Firm offers LC athletes physical therapy

Matt Proost missed the entire basketball season at Lewis and Clark High School this past year, his senior year, having blown out his knee the first day of practice.

For the past nine months, he’s practically lived at Physical Therapy Associates on the South Hill, undergoing rehabilitative therapy three times a week. He’s no stranger to the clinic. When he was a freshman, he hyperextended his knee, and as a sophomore, a shoulder injury brought him in for therapy.

And it didn’t cost his family a penny.

Physical Therapy Associates donates PT care to Lewis and Clark athletes who are injured playing for the school

As a result of all the care Matt Proost has received, he’s got a chance to resume playing basketball this year as a freshman at Shoreline Community College.

“Providing this service is a great way to give back to the community,” said John Risse, Physical Therapy Associates owner. “Our office used to be located right next door to LC, so in the early 1980s, I approached the school and asked if we could help.”

From that time on, a physical therapist from his practice attended boys’ football, basketball and baseball games, sometimes wrestling and now also girls’ soccer. They’d be the first ones out on the field, along with an attending physician, when an athlete was hurt.

Any follow-up physical therapy needed has been provided at no cost to the athletes, even after the practice moved to its present site at 3020 S. Grand.

“What a blessing this has been,” said Proost’s mother, Cyndi Proost. “At first, I kept expecting a bill, but one never showed up. They’ve been great to Matt, both with rehab for his knee and for the friendship he’s formed with Kelly (Risse, John’s son).”

Probably the most famous athlete to benefit from Physical Therapy Associates’ special care and attention is Erik Coleman, an LC grad who’s now a free safety with the New York Jets football team.

“He was in here a lot,” John Risse said, “probably every month with a knee, ankle or shoulder injury. What a great kid; he worked so hard at his sports, but for a kid his size, he has small legs. I told him I was impressed with what he’s done considering the skinny legs he has.”

The physical rehab and camaraderie he has experienced has convinced Matt Proost that physical therapy is a profession he wants to pursue. “I love what they do there,” he said, “how they work with athletes and fix our injuries. I want to do what they do.”

It’s an inspirational career field within the Risse family as well. When he was just a small boy, Kelly Risse began attending LC games with his father and was impressed seeing his father rush out to care for injured athletes. Now a licensed physical therapist himself and a partner in the practice, Kelly is continuing the tradition of community service to the young LC athletes — and he’s now rushing out at games when an athlete gets hurt.

Kelly Risse brings his own young sons – Mateo, 2, and Luca, 1 – to LC games with him. Some traditions are too good not to pass along.