Physical Therapy With A Personal Touch At Park Avenue
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Dr. William VanVynck, DPT, ATC, wanted to become a physical therapy business owner to offer personal care, hands on and a one-on-one approach to patients. Long Islander News photo/Janee Law
By Janee Law
jlaw@longislandergroup.com
Dr. William VanVynck, DPT, ATC, wanted to become a physical therapy business owner to offer personal care, hands on and a one-on-one approach to patients. Branching out on his own, VanVynck kicked off his mission when purchasing Park Avenue Physical Therapy in March 2016.
“We try to keep it consistent with the same therapist each time they come in so they feel comfortable,” VanVynck said. “We don’t have that cookie cutter approach — we try to treat every individual differently, developing a protocol or a rehab program based on the individual, not the diagnoses. Everybody is different, whether it’s a different injury, or they’re a different age.”
Park Avenue Physical Therapy goes through a process to develop a profile for each patient. This includes a full body screening and an examination, which consists of the history, the physical examination, determining what the patients’ goals are, and being aware of what medications their doctors prescribe.
The 175 East Main St. location in Huntington offers rehabilitation of orthopedic conditions, neurological conditions, sports medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics and post-operative care.
“I really do enjoy working with all the postoperative patients,” VanVynck, 37, of Dix Hills, said. “It’s just amazing to watch how limited they come in post-operatively and by the time they leave here, they’re ready to run a marathon. You see the recovery over a period of time and seeing them get back to where they were prior is a great feeling.”
The 1,500-square-foot location has been operating in Huntington for more than 20 years and features treadmills, bikes, upper extremity and lower extremity strengthening machines, six tables in the front and three private treatments rooms.
This month, Park Avenue Physical Therapy will be introducing the OrthoAcu Method, which is a form of acupuncture that uses traditional acupuncture principles and combines it with modern scientific knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics.
VanVynck said the purpose of the method is to help people decrease pain, increase mobility and improve function.
“A lot of facilities are trying to add different types of interventions into their facilities,” he said. “We’re trying to stay away from having people use opioids, and people don’t want to have surgery necessarily right away so we’re trying to look for alternative approaches that will help in the recovery.”
A lifelong athlete, playing sports like football, lacrosse, basketball and soccer, VanVynck said he was drawn to the physical therapy field after witnessing several injuries occur on the field and court.
VanVynck obtained an athletic training degree from Sacred Heart University in 2003 and then continued his education at Sacred Heart and earned his masters degree in 2006.
After earning his doctorate in physical therapy from College of Saint Scholastica in 2016, he became head athletic trainer for the Plainedge School District for more than ten years, and was associate team physical therapist for Farmingdale State College and LIU Post from 2014 to 2016.
He is also certified through Titleist Performance Institute as a golf fitness and performance expert.
His goal at Park Avenue Physical Therapy is to have patients leave happy with a smile on their face.
“People come in and they want to get back to their prior level of function before they were hurt, they want to do things they enjoy and things they love so we provide that opportunity,” VanVynck said. “When they leave here, I want to make sure they have a great experience and are able to function optimally.”
