Diego Buen, DPT
I am a physical therapist who specializes in orthopedic and sports rehabilitation. I earned my Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Hunter College within the City University of New York (CUNY) college system, and my Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the College of Staten Island, also within CUNY. I have studied under various mentors from different rehabilitative and sports & conditioning disciplines. In addition, I continue to spend my time reviewing the latest research, ideas, and perspectives on physical rehabilitation. Despite continually updating my knowledge base, what I have realized is that a universal life principle continues to apply to my work: trusting the basics and building from there will always triumph over every fad or trend.
What to Expect At The First Visit
The evaluation is your first visit. During that visit, we will be discussing everything about your reasons for seeing me. Physically, we will discuss your current and previous capacities- meaning things such as your range of motion, strength, endurance, balance, present-day regular physical activity levels, nutrition, sleep, etc. Mentally, we need to talk about how you perceive your injury/body, your beliefs about the injury, where you are along the injury continuum, where you need to be to return to previous levels. Throughout the evaluation, I will be assessing the areas of concern which means I will be moving different body parts, measuring angles, testing your strength of different regions, assessing your movement patterns, and assessing the tone of different muscles of your body. Everything is meant to be upfront with you so you and I have a common understanding of where you are. This can take anywhere from an hour to 2 hours. Throughout and after the evaluation, you and I will agree on a set amount of sessions based on the severity of the injury. Most cases will last about 6-8 sessions. All clients leave with a home program to perform. Each subequent session and home program will follow a progression to gradually lead you back to form.
Sports Performance Training and Recovery
Many times recreational, amateur, and professional athletes seek me out for both rehabilitation and recovery purposes. After any consistent bout of strenuous exercise, the body accumulates stress over time. This manifests as excessive muscle tension and fatigue which affects movement quality. When movement quality is reduced, performance drops. Often times, athletes are taught to "ignore the pain" which makes sense when in a performance context. During training periods, however, the body begins to launch a series of compensations to make up for the fact that something is not working properly (or at all), which causes more imbalances, instabilities, and greater risk of more injury. All athletes need to learn how to listen to their bodies. Not working on the skill of listening to your body results in a recurrent cycle of injury. As treatment, I use a variety of manual therapies such as active-isolated flexibility and massage techniques to encourage blood flow to oxygenate the muscles of the body and flush out the metabolic wastes that impact performance.
