On Chol Hamoed Pesach four years ago, Michal “Micky” Porath and Jessica Lowy, both experienced physical therapists, planned their professional merger together in the lobby of the Granite Hotel. For four successful years, they partnered in Balanced Body Rehabilitation, a comprehensive in-home physical therapy service. As of January 18, these services will be expanded to a centralized location in their new offices at 111 Dean Street in Tenafly. Unique to the new venture is that their in-home services will continue along with their regularly scheduled daily office hours. Staffed by five physical therapists, the newly named Prime Orthopedic Rehabilitation will accommodate patients daily as well as in the evenings and on Sundays, in their offices as well as through home visits.
As members of Keter Torah and active participants in the Atara Sisterhood, the partners share many professional and personal interests. Porath attended Binghamton University after which she earned her master’s in physical therapy at Columbia University. She has worked at private outpatient orthopedic practices through Englewood Hospital and for five years worked with Sinai students at TABC, Ma’ayanot and, most recently, Heichal HaTorah. Lowy earned her master’s in physical therapy from Hunter College and holds a doctorate in physical therapy, earned through Touro College. She also holds a CMTPT certification in dry needling. The women are both mothers of children ranging in age from tots to teens who attend local yeshivot.
In their Travel Outpatient Clinic, Porath and Lowy treat the entire spectrum of orthopedic and neurological disabilities. In young patients, they attend to multiple fractures of the ankles and knees, and a variety of sports injuries, among many other conditions. In older patients they have dealt extensively with arthritis-related conditions: joint pain, follow-up therapies to hip and knee replacements, rotator cuff repairs, balance issues and any other manifestations of decline in function brought on by advanced age.
When asked what activities within their practice they are most passionate about, the answer was definitively restoring “quality of life” to their patients. For example, after suffering debilitating strokes, patients are often reduced to sedentary lives with greatly restricted mobility. Through the therapies they offer, Porath and Lowy are able to mobilize their stroke patients to upright positions where they are less at risk for bedsores and stiffness and more capable of standing and moving about, thus greatly improving their “quality of life.”
As part of their in-home visits, the partners treat post-surgical patients who are as yet unable to attend outpatient therapy at local hospitals. Their home visits during these transitional periods are highly effective and valued. They also allow for more one-on-one time with patients who need more attention, providing one-hour sessions with the same therapist. During their full-hour sessions, they provide equipment including balls, free weights, therabands and even larger devices such as pedal exercisers, mobile UBE arm bikes as well as portable ultrasounds and electrical stimulation (EStim) machines.
Key to their newly expanded practice, in addition to their office and in-house services, is the fact that all of their therapists have strong orthopedic backgrounds and extensive experience in treating all joints from the neck, shoulder and back through knee and ankle. Porath shared, “We are excited to be able to service the Tenafly and surrounding communities including Teaneck, Englewood, Bergenfield, Closter and Alpine, with flexible and accommodating hours and locations.”
To learn more about their services and their upcoming expansion, contact Prime Orthopedic Rehabilitation at [email protected].
By Pearl Markovitz
