Corey Carr, athletic trainer, and Emily Jones, physical therapist, of ATI Physical Therapy said becoming part of the local community is of critical importance.

“Going out and getting involved in the community is huge,” Carr said. “Without the community, we don’t have people to see. We want to make that memorable moment with customers. We want them to go out and tell others about the good success they’ve had with us.”

ATI is doing that in a few different ways, Carr said. One of the ways they have gotten involved is by providing full-time athletic trainers at local high schools including Charles Henderson High School, Pike County High School and Goshen High.

“We provide Friday night coverage for football and do everything with that,” Carr said.  “We get to help them with their injuries and everyone gets to see us down there on the field being involved.”

Although sports medicine is most specialized area for ATI, Jones said the goal of the business is to get people of all ages and needs feeling better than they were before the injury that brought them there.

“Whether you’re a 13-year-old that got hurt playing football or a 65-year-old that tore a rotator cuff fishing, we pride ourselves on being able to get you returned to what you like to do stronger than when you came to us,” Jones said.

Carr said staying on top of the latest research in physical therapy practice puts the business on the front edge in rehabilitating injured customers.

“We supply them with evidence-based practice current in medicine,” Carr said .”A lot of places work off of what has been the norm over the years. We are evidence-based and heavily-researched.”

“We make sure we’re on top of our game as healthcare professionals,” Jones added. “We don’t do the same things every time with every patient. We like to mix it up.”

Jones said the goal of every therapy is not just to heal the injury, but to prevent it in the future.

“As much as we love to do rehab after an injury, we have a solid focus on injury prevention,” Jones said. “My goal is to get them as independent as possible with their own home exercise programs so that they don’t have to come see me any more.

As another way of reaching out to the community, ATI provides free injury screenings. Free orthopedic screenings are provided every Monday throughout the fall with Troy University physician Jeffery Dugas and two other fellows from Andrew Sports Medicine out of Birmingham.

The screenings can be made by appointment or drop-in. Injuries from motor vehicle accidents are not seen, and an insurance card and identification are required to get the screening.

ATI physical therapy is located in the Park Place Development between Marcos and Publix and is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.