. To help individuals with jobs that require sitting behind a desk for much of the day, physical therapist and owner of Naperville Physical Therapy, Mary Rachford, created a desktop calendar. She recently discussed her Workspace Workouts Calendar with PT Talker.
The desktop calendar features three daily exercises for every work day and each exercise is designed for an office setting and requires no special equipment. Health tips are also included for the weekend. Not only have patients found the calendar useful, but the physical therapy have found them to be good marketing tools since the calendars can be customized so the name of the clinic is on the cover of the calendar and each page of the calendar. Rachford states that the calendar has served as one of the best marketing tools they’ve ever used. Learn more about how the calendar has also served as a way to gain referrals by listening to the full podcast now.
Why WorkSpace WorkOuts?The same way many ideas have been born, WorkSpace WorkOuts is the result of a painful situation. In 2010, I ruptured a disc in my neck and another one was damaged. There was no obvious traumatic event that caused the problem. Experts’ best guess was that a weak core and 20 years of sitting for hours at a computer and talking on the telephone with bad posture caused the damage.
For seven weeks I was in severe pain so I tried a variety of treatments in order to be able to function again. I did physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, medications and massage therapy. Unfortunately, I’m allergic to pain medications and the rest of the treatments did not provide relief due to the severity of the damage to the disc.
When I started losing the use of my right arm, the doctors told me it was time to consider surgery to fuse three of my vertebrae together. While this was less than ideal, it was my only option. I went through the surgery and woke up pain free! I couldn’t believe it – the surgeon was amazing!
Part of my recovery after the surgery involved physical therapy – not necessarily for my neck because I pretty much had full range of motion – but more for strengthening my core to avoid future disc issues. Since I’m a busy wife and mother who works full time, exercise has not been a priority for me, and I wasn’t sure when I was going to be able to fit in the exercises that the physical therapist had given me.
Thus, the birth of WorkSpace WorkOuts. I found that each exercise only took a couple of minutes to do, and they were simple enough that I could do them in my office while I was on conference calls. I’d stand up throughout the day while other people on the calls were talking and do a quick set of exercises while I listened to the call. I found that it really energized me to get up and move around multiple times during the day. The more I did them, the better I felt. I began to wish that that I had different exercises to do each week. So the next time I went in for a physical therapy session, I shared my idea with Mary, my partner in WorkSpace WorkOuts, who owns her physical therapy practice. She was as excited about the idea as I was and immediately agreed to support the idea!
I talked to a few close friends about the idea of making a calendar with exercises that would sit on people’s desks to remind them to get up throughout the day and exercise. I was excited by their encouragement and support! I was eager to share my idea with as many people who could benefit from it.
I found that over time and at different levels of stress, my metabolism slows down and my flexibility decreases. I’ve joined fitness clubs multiple times and never seem to make the time to get to them. I’m sure there are more people in this situation, and I sincerely hope that they can benefit from our calendars to help them be more active and healthier. Maintaining mobility has significant, positive effects on our lifestyles.
So…whether you spend most of your time in an office, a home, a dorm room, a nursing home or anyplace else, if you can’t make it to a gym, use our calendars to turn any WorkSpace into a WorkOut place!
ALWAYS KEEP MOVING!
Tina J |
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Testimonials
“The exercise calendars worked out great for us. The physician offices we took them to were all very impressed with the idea of having the daily exercises right at their desk. Since dropping them off for the holidays last December, we have seen the calendar sitting at the front desk at many of the offices.” Rick Rausch PT, MBA - President, Sovereign Rehabilitation ________________________________________________________ "The daily exercise calendars created by WorkSpaceWorkOuts.com are terrific. The exercises chosen are well thought out, applicable to all clientele with easy to follow directions, and repeated periodically throughout the year to help instill consistency for the sedentary individual." Joe King PT, ATC - Physical Therapy Advantage, PC _________________________________________________________ “Our physical therapy practice has used pocket calendars as a marketing tool for longer than I can remember. But, we have noticed that more and more of our referral sources have become innudated with this type of marketing reminder, in addition to pens, mugs and keychains. For this reason we were delighted to find WorkSpace WorkOuts calendar on the web this year. We feel that it reflects not only our business name, but our committment to healthful living. I was impressed that it specifically targeted the individuals whom are our referral sources who find themselves sometimes more sendentary than they would like to be. Nurses, PAs, physicians and their office staffs have all remarked on how our gift was clever and appropriate. Thank you for providing a fresh and new product to market our physical therapy.“ Elizabeth Perez, MSN Uptown Physical Therapy, Port Townsend, WA _________________________________________________________ “WorkSpace WorkOuts is a hit with my sales contacts. Mary and Gary are great to work with and very personable. Keep up the great work! Top qualities: Personable , Good Value , Creative” Richard E. Ueberfluss, PT, FACHE President Assisting Hands® Home Care
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