Can I Answer A Question For You? (847) 257-5172 todd@modernathletept.com

I help Modern Athletes "reboot" their movement so they can live their best life, free from pain and limitation. This approach targets the root cause of symptoms, breaking the cycle of just managing them. Learn how to build a foundation that supports your sport or fitness lifestyle for years to come. Let me show you how to Reboot Performance.

Values

The goal of this website is simple: Is Modern Athlete Physical Therapy the right choice for you at this time?

Now, if your physical issue is new and barely disrupts your daily life, then you might not care much about the differences between one therapist or another.

But if your physical issue has been long-standing…

If it has tanked your ability to be active in the way that brings you genuine happiness…

If it makes you feel like you can’t be the person you want to be…

Then you may very well give a darn about who you’ve asked to help you. So if that closely describes your situation, then the rest of this page may be very useful to you.

Here’s why I say that…

When I’m looking into professionals or businesses for my own family’s needs, I like to look for core values that give me a deeper glimpse into what drives their choices and actions. Unfortunately, it’s often hard to find that kind of information on websites or other marketing materials.

So you can imagine that I wasn’t very happy when I realized that my own website had been missing the very same information as well.

So I’m correcting that now…

This page will show you what guides me. This way, you can clearly see the framework for how I operate, both personally and professionally.

And like I said at the top of the page, you’ll be able to decide if my clinic is the right choice for you at this time.

Below are some of the core values that influence my actions and choices in life. As you’ll see, each of these are hard to separate from one another.

  • Do the Right Thing
  • Honesty
  • Make an Impact
  • Educate
  • Treat the Source
  • Details Matter
  • Lifelong Learner

Do the Right Thing

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”

This quote, attributed to C. S. Lewis, has been embedded in my psyche for as long as I can remember.

My internal concept of integrity is what supports me. It provides the framework for my choices, yet it’s never something to be fully achieved. It’s always a work-in-progress.

So, just like the Golden Rule, I will always be cognizant of it. Not just for my benefit, but for my family’s, my community’s, and (hopefully) society’s at-large.

Honesty

This could be rephrased as “Do the Right Thing, Part II” because honesty is a pillar of acting with integrity.

But I single it out because I feel that being honest is the single most specific thing I can do for my clients to leave them better than when I met them.

In some cases, that means I have to tell a client that I’m not their best option. It happens — I don’t believe in earning a living through deceit.

If my methods aren’t what’s best for you, then I’ll tell you what a better option would be.

Trust is built on honesty — on consistent acts of honesty — and I know that I need to earn the trust of those seeking my help.

Because without their trust, how could I expect them to follow through on my suggestions and give their best effort toward realizing their goals?

Make an Impact

I have a daughter who gets a kick out of taking various online “personality tests”, and she likes me to do them as well.

A common finding of these tests is that I value service. It seems that my happiness is wrapped up in my contribution to the happiness of others.

That’s not a shocker to me. Of course I want to see my clients succeed! You wouldn’t expect anything less, would you?

However, each client’s version of success is unique. Specific to that individual. And weirdly, my roll in their success can be just as unique…

Meaning that sometimes what I thought would be a “helpful little suggestion” ends up being a powerful Ah-Ha moment for the client…

Something they later tell me was the turning point for making consistent improvement and getting them to not just better physical performance, but thriving again in the active life they want.

Educate

Helping clients see “the bigger picture” of what’s going on in their body is the key to those Ah-Ha moments.

Let’s be realistic — the body is freakin’ complex! Muscles, bones, connective tissue…There’s a lot there to unpackage.

Now add in the role of the nervous system to decipher where you are in the world, how you’re interacting with the world around you, and how that world is acting upon you…

Geesh!

But don’t worry — you don’t need to know it all.

However, there are very important tidbits that can make a world of difference. I believe it’s my job to present these to my clients.

It’s my job to make the complexity of what’s really going on make more sense.

Treat the Source

What are you truly seeking?

Do you want to get rid of the current symptoms? Or are you committing to go after the source of those symptoms?

This distinction is important.

For example, if you see the skillet on your stovetop is on fire, it totally makes sense that the first step is to put the fire out.

Yet that’s where most people tend to stop. The fire is out. The symptom is gone.

But when the fire restarts time after time, I think you’re going to start asking what’s really causing the fire.

That’s what I’m most passionate about.

(Not kitchen fires, obviously.)

I specialize in getting to the source of your symptoms (aka, the Real Problem). And getting to that source depends on asking questions that are too frequently taken for granted.

Muscles and bones get all the attention. But it’s the movement center in your brain — your nervous system — that’s deciding how you create and control movement.

WHY did your brain create weakness?

WHY did your brain create tension in the muscle?

WHY did it create limited motion in that joint?

If you want to avoid a problem popping back up again and disrupting life, or if you have already been suffering with prolonged pain, weakness, limitations, or subpar physical performance, then you’ll need to address those “why’s”.

(Hint: Simply strengthening or stretching the muscle isn’t likely to address the “why”.)

Details Matter

Through years of successes and failures, and loads of specialized training, I’ve learned to appreciate the little details that can be the key to controlling the nervous system.

What’s the key to squatting through deeper ranges?

Or running without knee pain in every step?

Or getting out of the car without the back muscles seizing up?

Details matter.

My clients hear three words over and over in sessions with me:

Recognize. Feel. Sense.

When you can recognize pressures and contacts, feel compression in joints, and sense activation of muscles, then you’ve armed your nervous system with the little details that matter in function.

You’ve shown your brain the control you desire — it’s the difference between your current predicament and where you want to be.

Modern Athletes learn to appreciate these details in order to both eliminate symptoms and to give them a performance edge to thrive in what they love to do.

Lifelong Learner

I’ve always been curious. Combine that with a sense of duty and it’s no wonder that I value continued learning.

There’s no better way to ensure more success stories (and reduce the number of failed attempts) than through learning.

And as luck would have it, there’s always more to learn!

“Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching.” Whoever said that hit the nail on the head.

Thanks for giving me your time. Feel free to reach out if you have a question or need some help. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

And always keep this in mind, if you’re tired of feeling limited by how your body feels then we should do a Discovery Visit together. It will allow you to see your body in a new light and what it will take to get back to the best version of your active self.

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