Month: December 2018

Dry Needling | Change the Game Physical Therapy: Ryan Godfrey HGP#38

Many people think of physical therapy, or PT, as “rehab”, or something you need after surgery or an injury. There are many misconceptions when it comes to PT like you need a referral to see a physical therapist, or it’s only appropriate for people who have had surgery or seriously injured themselves, or physical therapy is only exercise based. I admit, before meeting Ryan I had the misconception that physical therapy doesn’t work because it hadn’t worked for me in the past. 

Ryan Godfrey with Change the Game Physical Therapy is literally changing the game when it comes to managing pain, healing injuries, and getting people back to doing what they love. Ryan believes PT empowers individuals to take a pro-active approach to their health. He also believes Physical Therapists should be seen as the experts in musculoskeletal health, providing clients with a holistic alternative to medications, injections and surgery. Physical Therapists can also educate clients on the importance of lifestyle modifications, like nutrition, exercise, and sleep, to aid in rehab and athletic performance.

It is clear when listening to this interview that Ryan truly loves what he does but that wasn’t always the case. Ryan was working in a traditional clinic setting where his job was to see as many patients as possible in a day. However, Ryan wanted to work with patients on a deeper level, and have one on one time with each individual client. He wanted an opportunity to educate them on their injury, have adequate time for treatment and educate them on home exercises and lifestyle modifications to help them heal long term. In the traditional clinic setting, Ryan’s focus was on quantity of patients not quality. His job was to document and move on. The clinic didn’t care about quality as long as volume was high. Ryan had no real motivation to increase his productivity nor did he receive any praise or recognition for his work. The effort level to get clients better was low because there wasn’t enough time to spend with each person. Ultimately led him feeling that he wasn’t helping people improve in timely manner and he wasn’t able to follow his passion which is to get them back to the activity or sport they were doing before.

As an athlete I recently found myself dealing with a chronic issue that no amount of band-aid fixes could help. I had tried it all: massage, cupping, topicals, foam rolling, stretches, chiropractic care; all to no avail. I thought this was something I was going to have to “deal” with the rest of my life. I had heard about dry needling through my CrossFit Coach, Marissa, and I admit when I first heard the word needle, I was apprehensive. After doing research and talking to my extremely knowledgeable chiropractor, Dr. Dave Russ, I finally made the appointment to see Ryan. And I’m so glad I did.

Listen to this podcast to hear my story of healing, my journey of how I got better, and how Ryan’s journey has changed from unhappy employee to happy entrepreneur.

You can find Ryan @ChangethegamePT on Instagram and Facebook and learn more about his practice at www.changethegamept.com.

Hourglass YouTubeVideos from our therapy session: https://youtu.be/hxQylszDzOo |https://youtu.be/–Dk4xLzdrMhttps://youtu.be/wk0cNAUt75s 

Baseball Parents: Is Your Kid Good Enough? | Casey Clary HGP#37

Nowadays parents are clamoring to put their kids in the best sports programs, like travel baseball. Travel baseball is part of an $8 billion industry known as travel youth sports, where you have to pay to play. Youth sports has become a money making machine and it’s no surprise there has been an 8% drop in the last decade on the number of kids who play competitive sports because of the increased costs. Rec leagues are dwindling and in it’s place professional grade fields are being built so kids can play more competitively. 

Clary Baseball started in 2010 and offers player development baseball instruction and parent consultations. Casey Clary works with baseball players (and their parents) between the ages of 10 and 18 who are looking to get better and improve their skills. The sport of Baseball is always changing and in order to keep up with the competition players have to work on their skills, like footwork, hand eye coordination, and strength + conditioning. Casey found that through his 9 years of working with parents the question he was asked most often was, “is my kid good enough?” This question thrusted Casey on a journey to give parents as much information as possible about the world of baseball through his book: Baseball Parents: Is your kid good enough?

Casey’s love for baseball started at age 5 and he played all the way through high school. After his senior year he received a scholarship to a division 2 college, in a small town in North Carolina. After his college senior year he signed as a free agent with a Minor League team out of Canada, called the Winnipeg Goldeyes. He went on to play 4 more years signing with 3 other teams.

Casey doesn’t have many regrets, other than not staying back on the slider. He says, “the minor leagues are a lot of fun but they are also painful. It’s a cut-throat industry and everyone is a “sprained ankle” away from getting released. There are long bus rides and long flights that leave at 5:30 in the morning!” He didn’t make a million bucks but he got paid to play baseball! He says he learned a lot and he learned to listen!  Casey’s rookie year of pro-ball was the most challenging. He was good in college and everyone is good in the pros! He had to make adjustments and make them quick. He had to retain information and adapt daily. He loved it!

Casey is passionate about baseball and wants to share that passion with others. He wants to help other kids succeed and follow their dreams and he wants to help the parents understand what it takes to get their kids there. Casey says, “if there’s anything I can’t over teach it’s work ethicIf you want to get paid to play this game, you have to work at it. DAILY!” 

Learn more about Casey and Clary Baseball at: https://www.clarybaseball.comhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_j6U56ljsaBhD3p_nsC_HA | Social Media: @caseyclary

Show Notes:

Get Casey’s book – Baseball Parents: Is Your Kid Good Enough? https://amzn.to/2PuM6E0

https://www.clarybaseball.com