ProActive Therapy has been invested in the Frankfort community for 25 years.
Arthur Nitz founded the privately own orthopedic physical therapy clinic in 1980. Eleven years later, Nitz and Terry Brown joined their practices together. In 2001, Michael Anthony joined the practice, and in 2007, David Lodmell joined. Combined, the four have over 100 years of experience.
“One of the best things is that this is our practice. This is a family-owned, private practice. We all own it. We are all apart of it. Other places around may have a corporate entity, but we live here. Our kids grow up here, and that’s one big thing that sets us apart,” Lodmell said.
Brown said families and patients are comfortable at their practice and trust them.
“I’ve treated entire families. I’ve treated grandmother, mother and now I’m treating daughter,” Brown said.
Anthony said their goal is to give patients a great experience, from the time they walk into the door until the time that they leave.
At the practice, the therapists direct treatment based on what research and evidence suggests is effective.
“If there’s research to support, that’s a treatment we are going to tend to use,” Lodmell said.
One technique recently adopted by the clinic is dry needling, a therapy used to relax muscles. It uses the same needles as acupuncture, but the two are completely different practices. All four therapists are certified in dry needling.
“It’s trying to affect the motor point within the muscle and the trigger points within the muscle just to shut them down. It’s the actual mechanical aspect of putting a needle in that motor point and getting it to kind of physiologically change its function and the muscle to relax,” Brown said.
Dry needling is one tool of many that they use to treat patients. Each therapist has his own specialty, as well. Nitz has a Ph.D. in neuroscience. Brown is a certified orthopedic manual therapist. Anthony specializes in post-operative rehabilitation and Lodmell specializes in manual therapy.
The therapists said they have amazing success stories coming out of their office all the time. Oftentimes, a patient will come in the office after going to a doctor who said they will never be able to get back to doing what they enjoy.
“They come here, and we work. We do a lot of things. The patient is invested in it. The patient works. Together, the two of us push things ahead, and all of a sudden it’s ‘I never thought I could do this again’ like swinging a golf club, being able to walk upstairs,” Lodmell said.
Every year, ProActive Therapy sponsors a 5k that benefits the United Way of Franklin County and WeWanna Play. This year, the Proactive for Life 5k was held in downtown Frankfort on May 11.
