Why MOR?

The start? An Ironman – a swim of 2.4 miles, a bike ride of 112 miles and then a marathon – a 26.2 mile run; all within 17 hours and scheduled for October 20, 2012. Then there was the local marathon in Atlanta the following weekend. The weekend after that was the Savannah Marathon in which my wife and I had participated the previous year in its inaugural running, so how could we miss that? And the next weekend? The Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon – one of my favorites and conveniently close to home so I have to run that one, right? (this completes what my wife would call the four-pete)
It wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t let life take over during the Ironman training period. Big mistake. Huge. So, I had calculated what training I needed to do just to finish the Ironman. The following weekend would be a “recovery” marathon – nice and easy. By the following weekend in Savannah, I’d be mostly recovered, right? So I ran it a little faster than the weekend before. Ditto for Chickamauga. Only thing though I was noticing increased tightness in upper leg muscles and a nagging feeling that I was doing something a little over-the-top (duh) – something that was not going to end well…Read More

Through a progression of her program in October Marie returned to tennis, to her surprise, without pain! Maintaining her relief with regular tennis and housework over approximately 2 weeks she was discharged from therapy to continue independently with her home program!
• Tennis player and regular exerciser with history of Lumbar fusion 2003
• Pain made worse with walking and awakening from pain each night
• Prohibiting ability to play tennis and exercise from late July through end of August
• Prior treatment included family doctor visit with x-rays and as pain persisted referred to an orthopedic surgeon receiving medication and referral to MidSouth Orthopaedic Rehab
• Marie did not expect to return to tennis.
• Evaluated in late August and treated over a 4 week period of time…
• She was educated in proper posture changes and specific movements to be done daily and especially in response to any returning pain…
• She began to sleep through the night
• Marie enjoyed a 3 week trip and cruise in Europe well in control of her pain in September.

The image above is the actual MRI of my patient, we’ll call her “Irene.” She came to me with back and leg pain that had been present for years on and off but worsening in the last several months. Her main complaint was pain at night after she’d been in bed for 1-2 hours especially if she had been on her feet a good bit earlier that same day. Prolonged standing as in when she was cooking or cleaning also would eventually bring her pain on and she would have to sit for relief. You may be thinking, “Yes, but I bet she’s not as old as I am.” Well, Irene is 78 years young. She was seen over the course of about one month and within the first 6 days she reported improvement. At 6 weeks she returned and explained that she had slept through the night, every night for the past week.
In preparation to share Irene’s story with you I offered the image to a friend, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in spine care with over 30 years of experience and regarded as one of the best in the area. In his words, the findings of this image are not associated with a good outcome but he stated, “as long as [posture and movement strategies] control symptoms and strength or sensory deficits are not detected, physical therapy at MOR is the best option.”
I just spoke with Irene today and she reports she is continuing to sleep well, without being awakened by pain. She also reports she’s standing as long as she’d like essentially without her back or legs hurting or becoming “heavy” to any significant degree.

When I went in to see Jason I don’t even remember how I hurt my lower back. It had to be returning to exercise after being inactive for quite some time. A combination of a spin class and kickboxing left me in terrible pain. I came into to see Jason with pain that wasn’t getting better and after ruling out injuries with my primary care doctor and gynecologist.
Right away, Jason was able to diagnose what was going on with my lower back. I was able to feel relief that same day. Jason gave me some exercises to do several times during the day and it helped relieve my back pain and within a couple of weeks I was feeling back to my old self!
I am so glad that I was able to get into see Jason as soon as I did. I am a true believer that physical therapy with Jason works!

As a CrossFitter, coach and box-owner, a cyclist, gardener, and fabricator I can greatly appreciate returning to my activities pain free thanks to Jason Ward. I first came to him after 6 months of chronic lower back muscle pain. After only 3 visits I felt dramatic relief and I was equipped with the tools and knowledge to continue my recovery. As a CrossFit coach, I recommend all my athletes to MOR to address any persistent aches and pains. Thanks to Jason, I have returned to my passions pain free!

