Sara Edlebeck, Doctor of Physical Therapy in Iron Mountain, MI is helping back pain patients avoid surgery through her physical therapy program. Mike Pelletier quickly and unexpectedly began having back pain. He travels a lot with his job requiring him to sit, which he has been doing for over 21 years. Mike was thinking surgery was a viable optioin, but decided to try physical therapy. “I was really at a standstill at my progression of healing and then she started working on me,” Pelletier says. “She stretches me out, she checks how I’m doing each week and really just keeps an eye on how I’m doing. It’s taken the improvement to a whole new level by far.”
Sara Edelbeck says back pain can be caused by several different things such as a traumatic event or something such as posture. Surgery might be an option for some, but Mike Pelletier believes it is not for him. He says, “That’s the beautiful thing about physical therapy. You get a specialist like Sara that knows so much about the spine and how to take care of it. You can avoid surgery, you really can. It should be the last possible thing you do. I’m feeling 85 percent right now, which is a long way from where I was. I think a few more visits and I’ll be back to normal and living a very active life.”