RANGELEY – ASCENT Rangeley Lakes Rehab, a department of Rangeley Health and Wellness, is pleased to announce the opening of their satellite physical therapy clinic at the Carrabassett Valley Academy Capricorn Facility located at 3197 Carrabassett Drive.
ASCENT continues to provide exceptional rehab services at their primary clinic located at the Rangeley Wellness Pavilion in Rangeley Maine and are excited to expand services to include Carrabassett Valley and surrounding area.
Heather Reed, Physical Therapist and rehab manager, has over nineteen years of experience practicing in a variety of settings including outpatient, skilled nursing rehab, acute care and home-care. Heather practices manual therapy and is certified in dry needling with advanced training in spinal manipulation. Jennie Lavallee, PTA has been practicing for over 19 years, also treating with manual therapy skills, and has been a certified Strength Training Specialist since 2001.
Our clinicians can provide treatment for back and neck pain, including chronic headaches, muscular, myofascial and soft tissue disorders, Orthopedic injury, Pre and Post surgical care, Sports injury of various joints, muscles and ligaments, Neurological conditions such as M.S., Parkinson’s disease, Stroke, and general strength, balance, and gait re-training. Our full ASCENT team also includes our skilled clinicians, Robin Ladd, PT with 31 years of Physical therapy experience and Roberta Hartigan, PTA who has been practicing 19 years. Erica Talbert and Denise Kennedy provide excellent service as Rehab Techs and are happy to help you.
“We are excited and pleased to be continuing our mission of providing vital health services in the western mountains of Maine. The expansion of ASCENT is the next step in the continuation of these services” says Jeanne Thorvaldsen, Executive Director of Rangeley Health and Wellness.
ASCENT is now accepting referrals and we are looking forward to serving the physical therapy needs of Carrabassett Valley and surrounding community. We accept many insurances including Medicare and also offer private pay options. Please contact ASCENT Rangeley Lakes Rehab at (207)864-3332, 25 Dallas Hill Road Rangeley, to set up your appointment for either location.
In regards to “Dry Needling”, potential patients should be aware that a physical therapist can be certified in this procedure by taking a weekend course. Also, physical therapists who perform “Dry Needling” use acupuncture needles though they call them “dry needles” as if there is a difference. Essentially they are practicing acupuncture without a license. On the other hand, a licensed acupuncturist will have at least 3500 hours of training.
Its good to see such a comprehensive skill set available to the community. It is sad though that only dry needling is offered, whereas to fully round off the range of treatmetns on offer it would be more efficient, effective and ethical to have a fully trained acupuncturist on board, who can cover all types of needling and help many ailments and diseases not just muscle pain.
I hope the community and medical profession will begin to support the acupuncture profession at what it does best and in turn we will all reap the benefits :)
“Dry needling” is a term adopted by PTs and Chiros to allow them to practice outside of the scope of their training and licensure with as little as 8 – 16 hours of classwork. In many states, the regulatory boards responsible for public safety have determined that “dry needling” is acupuncture and is only to be performed by licensed acupuncturists (or MDs) with sufficient training, education, and licensing. An official position statement was released by the AMA last year on June 16, 2016 supporting this determination. https://www.ama-assn.org/ama-adopts-new-policies-final-day-annual-meeting:
“Regulating Dry Needling
The AMA adopted a policy that said physical therapists and other non-physicians practicing dry needling should – at a minimum – have standards that are similar to the ones for training, certification and continuing education that exist for acupuncture.
“Lax regulation and nonexistent standards surround this invasive practice. For patients’ safety, practitioners should meet standards required for licensed acupuncturists and physicians,” AMA Board Member Russell W. H. Kridel, M.D.”
This type of motor point and trigger point needling is one small aspect of acupuncture; licensed acupuncturists spend over 3500 hours in education and training – in some states the educational and licensing requirements are even more hours than MDs spend in medical school! If patients want the best results they should see a licensed acupuncturist – we integrate motor and trigger point therapy (Now rebranded as dry needling) with meridian therapy, and other East Asian Medical principles and modalities in order to ensure patients receive a complete treatment for their conditions.