I have been working out at Crossfit Mechanix for a year now. I have had two surgeries on my left knee, one of them for a torn ACL. I never thought I’d go without pain again. A few months ago, it got really bad. Chronic swelling and pain left me able to do very little, especially work out!
My coach told me about Jason. I was skeptical, but I went to see what would happen. After just a couple of visits, my knee was back to normal, which wasn’t great, but tolerable. After a few more visits and doing the simple movement Jason taught me, I am basically pain free! Swelling doesn’t occur as often, and I can do almost everything at crossfit!
He’s now working on the tendonitis in my shoulder. I tried an orthopedic doctor, got the shot, did their physical therapy, and saw minimal improvement. After seeing Jason and learning an-other simple movement, I have improved so much I’m now doing things I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do again! I have been telling everyone to go see him!

I came to MidSouth Orthopaedic Rehab in July of this year (2013) because my doctor referred me due to back pain. My problem began in October of last year when my back and legs began to hurt. The pain was bad enough that I could not stand or walk for even 5 minutes. I hurt a lot trying to cook or clean and I couldn’t exercise including Zumba that I love to do. I went to my family doctor and after an x-ray and starting on some medicine my pain only worsened so then was referred on to an orthopedic surgeon. I received an MRI and it was recommended that I get an injection. I didn’t want a shot and I asked for some other medicine but they said they didn’t have any other and would recommend the shot. I looked around for some exercises to do on the internet so I could get some relief. I had several exercises that I tried but I wasn’t getting the relief I needed. The new medicine wasn’t helping and the side effects just made me feel worse. I continued to have pain that was radiating into my legs and was getting worse. I had a lot of pain while I sat and it was affecting my ability to keep my grandson and do some part-time work as a patient caregiver…Read More

I’m a Crossfit athlete and I had an injured shoulder that I thought would keep me from competing in this year’s Crossfit Open. I tried to keep up with my training but I had to ‘scale’ many of the workouts, some I couldn’t do all together, because of the pain. A couple of weeks went by and my shoulder wasn’t getting any better. In some cases it felt like it was getting worse with some acute pain on certain lifts and movements. I even tried to baby it, so to speak, by staying out of the gym for a few days and that didn’t work either.
My friends at the gym recommended Jason Ward and I set an appointment. He trouble shot my injury, gave me 3 specific exercises to work on 2-3 times a day, and my shoulder got better within days. The improvement was steady, I was working out more often, and the best part was, I was getting strong again!! Bottom line: The PT kept me in the game.
If you’re an athlete, I’m sure you already know that working through an injury isn’t easy. I only hope that you will let me suggest that before you resort to surgery, prescription pills, or quitting all together, give physical therapy a shot. With Jason’s help, I was able to compete and pursue my fitness goals while I rehabbed my shoulder.

I began having pain sometime summer of 2008 as best I can remember. I did some yard work that required me to bend, pull, and yank small bushes (re-planting) and after that I started feeling some sensation in my back which felt like ants crawling at the right side of my spine going up and down. It would come and go…but in December 2008 I decided to see a chiropractor. It did not go away but somehow the pain did not worsen but if I do prolonged computer work or repetitive right arm movement, I would feel the pain.
So, from 2009 up to 2013, I have been to numerous clinics (Campbell clinic, Rheumatogist of Memphis, Semmes Murphey, Rehab etc. and MidSouth Orthopaedic Rehab (MOR)). I underwent an MRI each year for my cervical and thoracic spine and I was diagnosed with a bulging disc in my cervical spine and some arthritis in my thoracic spine…Read More

