Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt And Sandy Rieder.
Hi Matt and Sandy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Matt’s Story:
I’m good at hurting myself. Like, if it were an Olympic sport, I’d be on a Wheaties box right now. I’m an Army veteran, runner, scuba diver, climber, yogi, and weightlifter. In my younger years I used to surf the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, and played a lot of ultimate frisbee. We’re talking knee injuries, ankle sprains, a concussion, shoulder injuries, a venomous snakebite, elbow injuries, even a big toe injury that was way worse than you’d think it should be. And of course, back injuries and all the joys that come with that.
So yeah, I knew my way around a physical therapy clinic even before I graduated PT school.
When I got hurt, I always believed I could get back to 100%. Unfortunately the people taking care of me didn’t always share that viewpoint. They didn’t always listen, either. Heck, a few of them even suggested that the problems I was experiencing were all in my head, like I enjoyed being injured.
That one really got to me.
So when I became a physical therapist, I vowed never to let that happen to my clients. I approach every one of my clients with the assumption that they can reach their goals. Period. Why? Because believe you can or believe you can’t, either way you are correct.
That mindset and the lessons I’ve learned from overcoming my personal injuries serve as a roadmap for every one of my clients. I’ve been there. I’ve gone through it. I know the fear and uncertainty.
“Will I ever run again?”
Yep. Asked that question.
“Will my shoulder pain keep me from surfing or climbing?”
Check.
“Will my back pain and numb leg mean I can never lift weights again?”
Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
When I work with my clients, I don’t just give them a sheet of exercises and a “good luck” pat on the way out of the clinic. I stand by them every step of the way. I guide them on their journey from where they are now to the strong, flexible, confident person they know they are meant to be.
Sandy’s Story:
When I was in college, I loved adventures. I’d go on epic mountain bike rides with friends. I’d play ultimate frisbee. I’d fly across the country for the weekend. I did a 28-day backpacking trip in the mountains of North Carolina. Heck, I uprooted my whole life to move to Hawaii where I met my future husband. I was a total adventure-girl!
After I married Matt and we moved to St. Augustine, life started to sneak in. I started putting my needs on the backburner to support Matt through school. Once Matt graduated and got a job, then came kids. I love my kids dearly, and, like any good mom, I poured all of myself into my children.
When they hit school-age, I went back to work, and next thing I knew, I barely recognized myself. Life had become all dishes, and laundry, and work, and chores. I’d lost my spark and didn’t even know when it’d happened. I remember feeling tired all the time. I didn’t want to go out to meet people. I just wanted to sit on the couch and watch Netflix until bedtime.
I didn’t like how I looked or felt. There was no passion. No excitement. No fun.
Then I discovered a key foundational principle that turned my life around.
You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of other people.
I started taking a little bit of time for myself. Some yoga here. Some quiet time there. I started asking for help in the kitchen and with chores. And you know what? My family said yes. All of a sudden I started laughing again. I started looking forward to talking to my friends again. I started planning adventures again. I even lost fifteen pounds through simple, sustainable lifestyle changes.
Now, two years later, I look great and I feel amazing.
Best of all, I’m back to that girl I was so long ago. The transformation has been so amazing and life-changing, and I love bringing that energy to our clients.
Our stories come together in Renew Strength and Wellness. While Matt works on getting our clients’ joints and muscles back in shape, Sandy helps them work on mindset, accountability, and motivation. So our clients have a team working on their whole being: mind and body to create a version of themselves that is strong, confident, and ready for all of life’s adventures!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Matt here again.
Two years ago, shortly after we opened, I met a woman whose daughter had been in a car accident. She’d sustained an injury to her pelvis that led to chronic pain that nobody had been able to resolve. Treating pelvic disorders is one of my specialties, so I suggested that the daughter stop by so I could take a look at it. The mother asked what I did and I responded, “I’m a physical therapist.”
She literally waved me away and said, “Oh, she’s been to physical therapy before and they gave her all the exercises you probably would.”
And that was the end of that. I don’t know if the daughter ever got a solution to her problem.
I wish I could say that this was the only occasion that peoples’ experience with traditional physical therapy prevented them from accepting the life-changing help that we offer. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t!)
Prior negative experiences with physical therapy became such an issue that we actually changed our name from Renew Physical Therapy and Wellness to Renew Strength and Wellness.
I’ve been a physical therapist for 17 years, and 15 of those years have been working for large, corporate clinics. Believe me, I know that physical therapy has a reputation.
Crowded clinics
One-size-fits-all exercise programs
Overworked clinicians who are too busy to listen
Insurance rules that dictate what kind of treatment you can get
Heck, I wouldn’t want to do that either.
That’s the big challenge: helping people understand that physical therapy with us is a totally different experience. At Renew you will be heard, understood, and treated with personalized care that gets results.
