BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

There is a physical therapy place (Allegheny something...) in the same building as the food co-op on the Penn Ave side. I have no idea if it is good or not. It is some kind of franchise with several locations in the City. I believe it may be convenient to where you live (I'm in the same part of town). The only PT place I've used was above the Starbucks & Supercuts near Murray @ Forward. I went there for several weeks after I was sideswiped in my car during a snowstorm. They were great.

Have you tried getting into the South Side sports rehab center? You may need a referral from a sports medicine clinic to get in there, though. If so, maybe call the UPMC center in Lawrenceville (near 40th and Butler). When I had shoulder issues last summer, I was able to quickly get looked at by a specialist and get into the sports medicine center to start rehab.

http://www.alleghenychesapeake.com/

Maybe the place Pseudacris is talking about did some PT with them at their Baum Blvd. Location it was a good place. I've done PT at 3 different places and I'd say the amount of pre-analyzing was the best at this place. Dr. Elisabeth Wheeler was the actually physical therapist very nice and thorough.

Human motion center at allegheny general. They are great and always have openings at their federal/north office. You do need a referral or prescription. I'm well into my second rehab there and couldn't be more pleased.

FYI agh actually has much better ortho dept than upmc. Just not as much marketing $$

I have worked for both Health Systems and I agree with cburch. As long as UPMC is not monitoring this thread if they are I disagree with cburch.

Thanks, everyone!

After calling a bunch of places, I finally got on the phone with a very kind receptionist who did some finagling to get me in at the UPMC sports rehab place in South Side, which apparently has more flexible hours, so we will see how that goes. I'll keep all these in mind just in case though! The only reason I was trying to stick to UPMC is that it's the easiest thing to do with my particular brand of Pitt insurance, but if this doesn't end up working out, I'll call one of those Allegheny places.

You ought to look for a PT that is highly recommended by someone who has used him or her.

Most institutions have both excellent and sucky PTs. (When I say sucky, let your mind wander a little. I don't mean "just a little bad.")

+1 on Allegheny Chesapeake. Dr. Rajiv Sawhney saw me for a neck injury and was responsive when I told him one of my desired outcomes was to be back on the bike ASAP.

Hmmm. Well, I will probably keep this appointment since I don't want to have to wait forever to start getting back to normal, and I'll see whether this guy seems good, but I might call and see what Allegheny has in the meantime. Thanks! If anyone else has experience with anyone specific, that would be awesome to know.

I hope all is going well with PT.

If you have UPMC insurance your options are limited to UPMC/centers for rehab services for PT. I doubt UPMC has let allegheny chesapeake in their network because of the proximity to many CRS locations.

I work in a physical therapy facility in the squirrel hill area and know many of the other therapists around. If you have any trouble finding something that works for you (if you haven't already) feel free to PM me and i can offer some assistance

Thanks so much! Yeah, I did my homework a little better after posting this and found that out. I have another policy too, but everything is much cheaper with the UPMC policy, so I'm sticking with the South Side CRS. I started yesterday, and it seems like it will be fine. My shoulder felt pretty gross the first day out of the sling, but now that it's settled down a little, it isn't as screwed up as I expected it would be, so I'm not terribly worried.

(And I'm back on my bike this week, too! Much earlier than I expected! It's uncomfortable now and then—I can't really do things like pulling up on the bars when going uphill—but it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. YAY.)

This is a good time to mention Matt Tinkey, who does cycling performance fitting at the UPMC sports facility. If you need any cycling-specific rehab advice, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

The CEO of Allegheny Chesapeake is an avid cyclist who's done the MS 150 for something like 20 years. I've been to them twice for stupid injuries incurred during the running that I no longer waste my time with. I can strongly recommend the folks at their Edgewood Towne Centre office from personal experience.

Sweet, thanks!

That reminds me that I keep meaning to get properly fitted on my bike. I would really like to do that one of these days, but since I am not a fancy racer but instead a lowly commuter, I feel like a waste of fitting expertise. Hah.

Sounds like Allegheny Chesapeake is the place to go. I think if I ever have a more serious injury (not that I'm planning on it), I will definitely try to go there, based on these glowing endorsements. (Like I said above, I would now too, except for the insurance issue. Edgewood would have been a lot more convenient, too, considering how much of a pain it can be to get to the South Side on a bike. Damn.)

well, just be thankful you don't have to get to the south side in a car! >8]

A good fit is never wasted, even if you're only putting in a few miles a week. Bad alignment on a bike can cause some really awful damage that you might not feel for years.

That's a good point. I don't go particularly far or fast on any given occasion, but being on it at least twice a day every day adds up (either to awesomeness, or to some kind of weird stress injury)