ESPT Welcomes New Staff Member

Elite Sports Physical Therapy welcomed it's newest staff member in July, Smita Radhakrishnan, PT.

Smita received her professional degree in Physical Therapy from SRM University in Chennai, India in 1999. She has attended continuing education classes on various topics including Sports Massage, Pain Management, Management of Athletic Injuries, and most recently completed a year long course in Manual Therapy based on the Maitland concept.

Her philosophy as a therapist focuses on helping individuals improve their level of fitness, wellness, and quality of health, through awareness and understanding of their condition, along with the willingness to be personally responsible for their health and to put the appropriate effort required to maintain it.

Smita is multi-lingual and speaks Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam, in addition to English. Some of her other interests include Yoga, Reflexology, volunteering in the community, traveling, and spending time in Nature.

"We take pride in adding only the very best clinicians to our staff. We want to make sure that patients feel their care at our facility is nothing short of the best," says Jacon Chun, ESPT's Director of Physical Therapy.

We have received nothing but rave reviews thus far of Smita's work with patients. We look forward to people seeing just how good a physical therapist she is. We are thrilled to have her as part of the ESPT team, helping to serve the rehabilitative needs of the Fremont community.

For more information about us, check us out at www.espt-ca.com or call us at 510.656.3777 to set up an appointment.

Prevent Pediatric Sports Injuries With ESPT

As summer ends and we get ready to embark on another school year, that means student-athletes will be starting practice with competitions soon to follow. Depending on off-season conditioning, the coach's awareness of injury prevention, and the athlete's own physical development, some of these students will end up with aches and pains, while others will be able to avoid them altogether.

"What's most disappointing is the majority of these injuries are totally preventable," says Jacon C. Chun, MPT, SCS, ATC, CSCS, Director of Physical Therapy at Elite Sports Physical Therapy (ESPT). "Simple preventative measures such as adequate rest, hydration, flexibility, strength, and support, could mean the difference between sitting on the bench to recover or staying healthy and playing regularly in competitions."

ESPT is better equipped than any other clinic in Fremont to address the issues these young athletes face. With the only Board Certified Sports Clinical Specialist in the city leading the clinical team, you can be sure that each treatment program will be individualized for the injured athlete's particular sport and needs.

One key in treating young athletes is to remember that children are not little adults. Things that you can use in designing programs for grown-ups, need to be modified when you are dealing with an immature musculoskeletal system. "The last thing we want to do is cause more harm, when we are trying to do good," say Chun.

Another reason ESPT is more appropriately suited for these young athletes, is the fact that they can offer the most 1-on-1 Physical Therapist time in Fremont. With children, we can't expect them to have the same attention span as adults. So most children cannot be left alone to perform exercises. They need proper supervision and instruction at all times. This will allow for greater adherence to to proper technique and successful completion of each and every treatment session. This practice model is why we will afford the greatest opportunity for success when working with young athletes.

Combine our clinical expertise and first-class service with some of the newest, cutting-edge equipment and it's not hard to see why ESPT should be your first choice for an Outpatient Physical Therapy clinic in Fremont. Not just for young athletes, but for patients of all ages.

For more information about our services and how we can help you get rid of pain and get back in the game, contact us at 510.656.3777 or check us out at www.espt-ca.com.

Change In Physical Therapy On The Horizon?

In it's June 2010 report to Congress, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is recommending a policy option to exclude physical therapy from the in-office ancillary services (IOAS) exception. This would be a start in prohibiting physician self-referral for physical therapy services. A step that the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) supports and will help eliminate abusive financial patterns by these physicians and help maintain the quality of physical therapy care for patients.

In chapter 8 of their report, MedPAC highlights the rapid growth of physical therapy services provided in physicians' offices and shows that some of the services ordered by those physicians are not clinically appropriate. Specifically the report states that these ancillary services "experienced rapid volume growth under the physician fee schedule from 2003 to 2008... the volume of outpatient therapy services rose by an average of 11.4% per beneficiary per year."

