Complete Physiotherapy

06/28/2025

We are delighted to welcome Nicole Beldzik to our team at Complete Physiotherapy.

She has over 28 years of clinical experience as a manual Physical Therapist and approaches her patient care with enthusiasm, compassion and clinical excellence.

09/07/2024

It’s a beautiful day out there - enjoy it with some restorative movement for your body and calming of your mind😁

08/23/2023

While many of us here in Colorado enjoy the many outdoor activities available to us, there is evidence that participating in outdoor activities at elevation (particularly above 10,000 ft) can present some danger. Particularly in men, sudden cardiac events present a low incidence, but serious (and partly preventable) phenomenon putting one’s health at risk – sometimes far away from medical treatment. Here are some things you need to know before traveling to substantially higher elevations from Colorado Springs. Preparation for your trip is key. Research shows that sleeping at or near the elevation you intend to explore, hike, or ski in for at least one night prior to engaging in moderate to strong physical activity strongly reduces likelihood of experiencing a sudden cardiac event. The extended period of time at elevation allows your body to respond to reduced oxygen levels, changes in blood pressure (and more specifically blood pressure at your lungs), and give your body’s nervous system to accommodate to these changes. It also allows you to eat and hydrate more appropriately at that given altitude. With elevation, the body must respond to lower oxygen levels by doing several things – one of which is increasing overall blood plasma volume. While this is a more chronic effect, the body does benefit initially from ensuring appropriate hydration in the first 24 – 72 hrs of high-altitude exposure. Being properly hydrated at elevation reduces heart rate, ensures more appropriate filling of the heart, and places reduced strain on the general cardiovascular system. On the first day out, current research recommends specifically stopping your activity of choice every 30 to 60 min for hydration and snack breaks. While that may negatively affect your timing or “flow,” it has shown to reduce serious medial events. Lastly, bringing all prescription medications, even if only used intermittently, is key to a high elevation trip. Individuals with any diagnosis surrounding cardiac or cardiovascular health are at increased risk of experiencing a sudden cardiac event. Those with blood pressure issues, minor arrythmias, atherosclerosis, and even clotting disorders may be negatively affected by the change in altitude. Ensuring appropriate medication is taken during the trip can be a lifesaving choice. Summer is a wonderful time to enjoy the beautiful Colorado outdoors – we hope that these tips help you and your loves ones do it as safely as possible!

References for research articles cited are available upon request.

12/28/2022

Did you know that dizziness and vertigo can be differentiated? While dizziness may be caused by a wide range of causes (dehydration, medication side effects, heart rhythm issues, etc), vertigo has a narrower set of causes. Dizziness tends to be a feeling of inability to catch one's balance, lightheadedness, or feeling a bit "off" generally. Vertigo often feels different with sensations of self or surroundings spinning or rolling. Both are unpleasant, but vertigo tends to be a more disabling and more temporary event. The good news is that vertigo can often times be treated, depending on the cause, by physical therapy! With techniques designed to address certain root-cause issues, improve coordination of neurological systems (vestibular, visual in particular), and emphasize functional use of the body, physical therapy can often reduce symptoms and promote return to prior level of function. If you're dealing with or suspect you have vertigo, let us assist you in your rehabilitation back toward normalcy!

Whether you’re feeling unsteady or like you’re spinning – get it checked out

10/31/2022

Balance is vitally important to our everyday function, consisting of three main sensations: somatosensation (pressure, touch, sensation in ligaments, muscles, tendons, joints, and more), vision, and vestibular sensation (from the inner ear). These sensations tell our brains about any disturbances to our equilibrium that might warrant response. When received by the brain, these messages are broken down and interpreted. Different brain centers confer with one another to interpret if a given message warrants action. If that threshold is met then impulses are sent via certain nuclei and the motor cortex to attempt correction. With these corrections, the body must make situational inferences to deliver an appropriate yet effective muscle force to stabilize the body. It all sounds a bit complicated, doesn’t it? That’s because it is! The body has feedforward and feedback balance strategies, meaning that not only does the body correct balance issues but also anticipates them and proactively addresses them before they’re a problem. It is an amazingly complex system that keeps us moving in a busy world. However, as we age, any of these systems can change – often for the worse. With time, our somatosensation, vision, and vestibular system do not work so well, limiting the amount of information our processing centers in our brains receive. Our nerve conduction speed also reduces, slowing the cross-talk between different brain centers. Lastly, our speed of muscle contraction, strength, and coordination also reduce. This all sounds rather depressing. “I must be at risk of a fall due to all of these!” However, that is not necessarily the case. Robust research has been done in this area, particularly in aging populations. It shows that the most effective way of improving functional balance is physical therapy. In-depth evaluation can show which parts of your sensory system are performing suboptimally. Standardized testing can tell clinicians which aspect of your balance is most affected – acquiring information from your body, processing that information, or sending out messages to muscles. Physiotherapists can even discern if you are having difficulty with feedback, feedforward, or both aspects of balance strategy. Once the right program has been customized for you, maintenance via home exercise program is highly effective… so please don’t give up if you’re feeling off balance. Instead, talk to your highly qualified PTs at Complete Physiotherapy.

