Team at Art of Mobility Have the Right Touch

By DAVID WINER

 

According to an old idiom, one should never judge a man until you have walked in his shoes.

In other words, until you’ve experienced another person’s pain, it’s best not to make any snap judgments.

Thusheinth Sivarajah and his team at Misissauga’s Art of Mobility can truly empathize with Pakmen Volleyball Club members who have suffered from pain whether that be a bout of patellar tendinitis, patellofemaral pain syndrome, thrower’s shoulder, or low back pain.

That’s because, they’ve been there and done that.

You could say, his team of physiotherapists,  registered massage therapists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, nutrition coaches and performance and training coaches have walked in every Pakmen player’s shoes, or more specifically, their Asics, Mizunos, Nikes and Adidas.

As former volleyball players the group at Art of Mobility know how to treat, and at times, prevent the aches, pains and injuries associated with the sport.

Brothers Thusheinth and Thurginth played on David Leeder middle school teams, as well as Pakmen’s 14U and 15U teams while also representing Mississauga Secondary School.

And sister Tharaniya also represented middle school and high school teams, as did AOM’s patient experience coordinator Vahiny Mahendran.

All that experience has given the team at the Art of Mobility the insight a member at Pakmen will need to return to the court from a nagging injury sooner.

“Playing the sport helps us greatly in treating volleyball athletes effectively, because we know what the demands of the sport look and feel like for the player during the season,” said Thusheinth. “Actually, just a few months ago, we all played some beach volleyball at Ashbridges Bay for our clinic team outing. We always get a good reminder of how demanding the sport can be, especially when you are older.”

Professionals might suggest that rest is the best practice while recovering from injury. Thusheinth believes taking a break is not always the best treatment.

“Some therapists will try to get players to rest and take time off during injuries. However, with a

lot of injuries you can modify activities and sports and still continue participating in a safe manner. With our treatment style, fully stopping an activity is the last resort. With our knowledge of the sport we are able to come up with creative modifications that other therapists might not come up with.

“Playing volleyball and dealing with our own injuries from the sport helps us know what injuries volleyball athletes are vulnerable to,” continued Thusheinth. “With this knowledge, we can help design programs that can help clients prevent injuries from happening in the first place, because we know what injuries volleyball players tend to struggle with.”

The Sivarajah siblings are joined at the Art of Mobility with Alex Tymoshenko, Vahiny Mahendran, Justin Mah, Martin Wong and Swagath Muthuswamy.

“There are eight of us and the cool thing is that most of us have known each other growing up as kids,” said Thusheinth. “Our marketing coordinator, Martin, and patient experience coordinator, Vahiny , also went to David Leeder. And, while we all went into separate fields, our vision and goals aligned and brought us all together. Finally, our trainer Swagath we have known for 20 years. That’s why when people come to us and they always say it feels like a family atmosphere, it’s because we are basically all family!”

Pakmen president and founder Kelly Smith felt that family togetherness when he attended the Art of Mobility.

“I heard about (AOM) through the grapevine about a year ago and recently I developed rotator cuff issues in my shoulders and reached out to Thusheinth about treatment. I heard from some of the alumni that they see him and he is great. Sure enough, he was great!

“That family are salt of the earth people — no other way to put it. Always smiling, always positive, always fun loving, always helping people,” added Smith. “His treatment for me was exceptional.”

Pakmen head coach and alumnus Harmeet Sangha and fellow alumnus Nishaan Sodhi have also benefited from their visits to AOM.

“I’ve gone to multiple physiotherapy clinics and I can truly say the team at Art of Mobility are easily the most knowledgeable and helpful that I’ve experienced,” said Sangha. “I fractured my ankle a couple years back and been dealing with constant shoulder pain due to the amount of volleyball I play.

“Other clinics would simply massage the affected muscle then let me go,” continued Sangha, “but Thusheinth really opened my eyes and taught me about improving the mobility of certain joints which has really seen a drastic decrease in the pain I feel. They are the best in the game and I wouldn’t trust anybody else!”

“I’ve had the pleasure of being close friends, teammates, and now, a client of Thusheinth and Thurginth with AOM,” says Sodhi. “After knowing them for nearly 20 years, it was a no brainer for me to at least try AOM for a nagging shoulder injury that I first suffered back in university. Within four weeks I saw a noticeable improvement for something that had bothered me for years.

“Not surprising though,” added Sodhi. “Those two have always been stellar at whatever they put their minds to. This is no different.”

The staff at AOM have a varied clientele, but the majority of the population tends to be younger.

“We treat a little bit of everything including athletes (20 per cent), weekend warriors with day to day aches and pains (70 per cent) and seniors (10 per cent),” explained Thusheinth. “Our typical clientele (however) are from the age of 25-45.

“We tend to attract a younger population, because we do not give the same feel as your typical medical clinic. We have a very modern facility and approach to what we do. We tend to attract individuals who see taking care of their body as a lifestyle and they want to invest in their health. Fifteen per cent of our clients come back and stay with us after injuries to work on performance goals and to work on prehab, working on preventing injuries from happening in the first place.”

It’s that drive to create a first-class experience for their clientele that keeps the team striving to improve.

“What makes us a strong team is that we believe in a vision of building a brand that hopes to set a global standard to what the client experience should be at any healthcare facility,” explained Thusheinth. “We are tired of people losing hope in therapy, because they had a bad experience with a clinic that only cares about making money and seeing as many patients as possible.

“Also, we all share core values and philosophies. The main thing that we look for in a person is will they treat their client the same way they would treat their grandmother. To us, skills can be taught, but you can’t teach a person to care. We go above and beyond for our clients and we expect that from every single person on the team.

“Another thing that makes us a strong team is that we promote radical transparency. We try to be honest with each other when trying to give critical feedback. Every single person is held accountable including the owners. No one is bigger than the vision.”

To learn more about the AOM team, call (647) 695-3995, or visit artofmobility.com to read about the team members’ qualifications.

AOM currently operates out of the Revibe wellness centre at 2290 Dixie Rd., and will be moving to their own location at 125 Lakeshore Rd. E. in March.