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STEPHANIE PREVE PTA

PHYSICAL THERAPIST ASSISTANT

Stephanie is originally from Massachusetts but migrated south to attend Elon University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in exercise science and was on the equestrian team, before returning north and earning her Physical Therapist Assistant degree from Bay State College. Stephanie is also certified as a Youth Exercise Sports Specialist through NASM. She returned to North Carolina in 2021 and loves exploring the state with her dog and husband, eating all the food, reading, and doing Crossfit (so she can eat more sweets). 

Stephanie was active in a variety of sports growing up but gymnastics quickly became her primary sport and also led to her knowing she wanted a career in physical therapy from an early age. Thanks to her own experiences in PT she experienced first hand how helpful and rewarding it was to help people feel better and achieve their goals so they can return to doing what they love. Stephanie has always worked in orthopedic physical therapy clinics and enjoys the variety every day brings with different patients and injuries. 

 In addition to being a physical therapist assistant, Stephanie is actively involved in the sport of gymnastics as a coach for over 10 years. She loves combining her knowledge of gymnastics and sports injuries with rehab and strengthening to help her patients and athletes become better, stronger versions of themselves. Her favorite part of her jobs is the ability to create individualized programs and exercises designed with her patients specific goals and injuries in mind.

 

DRY NEEDLING

Dry needling is a therapeutic modality utilized to treat soft tissue restrictions, lack of mobility, and pain. The needles can target "knots" or "trigger points" and provide great relief for patients. A thin needle is placed and causes a physical reaction within the body to help the muscles and surrounding tissue relax. The goal is to reduce pain, increase mobility, and allow individuals to strengthen through a greater range of motion. Dry needling is best used in conjunction with stretching and strengthening exercises thus improving overall function.

SOFT TISSUE MOBILIZATION

Soft tissue mobilization treatments involve hands-on techniques that are provided to address muscles or muscle groups that have become tight, tense, and painful feeling due to overuse, injury, or surgery. These treatments are useful for reducing discomfort in the affected areas and improving mobility of the surrounding joints. They are often used in conjunction with therapeutic exercises typically applied beforehand to allow for more freedom of movement and less discomfort while performing the exercises. This can allow for a more comfortable and effective treatment session.

CUPPING

Myofascial cupping is a soft tissue therapy that involves the application of cups either in a static or dynamic fashion on the skin and utilizing a decompressive force. This creates a vacuum effect that lifts up underlying tissues such as the fascia (connective tissue) and muscles to improve blood flow, reduce tension, and reduce discomfort in the targeted tissues.

INSTRUMENT ASSISTED SOFT TISSUE MOBILIZATION

Instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization, or IASTM, is a manual therapy technique where different types of instruments are used to aid in mobilizing the skin, fascia, muscles, and tendons to promote an inflammatory response and improve restrictions in the area. IASTM can help promote remodeling in your skin and tissues, increases collagen synthesis, and increases fibroblast proliferation. IASTM has also been found to decrease pain to the area, increase blood flow, and improve range of motion.

HYPERVOLT

The Hypervolt is a massage gun that has several different speed settings to provide a percussive deep tissue massage over large surface areas of the body. The device can be used to relieve tissue tension and increase blood flow to the area, which may increase range of motion and aid in soft tissue recovery. It has a wide variety of heads that can be utilized to target different tissues and parts of the body more effectively.

BLOOD FLOW RESTRICTION (BFR) THERAPY

Blood flow restriction training, or BFR, is the use of a specialized tourniquet that is used to partially occlude blood flow during the completion of targeted exercise. This type of training has been shown to be extremely safe with this device all while creating significant positive adaptations in muscle strength, size, and endurance. Although the use of BFR can be very challenging, there is extremely strong research supporting these positive adaptations while using weights that are as low as 20-40% of a person's one repetition maximum weight limit. For comparison, if BFR was not being used, higher loads of 65% or greater would need to be used to create the same gains we are trying to achieve. Being able to create these positive changes at a much lighter load, and sometimes in a quicker manner, can be a huge rehab and training benefit especially when we are dealing with a possible injury, post-surgical status, or other training demands that we need to balance out.

ALTERG

The AlterG is a specialized treadmill designed to reduce the weight-bearing load on the lower extremities of the body during exercise. It utilizes a pressurized chamber to uniformly reduce gravitational load and body weight by precise 1% increments. This unique feature enables patients and athletes to move unrestricted and pain free - restoring and building muscle strength, range of motion, balance, function, and fitness.

NORMATEC

Normatec is a dynamic air compression sleeve that aids in recovery from heavy training sessions to combat soreness. The dynamic air compression provided by this device surrounds the affected area and pulsates between different zones while other areas hold, improving the movement of fluid out of the limbs. This leads to faster recovery and recuperation so you can get back to the activities you love quicker. Normatec can be utilized on multiple body parts such as your arms, legs, and lower back/hips.

GameReady

The Gameready system is a clinically proven system that combines a powerful control unit with a complete range of innovative, circumferential wraps to integrate active cold and intermittent pneumatic compression therapies with greater adjustability, comfort, and convenience than ever before. The easy-to-use, portable system takes RICE (Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation) to the next level for your injury or surgery recovery. If you would like to arrange getting one of these devices post-operatively, let us know and we can help you do so.