Pain relief, rehabilitation from injury, even improved performance are all reasons to visit a physical therapist. But Lora Clothier brings her empathy to the job and as an athlete herself her deep experience adds a unique dimension to her efforts.

Clothier is set to open BioJunction Sports Therapy, a "startup physical therapy clinic" in early to mid July at 3727 California Ave. s.w. depending on the construction schedule and permits at the corner of Charlestown and California Avenue in Charlestown Center. She will be the only therapist when it opens but she hopes to add four to five more therapists as she grows.

Getting to the root cause of someone's pain or other physical issue is something she truly enjoys. "I've always loved mysteries, I grew up reading Nancy Drew mysteries and I considered going into forensics. I like having you walk in and you tell me your back hurts and I get to figure out why."

Her approach to Physical Therapy involves a lot more mental assessment than you might think. Evaluation sessions last 45 minutes to an hour during which the patient answers questions "that might start you down the road with the patient and gives you some direction but things are not always readily apparent."

Even the position you sleep in might be affecting the way your bio-mechanics work.

Watching someone walk can give her clues as to flexibility and strength.

"When we walk normally there are movements that should be occurring" she said referencing arms swinging and the slight twist of the upper body, "if you watch somebody walk and you don't see that motion at all, it has to come from somewhere else. Instead of twisting at their trunk they might be twisting at their knee." Bio-mechanical problems like this, "for 90% of the people it's because they have bad sitting posture." Because everyone has something unique about how they move or how their bones, muscles and ligaments work she added, "I have yet to see the perfect skeleton walk through my door."

Clothier's background includes 8 years at G2 Sports Therapy in Northgate and she has an impressive academic background. She's a graduate of EWU with a BS in Exercise Science, and played volleyball for them too. "That's what initially got me interested in sports rehab," she said. She later went to University of Puget Sound and got her doctorate in Physical Therapy.

During her tenure at G2 she learned a lot about custom foot orthotics. An orthotic is a specially fitted insert for the insole or footbed, providing support for the foot only. Her new business will make these as well.

The facility will feature a limited amount of equipment but will have a recumbent stationary bike, a "shuttle" which she describes as "kind of like a leg press machine that you can do jumping activities on," a rebounder, a device like a trampoline that will allow patients to throw balls at it for shoulder rehab, treatment tables, and possibly an elliptical exercise device but likely not a treadmill right away. " I don't like watching people walk on a treadmill because it changes your bio-mechanics."

A carabiner system with tubing and bands for people to perform rowing motions while standing, or for rotator cuff rehab.
She will also have a TRX, a leveraged body weight exercise device, a Bosu Ball, a balance exercise tool.

Her philosophy however is to use as little equipment as possible and take a whole body approach to helping people resolve pain, rehabilitate after an injury, improve range of motion and enhance body performance.

She's providing customized therapeutic solutions because each person's problem is usually unique to them, given differences in weight, age, and other factors.

Even though many physical therapy patients are young (or sometimes weekend warrior) athletes, Clothier said that she enjoys working with the elderly too and she will accept Medicare plus all major insurance plans.

West Seattle BioMechanics will be open in a manner that best suits the patients. That means if you need to see a therapist at 7:30 in the morning or 6:00 pm she will adjust her schedule to accommodate. "I'm flexible to help people get more flexible," she said laughing.

She's still a very active athlete, recently competing in the 2011 USAV Open Championships in Dallas, Texas. This is her last major competitive effort this year however and will switch to primarily beach volleyball for the summer.

She lends her efforts to the Cascade Volleyball Club doing conditioning clinics for them. Her husband was interim Asst. coach at O'Dea High school two years ago and she acted as an unofficial trainer. She hopes to offer her knowledge and skills to local West Seattle sports teams too.

You can reach BioJunction Sports Therapy at 206-938-0860 or via email at contact@biojunctionsportstherapy.com.
The website, still under construction is www.biojunctionsportstherapy.com