Until there is legislation enacted to effectively end physician-owned physical therapy practices, our best advice to you as a patient is: Do your due diligence. You have the right to choose which physical therapist you go to, regardless of who your physician refers you to. And if they refer you to a facility they have a financial interest in, they are obligated to disclose that to you.

At Elite Sports Physical Therapy, we are committed to not only providing you with the highest level of care in the Fremont area, but we hope to educate you regarding your rights and privileges as a patient. We want you to feel empowered by having control over the quality of care you receive.

Feel free to compare us at www.espt-ca.com to any other facility in Fremont. We are confident that you won't find better clinical care, customer service, and cutting edge equipment anywhere else. We would be glad to answer any of your questions as well at 510.656.3777.

For more information about physician owned practices, check out our previous blog here.

Pilates Options Grow At ESPT!!

New to Elite Sports Physical Therapy this month is the EXO Chair by Balanced Body. This beautifully crafted piece of pilates equipment delivers a "unique and fun, full-body workout," according to the Balanced Body website.

The pilates chair gives therapists and patients a plethora of new exercises not previously available with other equipment. Challenging cardio and aerobic workouts can be performed with the chair and it is great for individual use by patients of all levels. From elite athletes to pregnant women to seniors, the EXO Chair allows for strengthening, flexibility, endurance, balance, and core work in a fun, new modality.

For more information about the EXO Chair or to sign up for classes with our pilates expert, Charissa Chaban, PT, ATC, please contact ESPT at 510.656.3777. Feel free to check us out at our website: www.espt-ca.com.

Physical Therapy Advice On YouTube

One of the most important things for any business owner, is the ability to communicate with their clients. Addressing their needs, is one very important way to ensure that you are being relevant and current.

In the near future, Elite Sports Physical Therapy (ESPT) will be posting videos on YouTube on numerous physical therapy and health/wellness topics. Be on the lookout at our channel at: www.youtube.com/user/EliteSportsPT. Subscribe and you'll be notified when we post new videos.

For a little taste of what we're about, check out this awesome promo video shot and produced for us by one of the Bay Area's Premier Event Filmmakers, Andrew Hsu, of StudioMSV:

Care Credit Coming April 1st

Beginning April 1st, even more people will be able to access Fremont's Best Physical Therapy facility. By using CareCredit to help cover medical costs, our patients can receive the medical care they need, when they need it.

We understand the difficulties people are facing in this economic time. With rising health care premiums and out-of-pocket costs, people often delay care for themselves because they are not able to afford even the cost of a co-payment (which insurance companies are also raising). With care credit helping to defray some of those costs, patients can now access physical therapy when it is necessary, not when it is convenient.

How Does It Work
CareCredit is basically a credit card that you can use in health care practices nationwide. From dentists to cosmetic surgeons, vision care to even veterinary medicine, CareCredit allows patients to start treatment immediately and pay balances over time with low minimum monthly payments. By using CareCredit, patients can also avoid dipping into their credit cards for health care expenses, saving their available credit for other financial emergencies.


You can apply for CareCredit 3 easy ways: 1) In person in our office, 2) Online at www.carecredit.com, 3) By phone at (800) 365-8295.

CareCredit can be used for co-pays, outstanding balances, and any durable medical goods that we sell. It can also be applied to charges for other family members and can be used at other participating medical providers. For more details, please check out CareCredit's website or call Elite Sports Physical Therapy at 510.656.3777.

iPod Giveaway Winner!!

The greatest compliment we could ever receive at Elite Sports Physical Therapy is the trust our patients place in us when they refer family and friends. In Jan/Feb of this year, we collected the names of all those who referred new patients to us for rehabilitation. These names were entered in a drawing for a 32 gb iPod Touch held today at our clinic.

Here we are drawing the name out of our magic Jack-O-Lantern:

Here is the winning selection- Can you read the name?


Congratulations to Paul Aboumrad for your referral and for your continued support of ESPT. Here's your super cool 32gb iPod Touch:

Go ahead- Go app crazy!!!!

For more information about our facility and to see why we are the sports and orthopedic physical therapy leader in Fremont, check out our website at www.espt-ca.com.