09/22/2022

To bring in the start of fall, let’s talk about fall prevention! Although small falls may seem more like an inconvenience than event requiring medical care, falls in general are one of the leading causes of disability, trauma, and head injury in adults older than 65 years old. The most common fall-related injuries include head injury, hand and wrist fractures, and hip fractures. To prevent losses of balance and falls, here are some easy-to-complete tasks to make you safer in your home: 1) utilize appropriate lighting. Research shows that from age 20 to 80, individuals require roughly 4 times more light to see at the same level of visual acuity. This is due to thickening/hardening of the lens, reduced acuity of the retina, and other eye changes. 2) Remove loose or dangerous rugs in your home. If you experience a rug rolling/curling up or sliding more than once or twice when you walk by/on it, this is a clear sign that the rug presents a risk. Address this by using double-sided tape to adhere curling corners or rubber matting to prevent sliding. 3) Wear proper footwear. Avoid wearing flip-flop style sandals or any shoe that is flimsy in nature. When indoors, feel free to walk barefoot or wear a slipper with a back to it. Shoes falling off or getting caught are major risk factors for indoor and outdoor falls. 4) Be aware of your pets’ habits. If you have any pet that likes to walk between your feet or bump your legs while walking, this can predispose you to losses of balance. The best way to address this is to train the pet, but this may incur expenses and frustration. Other options include establishing areas of the house where the pet can be limited to via the use of baby gates or doors. 5) Lastly, always anticipate the layout or floorplan of your home. If you know there is a doorway with a raised threshold, be intentional while lifting your foot over that region. If there is a protruding counter that you frequently run into, take wider turns or walk toward opposite side of the path away from it.

These are some simple, but thoughtful recommendations to avoid falls, particularly in your home own. Let’s celebrate fall by preventing them!

08/12/2022

Here is some background information on Chris Kaster.

Chris grew up in upstate New York, graduating high school in 2000. He graduated Misericordia University in Pennsylvania in 2005 with a Master’s degree in Physical Therapy and a Bachelor’s in Health Sciences. After completing a year of clinical experience he obtained his Doctorate of Physical Therapy, from the same institution, while working full time. After college, Chris moved to New York City where he quickly recognized that while traditional physical therapy works well for some conditions, a large percentage of patients require specialized manual therapy to achieve their full level of function. He then began the process to become a Certified Functional Manual Therapist through the Institute of Physical Art. He completed this certification, with honors, in 2013. Since then Chris has furthered his learning by receiving advanced training in Cranial mobilization, Visceral Mobilization and brain injury/concussion management. His main focus has become manual physical therapy combined with a customized home exercise program. He treats all areas of the body including the head, neck, jaw, upper back, shoulder, low back, hips, knees, feet, hands, and viscera (organs and their surrounding fascia/connective tissue). He has worked extensively with car accidents/trauma patients, military and sports injuries, the running population as well as with dizziness/head injuries and concussion patients. Outside the clinic Chris enjoys hiking, running, mountain biking, snowboarding and exploring Colorado with his family.

08/11/2022

Welcome to the team, Chris Kaster!

08/11/2022

Breaking news!

We are very excited to announce that Chris Kaster MSPT, DPT, CFMT will be joining our clinic. He will be a wonderful addition to the current PT team of Brenda Feller, Brent Sallee and Mike Applebee.

More information to follow later this week!

07/08/2022

With summer being fully present, we've heard some of our patients’ heat-related exercise struggles. What are some ways to better approach exercise during the summer months? The first few can be obvious: if completing outdoor activities, aim to do them in the morning or around dusk to reduce direct sun exposure and overall temperature; bring slightly chilled water to help regulate excess body temperature fluctuations; keep exercise duration shorter than usual to minimize dehydration and upward body temp drift. Some other ways to maintain safety and performance during hot weather include drinking 12 to 16 oz of water about 15 minutes prior to exercise. This helps preload the cardiovascular system for performance and reduces the effects of a phenomenon called cardiovascular drift. Cardiovascular drift occurs when we get hot and begin to sweat. The body increases blood flow delivery out of the major blood vessels and into the skin where the process of sweating can reduce our temperature. Without drinking water before exercise, the body actually begins to lose precious fluid from our major blood vessels, reducing the heart’s ability to contract as strongly, increasing heart rate, and reducing blood pressure. As a result, cardiovascular drift has been shown to reduce performance, increase effort, and overall diminish quality/enjoyment of activity. This simple tip will help you feel better while maintaining or improving your exercise routine during the summer months!

02/23/2022

(2/2) While breathing is considered a largely involuntary action, we do have the ability to control and change the way we breathe. There are times where modifying our breathing pattern may be beneficial to us. Reasons for modifying breathing pattern include recovery from injury, abnormal posture (especially if it leads to pain), unusual pain/tightness in trunk, or even just plain difficulty breathing (shortness of breath). Perhaps the simplest place to start is posture. In many modern countries, the average population has developed a commonly found posture: forward head, rounded shoulders, and rounded mid back. The problem here is that rounding our back and shoulders causes compression on our lungs, diaphragm, and ribs at the front of our bodies. If our moving parts for breathing are “squished,” we will be less able to get air in and out and correspondingly exchange less oxygen and carbon dioxide. A quick fix to assist in this posture would be to gently sit up tall (small chest lift) and bring the shoulder blades back. If this is strenuous, there is likely excessive tension in the muscle and other structures maintaining the suboptimal posture. Posture can be improved upon quickly and readily if done right. However, there are conditions in which correcting posture will be difficult, particularly in cases of excessive or unusual spinal curvatures, such as excessive kyphosis, lordosis, or scoliosis. For these conditions, we recommend active management under a physiotherapist, as contributing factors will vary for each patient.

With injury to structures of the spine, ribs, or surrounding structures, the specific muscles of respiration may actually get turned off as a protective mechanism. This is called pain-related inhibition of muscles and is caused by the brain and spinal cord reducing electrical signals to muscles in injured areas. Often times, the specific pain producing tissue must be addressed to restore normal movement patterns affecting breathing. This is typically done under the care of a skilled physical therapist.

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