"Your Fitness Answer" Plays a Major Role in Scott's Life

What do you do when the insurance company says that your 'progress' has slowed down and they will no longer pay for your rehabilitation? You still cannot walk, talk, or eat. The money just isn't there to pay the therapy bills that run into the thousands of dollars each month for physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy. What you don't do is give up!!

Scott and I, his wife, found ourselves in this very position after a motor vehicle accident, causing severe brain injury, left Scott disabled. After more than 2 years of therapy and miraculous recoveries Scott and I were not ready to give up, even if the insurance company was. All Scott wanted to do was to walk and talk again. His progress was slow but he was still improving. Determined, Scott tried, without much success, various alternative therapies to help with his balance and speech, cranial sacral therapy to help with his walking, acupuncture to help with a safe swallow, and even scalp acupuncture in Detroit to help with his balance and muscle tone. We had been searching for the ideal place for Scott to go to continue his rehabilitation. We looked into the Cleveland Clinic. We looked into various physical fitness programs. We went to gyms and had no luck in finding a personnel trainer to work with Scott at home. Then I happened to see a flyer left at the main office of my place of work advertising a new program "Your Fitness Answer". The program was similar to those we had already looked into, but heck, it couldn't hurt to look at one more place. And that is when we found Steve. What Steve had to offer in his program seemed to be just what Scott needed. Plus it was affordable and in the local area, almost too good to be true. Scott decided to give it a try and bought a package of 10 sessions with Steve, his first of many.

What is unique about this program is that Scott works one-on-one with Steve in the gym for one hour with no one else there. Steve is Scott's personnel trainer. The setting is ideal with all of the up-to-date equipment. There is a $26,000 treadmill, one of a kind in the area that allows Scott the opportunity to safely walk without the use of a walker, cane, or parallel bars. This is the first time since his accident that Scott is able to work on improving his gait pattern and balance without holding on. This is accomplished by a specially designed vest with gait control straps . Balance, or lack of it, is one of Scott's biggest hurdles and he is now training his brain to develop a 'normalized' walk.

Scott and Steve quickly connected and developed a good working and personnel rapport with one another. Scott immediately sensed that Steve truly cared about him and has stated this many times over. Words cannot describe how important this is to the level of success in any rehabilitation program. Steve pushes Scott to his potential, never pacifying nor coddling him. Steve seemed to immediately know what Scott could do, how far to push him, what areas he needed to work on, and when to stop. He seems to know when Scott is not having a good day and is able to adjust the session so as not to hurt Scott or frustrate him, but still work on his weaknesses. This is one place where Scott knows he is getting the most for his money.

Steve is one of the first persons to use weights with Scott, helping to build his leg muscles. I have already noticed that after only 3 months in the program Scott's right calf and thigh, his weak side, have almost caught up in size to his left side. This, along with the work on his balance, on not only the treadmill but also a balance board, punching bag, and various other pieces of equipment, has seen Scott walking at home 5 to 6 steps on his own before loosing his balance. Scott has parallel bars at home and is now beginning to walk through them with a cane instead of holding onto the bars. What a beautiful sight to finally see this. Just recently Steve has taken Scott though Your Fitness Answer's Coed 30-minute Total Body Workout without any walking aids. This is during the least busiest time and with Steve walking behind him with his hands on his sides to catch him and give him cues on core control, focusing, balance and telling him to take his time. He now can even stand on his own and punch on the punching bags for 45 seconds. Scott no doubt is determined and works hard which is why he continues to improve but Steve is the one person that has been able to guide, direct, and help Scott with the necessary training needed to go that "one more step."

Steve is not only working to improve Scott's balance, gait pattern, range of motion of his right arm, the weak side, and strength of his legs but also Scott's stamina and voice volume. Amazingly he is able to incorporate all of this into the hour sessions. Weight lifting has enabled Scott to build strength in his abdominal muscles, the core of his walking. This not only helps with his balance but also helps improve his lung capacity and his ability to push more air out of his lungs with greater force. Walla, noticeable improvements in Scott's ability to effectively communicate. It is yet another small step but it is all those little steps that will someday make Scott live an independent life once more.

In case you have not been able to tell from reading this, both Scott and I are so very, very pleased with Steve and his program. Steve has welcomed Scott and sees him as a person with individual needs, strengths and personality, all of which has to be incorporated into any rehabilitation program that is to be successfully designed and implemented. Steve has developed a program for Scott that takes all of this into account. Scott continues to look forward to working with Steve 3 days a week. Steve makes changes in Scott's routine regularly not only as he improves, but also to keep the boredom out of the day and to work on Scott's whole being. I truly believe that if more therapists, trainers, nurses, and especially doctors would take the time to get to know their clients/patients, many more people would improve with much greater success. We know that Scott has a long way to go and that retraining the brain to do what one use to do is a slow process. But we also know that what Steve has to offer for the handicapped and disabled like Scott is unique, is hard to find, and is exactly what is needed to ensure successful rehabilitation. We are fortunate to have found Steve and his program, "Your Fitness Answer", and cannot say enough about the benefits Scott has gained. We anxiously and patiently look forward to the next small step that Scott with Steve's training will accomplish.

Kathy Buckenmeyer
Scott's wife