As a life long athlete (current MMA fighter as well as former high school wrestler and college football player), I’ve been pretty rough to my neck over the years. About 3 years ago my neck started having some sharp pains that just wouldn’t seem to go away. Eventually, it wasn’t just athletics that would aggravate my neck… everything started to hurt… you name it: taking a shower, sleeping, reading a book, driving my car, going for a light jog… I was in constant pain.
I met Jason at Faction Strength and Conditioning and, after a short conversation about my neck, decided I’d come in for some treatment. I HAD VERY LOW EXPECTATIONS as after a few years I was pretty sure my neck pain was basically permanent and had learned to deal with it.
I’ll save you the suspense: MY NECK WAS (AND STILL IS) SOOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER after just 6-8 visits. It still gets mildly achy here and there, but the sharp pains are gone and when it does “flair up” I just do some of the quick exercises that Jason showed me and the achy feeling goes away…Read More

I went to MidSouth Orthopaedic Rehab in July of 2012 referred by my doctor for back pain. My pain had started the prior November and was overall worse than when it first started. I had seen a chiropractor who adjusted me and gave me electrical stimulation and for a few days I was better but my pain returned. I didn’t have any specific things I could do when at home that I could count on to relieve my pain. I was taking an anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxer which gave me temporary relief. My pain was worse every morning when I got out of bed for at least the first 30-45 minutes. I wasn’t sleeping well, awakening about 4 out of 7 nights per week especially when I would roll over in bed. I was evaluated and sent home with some movements to perform very regularly all throughout the day. I have to admit, they were quite uncomfortable at first and I didn’t do them as well early on but Jason helped me understand the right reaction of my pain from the exercises and the wrong reaction so I felt better about doing them. I continued for several sessions and by mid August I remember not awakening when I was rolling over in bed and I could use my exercise when I began to hurt and control my own pain…Read More

In January, I had test directed by a pulmonologist that found spots in my left lower lobe of my lung. I then saw a specialist for surgery, and it was determined that my left lower lobe would need to be removed. During my first visit with the surgeon, he did not explain what to expect if I required surgery. Trying to be optimistic, I did not ask. I had my surgery on 3/21/13.
Removal of the lobe of the lung was a success, but four days after surgery I started having pain in the middle and sides of my mid back. It progressively worsened. One week after being discharged from the hospital, I went to the surgeon because of the back pain and was told it was muscles spasms and was given pain medicine. After one week of the medicine not helping, I went back with the same complaints (only worse) and was given another pain medicine and told to come back in two weeks…Read More

I’m Mike Knolton, 23, a coach at Faction Strength as well as a Crossfit athlete. I badly irritated an old back injury during training at the end of last year (2013). I could barely walk, work was miserable, and training was impossible. I tried to just ignore it and train through it; that went terribly. I then tried to rest; that didn’t help. Finally I consulted Dr. Google looking for any conventional physical therapy exercises and “stretches” that I could find. None of these worked (some made my condition worse). A couple months went by and every time I tried to pick training back up, my back would hurt like crazy. I was going nuts.
Finally I met Jason at the gym, and after one visit he had my back feeling better than it had in months. He gave me a couple very simple exercises to do as well as explaining in simple terms what was causing the pain. At first I was skeptical that there could be such a simple solution to a problem that had lasted months, but I did what Jason showed me and my condition improved quickly. Before long, I was back in the gym and functioning normally. I still use what Jason has taught me to this day to keep my back healthy. Jason is a solid dude and I would (and do regularly) recommend him to anyone.

Post-surgical collar bone fracture resulting from bicycle fall. 36 year old business owner and active cyclist Fell May 1, 2012 while mountain biking fracturing his clavicle. Underwent surgery on May 10th Presented at MidSouth Orthopaedic on June 26th for evaluation and treatment During our sessions an old knee pain was mentioned and we assessed that problem finding an initial favorable response reducing his pain with squatting and running. In 5 weeks Damian’s ability to perform daily routine tasks had been greatly improved and by 6 weeks he returned to cycling without any problems! “I felt like I was in good hands with MidSouth Orthopaedic.”