Dr. Cynthia Oleski on Primary Care and Prevention
In this series our physical therapists interview physicians practising in the community. Dr. Oleski is an outside guest, not a member of the Greiner Physical Therapy staff.
Why the best visit is the one where nothing is wrong.
A physical therapist from our team sits down with Dr. Cynthia Oleski, an internal medicine physician who practises primary care in Westhampton Beach. Dr. Oleski ran her own practice in Pennsylvania for more than twenty years before coming to the East End. She is a guest on this series. She does not work for our practice and does not see patients at our clinics.
Her patients here, she says, rarely come in only to fix a problem. They want to keep golfing, gardening, travelling and chasing grandchildren well into their eighties, and they ask what to do now to keep that going. The conversation stays on that question: why regular movement may be the most underrated thing in primary care, and how a physician and a physical therapist should share a patient instead of handing one off.
If you have been told to move more and are not sure where to start, our fall prevention and balance therapy pages explain how we build that kind of plan in the clinic.
The full interview.
Recorded for the Spotlight Series. About half an hour, and a good one to watch with a parent who keeps putting off a check-up.
What the two of them get into.
Movement as medicine
What regular exercise does for the heart, bones and mood, and why twenty or thirty minutes a day beats waiting until you can do more.
When physical therapy can come first
How Dr. Oleski screens for red flags such as numbness, progressive weakness or bladder changes, and why mechanical pain without them can start with PT before imaging or injections.
When to see your doctor before you start
Chest pain, breathlessness on exertion, dizziness or new numbness: the warning signs that mean a conversation with your physician before an exercise or rehab program.
Start Moving With a Plan
If your doctor has told you to move more and you are not sure where to start, or pain keeps getting in the way, an evaluation is the place to begin. Every session here is one-on-one with a licensed physical therapist, start to finish.
No referral is needed in New York for up to 30 days or 10 visits. If anything in your evaluation means you should see your physician first, we will tell you.
You’re all set.
We’ll reach out within one business day to confirm your appointment. If you need to speak with us sooner, call us directly.