Episode 134: Physical Therapy for Fire, with Ali Heartman and Andy Anich
The good vibes are palpable when Ali and Andy talk about sports physical therapy and helping firefighters feel their very best. You're going to love this conversation.
Alison Heartman, PT, DPT, CSCS, is a Sacramento-based physical therapist, strength coach, and health and wellness coordinator for the fire rescue community in the greater Bay Area of California. She currently works in-house for Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, helping them develop and expand their health and wellness services, as well as providing one-on-one physical therapy, strength programming, and academy physical fitness. Alison uses that hands-on experience to consult and educate other departments in the area on the importance of proactive physical, mental, and emotional fitness programs to support their personnel. Her career goal is to use her expertise to support the fire rescue community and contribute to the growing development of health and wellness in this field.
Andy Anich is a sports physical therapist and certified strength and conditioning specialist. He has over 7 years of experience working with professional athletes, first responders, and the active general population. After receiving his doctorate degree, he focused his training and continued education in the field of exercise progression and strength and conditioning. Andy saw the need to put a stronger focus into a commonly missing aspect of rehab. The ability to train and educate personnel to manage heavy forces that are unevenly distributed to the body, similar to the mechanics seen in sports and the tactical workforce, has been imperative in developing preventive and rehabilitative strategies for first responders. Currently, Andy is a health and wellness coordinator, physical therapist, and strength and conditioning coach for Contra Costa County and Santa Clara County Fire Departments. His professional mission is to develop a gold standard blueprint for health and wellness that is reproducible and scalable for any department.
So what, now what?!?
An embedded and in-house physical therapist might not be immediately attainable for a smaller department, but there are many ways to bring the benefits of PT to your department.
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