HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — For years, Franklin Lister did 500 sit-ups five days a week.
“It felt good,” he said. “I was going to mechanically reduce my gut.”
Then, something went awry: his balance. Doctors told Lister, now 74, he had Parkinson’s disease, but they were wrong.
“I tore some stomach muscles and it took my balance away from me,” he said. In the three years since he was referred to i’move, Lister has recovered to the point where he’s moved on from physical therapy at i’move, to regular workouts with the help of a personal trainer.
“I’ll never do sit-ups again,” he said, grinning. Instead, he works on a series of weight machines, guided by an i’move trainer. The Spring Lake-based physical therapy and athletic performance training company has facilities in Holland, Spring Lake (a stand-alone facility and in the high school), Grand Haven (also in the high school), Cascade, Rockford and Whitehall. Services range from nutritional counseling to physical therapy, personal and group training, as well as corporate contracts and work with area youth athletes.
Physical therapist Marty Sytsema co-founded i’move in 2005, with $25,000 and an 1,800-square-foot location in Spring Lake. Today he leads the company with clinic co-owner and physical therapist Jeff Clark. They and 18 other physical therapists provide a variety of services, along with a 6-member athletic training team, and nutritional counselors.
In addition to helping clients like Lister recover from injuries — regaining strength and muscle acuity while managing pain with minimal drugs — the i’move team works with high-school, college, and other athletes for elite training, along with baseline brain testing and post-concussion evaluation, and with groups and individuals determined to meet personal fitness goals.
In one Spring Lake location, i’move offers 15,000 square feet of indoor space — some of which is reserved for offices — with the bulk of the space devoted to workout areas and large-class spaces. The walls include easy-to-read charts depicting physical moves, with modifications based on what an individual can do.
The floor has markings to help clients spot correct distances for stands or stretches.
Outside, i’move boasts a couple of acres for athletes who need to test their soccer ball kicks, for example. And those working with one physical therapist are getting the skill and experience of all 20, Clark said.
“We’ve got a team of really talented people who share and problem-solve together, which really sets us apart,” Clark said. “One of the things we use is the 3-dimensional tweak: How does a person move forward and backward, how do they move right and left, sideways, and now do they move right and left, rotationally? A lot of people don’t break it down and think about it in those different directions.”
He calls that movement literacy, a skill anyone can learn. Being aware of how your body moves, and being aware of how you move through space, Clark said, is how people can prevent — or at least reduce the chance of — injuries.
People can use i’move services without a referral, Sytsema said, but should check with insurance if they need a specific condition treated. i’move office staff can help people navigate insurance. In some cases, health savings plans will pay for taking care of what Clark calls “those little aches and pains.”
Getting fit, Sytsema said, isn’t limited to making an annual New Year’s resolution that fizzles out. Physical therapy and routine fitness plans can reduce the risk of life-changing physical injuries. To that end. i’move also offers plans to area companies that can bring an i’move team into workspaces for two goals: to evaluate the workflow to spot injury risks; and help employees get and stay fit.
The benefits go beyond a healthier workforce, Clark said, by improving risk management and lowering on-the-job injuries and health insurance bills.
“You don’t need big equipment,” Clark said. “You don’t need this huge space. You don’t need the company to buy thousands of dollars of weight machines.”
“We just need a table, four walls, and gravity,” Sytsema said.
About the company name, i’move, Clark said: It’s a nod to the way a lower-case “i” gets attached to other words these days — and it tells i’move’s story.
“We loved the contraction, the “i” in i’move,” Clark said. “What do you want from i’move, and what can we bring to you? And that’s the beauty of it, everyone can (customize it): I’m healing. I’m learning. I’m training. I’m getting better.”
