Designed to educate and motivate, Spear’s #LetsKeepMoving Blog is our official stream of fitness tips, exercise advice, and healthy lifestyle inspiration. Our articles and features are written and produced in direct partnership with our physical and occupational therapists! Disclaimer
All smiles: the team celebrates with a ribbon cutting to commemorate the clinic expansion.
2020 was a memorable year for many reasons—even among the adverse occurrences of the world, there is always something positive to observe. One accomplishment we’re really proud of? The expansion of our Upper East Side – E 84th St clinic! Since we didn’t have a chance to celebrate the awesome upgrades we made to the space last year, we decided to celebrate now!
Last week, we hosted our official ribbon cutting ceremony for E 84th St. The team gathered together to officially celebrate the expansion and additions made to the newly improved space. Clinical Director Joe Losurdo, PT, DPT, addressed the entire team to thank them for their hard work and dedication throughout these trying times. CEO and Co-founder Dan Rootenberg also expressed some words of gratitude for the team’s commitment in helping continue providing care for our patients when they needed it most. The past year has not been easy for anyone—each person’s dedication to the team as a whole proved to be worthwhile and necessary. Now, as New York returns back to a state of normal, the clinic is flourishing and able to continue providing the top-notch care we’re known for.
Clinical Director Joe Losurdo, PT, DPT, talks to team about their past, present, and future growth.
Though the location isn’t brand new, the enhancements certainly are! The extra space, equipment, and added amenities provide better resources for our therapists to treat more patients than ever before. An expanded gym and floor space allows for more room, meaning more availability for patients to receive the treatment they need. One of the coolest additions has been the newly improved Occupational/Hand Therapy station, a dedicated area for all occupational therapy needs. The locker room/changing area also received a nice revamp, allowing for more space for our patients.
Cheers are in order: Hip, hip, hooray!
After some speeches, words of gratitude and discussions for the future, the team headed outside for the ribbon cutting, where the group posed for pictures with the notorious red ribbon and giant pair of scissors! Joe did the honor of making the ceremonial cut, a stamp in time of the amazing accomplishment made possible by the contribution of everyone present. Congratulations to the whole team on this amazing feat!
Recent times have called for us to pay more attention to important social causes. One thing that has been highlighted is the lack of diversity and inclusion in the physical therapy and occupational therapy fields. At SPEAR, we are committed to to serving diverse communities, and want to ensure we are doing our part to contribute to a community of clinicians that come from different backgrounds and experiences. We wanted to find an actionable, direct way to help transform the profession—and so we created a fundraiser: our Miles Toward a Movement Virtual 5k Running Event!
Running from June 3rd to June 7th, the virtual marathon was created to help improve diversity within the physical therapy and occupational therapy fields. Runners, joggers and walkers alike had the opportunity to pledge their miles and donate to a good cause, with all proceeds going to the APTA’s Minority Scholarship Fund. This 5k event allowed us an opportunity to support the APTA’s mission to foster the long-term sustainability of the physical & occupational therapy profession by making APTA an inclusive organization that reflects the diversity of the society the profession serves with therapists from various races, backgrounds and experiences.
Race participants got running ready by sporting their shiny digital race badges on their social feeds, and shared their running journey on social media! To say “thank you” for the donations and commitment, we also gifted our runners with cool SPEAR gear, swag, and gifts, including t-shirts, bags, phone clips, and masks!
SPEAR’s Diversity and Inclusion Council, which includes a team of dedicated physical and occupational therapists, also contributed their expertise, knowledge and personal experiences to raise awareness for our cause—you can check out all our videos on our IG TV and Facebook video pages! From warm-up videos to personal life stories, there’s something for everyone!
SPEAR teammates were definitely in the spirit, too: across all our clinics, we hosted a Community Run Day. Each location had a fun time posing for photos together to build excitement for the event, and of course, letting our patients and visitors know how they could help support our cause!
The virtual marathon proved to be a great opportunity to do something collectively as a community, while still maintaining a safe social distance. With everyone’s donations, together we raised over $1,200 for the fund!
We are so excited to have created such an awesome impactful event that benefits a cause bigger than just running. We would like to thank everyone who donated, shared, and participated. We appreciate the contribution of your time and energy to such an important cause. As always, we will continue to look for ways to continue elevating our community and finding ways to create a more diverse, inclusive environment for all!
After a very long and difficult year, New York is finally on the rise. As SPEAR continues to help the city make a full comeback, CEO and Co-founder, Dan Rootenberg, was recently featured on NPR to discuss the hot-button topic of returning to office life full-time. Interviewed by Audie Cornish, Dan expressed his support for coming back in: “I do believe that people learn from each other more. There’s more collaboration. There’s Zoom fatigue. I mean, I’m on so many Zoom meetings. It’s, you know, it’s really exhausting after a while. And so there’s a totally different feeling when you get together.”
With the onset of the pandemic, life changes and everything else going on, it’s safe to say many people have been feeling stressed. People are constantly looking for ways to get rid of worry, which can also manifest as tension in the body. Enter: massage guns. A popular trend, massage gun ads, videos and informational posts have been sprouting up all over the internet. The question is: do they actually work? Our very own Ashley Rozek, PT, DPT, CSCS, and Clinical Director of our Grand Central – 3rd Ave clinic, and Donald Zerio, PT, DPT, TPI LII, is here to help bring some truth to light, recently contributing her knowledge to a CNN article exploring this very topic!
While massage therapy often noted to be very beneficial for recovery, it’s not always an accessible option for all. Especially during the middle of the pandemic, where social distancing was necessary, many people turned to other options to be able to alleviate those tight knots and pains in their muscles. Naturally, handheld massage guns became a easy solution.
Donald says these popular massage guns work just like a foam roller: “They do work in the same sense that foam rolling works. It is another method of soft tissue mobilization that provides the benefit of loosening up tight muscle tissue, which provides a feeling of relief and provides a short-term improvement in flexibility.” Donald also points out that you can easily injure yourself with a massage gun if not used correctly, which can worsen your situation. His advice? Talk to your PT! “We tell our patients to bring in their massage guns to a physical therapist so we can demonstrate how to use the different percussion heads and vary the depth and speed for specific muscle groups.”
While Ashley also believes these massage guns are good for recovery and pre-workout, she stresses: “it is important to come see a physical therapist and learn how to safely and correctly use the gun on your body so you can effectively use it at home.” It’s always best to get professional advice from a physical therapist to ensure you’re occupying the right tool for your specific needs.