It’s an important message to get out there. When someone does physical therapy for a few months and it doesn’t work, they think that no physical therapy will ever work. They figure they are doomed to a life of weakness, stiffness, or pain. At this point, doctors start talking about giving up athletic activities or getting surgery or all of the above.
Because once a person starts to believe there is no help, then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But the good news is that I’ve gotten better at talking to people. Instead of opening with “I’m a physical therapist,” I open with “I help people overcome injuries they thought were beyond help,” or “I help people stay strong, flexible, and injury-free so they can do what they love for the rest of their lives.”
That hits differently, and people instinctively see that this conversation is going to go somewhere very different than all the other ones. They start to believe that change is possible and maybe, just maybe, there is hope.
This is what really matters. You give someone hope, let them see their true potential, and that’s when lives start to change.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Everyone can get better. That’s the Renew approach. The minute you think that healing is impossible, it instantly becomes so.
Right now we’re working with a gentleman who, a year ago, couldn’t stand for more than 5 minutes at a time because of back pain. He’d tried everything and nothing was working. In a case like that it’s easy to take the safe route, avoid the possibility of failure, and simply say there isn’t anything we can do to help.
But that’s not what we do. Even with this case that seemed impossible, we said, “Yes,” and we believed that this gentleman could turn his life around.
Now, a year later, he has been able to travel. He’s been able to walk for a whole day around San Francisco. He’s returning to life. Because we believed in him and that caused him to believe in himself.
I’ve seen countless amazing recoveries like this one. And they always happened to someone who believed.
But you can’t just believe yourself better. At some point you have to actually do something.
We start with the feet.
This surprises some people, especially when the pain is in the hips or the back or the shoulders.
But guess what: The feet are the foundation of the body. If they aren’t working properly, then the rest of you doesn’t stand a chance. You’d be shocked how many problems take care of themselves once we teach people to use their feet properly.
But feet are only part of the picture. When someone has a problem, it’s a full-body problem. What your shoulders do affects your back. What your hips do affects your neck.
It’s all connected. Look in the mirror. You’ll see it’s true!
That means when we examine someone, we look at everything, not just where the pain is. And by looking at the whole body, you can figure out what the root cause of the problem is. That’s important.
Why?
Because if you know the cause of the problem, then you know how to solve it.
Everything else is just guessing. And if freshman-year US History mid-terms taught me anything, it’s that guessing is no way to succeed.
At Renew, we never guess. We test. And test. And test. We look at how every part of your body moves because movement is everything.
That’s big, so I’m going to say it again.
Movement is EVERYTHING!
In a vast majority of cases, the problem isn’t a tight muscle. It isn’t a swollen joint. It isn’t an irritated ligament or a bulging disk or an inflamed tendon. All of these are just symptoms of the deeper problem.
It’s movement.
That’s the thing that everyone always misses. It’s so easy to get caught up looking at MRIs, X-rays, CT scans. Trying to look into the body and see what’s wrong, when the answer is there in plain view: how you walk, how you raise your arm, how your foot hits the ground.
Find the movement problem, change that movement, and you change EVERYTHING!
Muscles suddenly relax. Joints suddenly loosen up. Inflammation melts away. Leaving behind smooth, comfortable, balanced movement.
That’s change that will last a lifetime.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
People can change.
Nine months ago, I met a gentleman at our local UPS store. He was planning on having his knee replaced because it kept giving out. It hurt, too. I asked if he would be interested in healing his knee without surgery. He looked surprised, but said, “Yes, I would.”
A few days later I spoke with him on the phone about his goals, our program, and how I thought we could help. He was very interested except for one thing.
“I’m terrible at sticking with exercise programs,” he said. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep myself accountable.”
Now, he is one of our most faithful clients. I honestly don’t think he’s ever missed a day. He’s one of the few who actually logged a session on Christmas AND New Year’s Day. This from someone who told me that he had problems sticking with programs.
That’s a radical transformation in identity and beliefs. He went from someone who identified himself as not sticking to things to 100% completion rates week after week after week.
Because of this change in how he views himself and because of his hard work and dedication, he’s not thinking about knee replacements anymore. He’s able to run after his grandson. He’s able to carry luggage up and down stairs on vacation without pain. He’s able to walk with his wife and go on bike rides. He’s losing weight and his belly is getting toned up.
People can change their self-image. They can change their beliefs. They can change their habits. And they can change the course of their lives. We have client after client who “needed joint replacement surgery” or “would never run again” and now they are doing great.
That’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned as a physical therapist and the lesson I always try to leave with everyone I speak to. Hope. You can change. You can get better. With the right help and mindset, you can accomplish anything.
Pricing:
- We always start with a free consultation phone call.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.renewstrengthandwellness.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renewstaug/
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