I’m a 61-year-old woman. To some of you this will sound like an old woman. I was a Title IX girl and participated in any sport I was allowed to participate in and some I had to fight to do so. I ran cross country on the boy’s team because there wasn’t a girl’s team, I ran track and then was recruited for the first University of Michigan Women’s track team as a walk on because there only very limited scholarships allowed. Then I had babies and relegated my sports to jogging for exercise, an occasional 5k, 10k. Then in my forties I started running marathons, in my 50s I started swimming a mile every other day, did a few triathlons. Those old bones and muscles started aching. Badly. Debilitating, loss of sleep and range of motion. I was feeling every one of those training miles from 61 years. I did PT at other places and felt like I was being treated like an old woman no matter how much I told them I was still an athlete. Finally, I told my shoulder surgeon I’d like to try PT once more before going under the knife, but I wanted a referral to a place that would work with me one on one for my entire appointment and would not treat me like an old person but would listen to my history and understand where I wanted to be. I found that in Mike P. at Athletico Hamburg. He helped me through back and shoulder issues, pushed me when he could tell I was skating and set me up for success. So much so that I am now participating in CrossFit and continue to do daily PT exercises suggested by Mike. I am so grateful and every time I drive by an Athletico shop I think of Mike and my renewed lease on athletic fun and success.

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