What Makes Us Different
You are not just a mass of muscles, tendons, bones, and nerves. Your path to a healthier self does not simply consist of an exercise program and a gym membership. Your pain experience cannot be boiled down to dysfunctional soft tissues. Your reasons for seeking change are individual to you, your values, and what you seek out of life.
Your experience with Strength through Practice will be new and different. We bring to bear extensive orthopedic training and exercise science expertise to evaluate and treat a full range of musculoskeletal and neuromuscular conditions. We also recognize that for many individuals, traditional approaches have produced suboptimal results. They still are not able to do what is most important to them. They haven’t reached their goals. Their quality of life still suffers.
We seek to combine expert knowledge of exercise science, anatomy, physiology, and pathology, with a true understanding of how our brain influences all of these. By considering the whole self and the connection between mind and body, we seek to empower you with the tools you need for lasting change and the full life you want.
An Emphasis on Movement
There exists a seemingly endless list of pain interventions, discoverable for anyone with a few clicks of a mouse. Luckily for us, evidence exists for how well these various treatments actually work. Study after study, one intervention in particular continues to demonstrate its ability to provide real and lasting change: therapeutic exercise.
Real and lasting change is what Strength through Practice is all about. This is why we place such a premium on fostering a consistent practice of moving your body in healing ways. Our expertise in this area was built by serving high level athletes, helping them to heal and optimize biomechanics. Now we use this knowledge to help change the lives of those suffering from chronic pain, or to help build high quality movement habits for those with little experience in the realm of exercise.
The Missing Link of Mindfulness
As human beings, our brains tend to default to the ON setting. We go through life in a perpetual state of thinking, forecasting, judging, investigating, and processing, usually without even realizing it is happening. Though often harmless, when it comes to our health, this state can be very unhelpful. The mind becomes a runaway train, and without training and practice, it may be impossible to find the brakes.
“I can’t stand this.” “I’ll never feel like myself again.” “What’s the point in trying?” “This change I’m seeking is unattainable.”
When we are struggling with chronic pain, a progressive disease, lapse into a sedentary lifestyle, or other unwanted shifts in our bodies, change can feel overwhelming. Thoughts like these may influence our behavior in ways we don’t even realize.
The skill of mindfulness is about bringing awareness to these habits of the mind so that they no longer exert so much control over us. Training your brain is as important to healing as training the rest of your body, and mindfulness practice provides a way to do so. Incorporating mindfulness practice into physical therapy may offer a powerful synergy, the missing link to accomplishing real change.
What It’s Like to Work with Me
I listen. I want to develop a deep understanding for how your body feels and know how it affects your life. I want to understand the emotions around your pain experience. I want to know your frustrations, your goals, and what brings you joy.
Throughout our time together, we will work as a team to plan how best to achieve those goals. My practice will be based on you, your needs, and the most current research on how to serve them.
When you choose to work with me, you enter into a partnership. I will serve as your guide to reclaiming what you want out of life. I will empower you with knowledge of how your body works. I will explain what changes have occurred, and what changes are needed to get back to the life you want.
Throughout the course of my career, I’ve worked with professional athletes, helping to fine tune their bodies to perform at the highest level of human capabilities. I’ve also worked those managing chronic disease states, hoping to regain daily functionality of their bodies. At Strength through Practice, I bring all of these experiences to bear to help you make sustainable change to regain the life that you want.
What It’s Like to Work with Me
I listen. I want to develop a deep understanding for how your body feels and know how it affects your life. I want to understand the emotions around your pain experience. I want to know your frustrations, your goals, and what brings you joy.
Throughout our time together, we will work as a team to plan how best to achieve those goals. My practice will be based on you, your needs, and the most current research on how to serve them.
When you choose to work with me, you enter into a partnership. I will serve as your guide to reclaiming what you want out of life. I will empower you with knowledge of how your body works. I will explain what changes have occurred, and what changes are needed to get back to the life you want.
Throughout the course of my career, I’ve worked with professional athletes, helping to fine tune their bodies to perform at the highest level of human capabilities. I’ve also worked those managing chronic disease states, hoping to regain daily functionality of their bodies. At Strength through Practice, I bring all of these experiences to bear to help you make sustainable change to regain the life that you want.
My Professional Background
Ken Walrond, PT, DPT, CSCS
Through a wide range of clinical experience, I’ve developed a deep and profound love for helping people. I launched Strength through Practice after feeling like there were many clients whose lives would be enriched by what physical therapy had to offer, but who weren’t getting the care that worked for them in a traditional setting.
Prior to starting Strength through Practice, I was a physical therapist with True Sports Physical Therapy, the premier sports rehabilitation clinic in Baltimore. There I had the privilege of learning from and working alongside some of the best sports orthopedic therapists in Maryland. It was during this time that I honed my skills of diagnosing and treating movement pattern dysfunction in the context of helping athletes return to high level competition.
Prior to True Sports, I spent time in the intensive care unit at Prince George’s Hospital Center, where I was exposed to people recovering from complex and traumatic injuries and in the acute stage of incredibly trying physical and emotional times. I have also spent time at Union Memorial Hospital working exclusively with patients in the immediate days following joint replacement surgery. Here I observed the interplay between intense post-surgical pain and unrelenting drive for returning to independence.
I hold my Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Medicine, and I’m also credentialed as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.
A Better Physical Therapy Experience
It’s time to try something new.
Perhaps you’ve been in physical therapy before. Perhaps it didn’t work for you. Perhaps you’re tired of busy clinics, being juggled with other patients, and long stretches with ice, heat, electric stim, and stationary bikes.
With Strength through Practice, you will experience:
- One-on-one attention for a full hour
- Evidence-based assessment and intervention
- An individualized rehabilitation program driven by your personal goals
- The convenience of treatment right in your home
- An open line of communication between your physical therapist and other healthcare providers
- A whole-health approach designed to get you back to what’s most important
Home-Based Care
What better setting to foster real and lasting change than in the home environment? It is also likely here where a good portion of your new practices of movement and mindfulness will take place.
As clinicians, we see great value in performing evaluations and treatment sessions in the home setting, since we can see what daily tasks result in pain or are difficult for you to perform. It provides for the truest understanding of our clients and is a way for us to quickly gather the pertinent information we need to start helping you.