The Carmel Physical Therapy Clinic helps student-athletes with sports injuries

CARMEL – You can usually find 16-year-old Ethan Cutsinger playing baseball.

The University High School sophomore plays for the Westfield Mustangs.

Ethan Cutsinger

But this summer he struck.

“I had a stress fracture in my L-5,” Cutsinger said. “That kind of slowed me down. I had a few injuries. The recovery took a while.”

He joined the Rehabilitation Physical Therapy Carmel team a few months ago to get back into the swing of things.

“We see quite a bit of shoulder and lower back area. Concussions are a big problem, especially in higher impact sports,” said clinic owner Katelin Koontz.

Koontz said physical therapy treatment can shorten student-athletes’ recovery time and allow them to return to their sport safely.

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And she knows it first hand.

While playing softball in high school, she tore her meniscus, which changed the course of her life.

“Going through this process myself and seeing the impact my physical therapist had on my life and how much time he spent with us, how much effort and how much commitment he gave, made me say, ‘I want that,'” said she.

Koontz says these injuries can be devastating to student-athletes, both physically and mentally.

A physical therapist will intervene to prevent further injury and teach proper techniques to improve strength, flexibility, and balance.

“As much as an injury is physical, it can also be a mental battle. We talk about it a lot. I like to think of us motivating you and giving you your little victories so you can see all those little steps that lead in the direction you want to go,” Koontz said.

If you’ve been struggling with pain and limitation for more than a week and it’s causing you to change the way you work, it may be time to seek physical therapy.

Team Rehab offers free injury evaluations.

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