Julie Burnham - Mom
(Round Rock, Texas)
Testimonial
Some people claim how well my daughter
Amy is doing today is a miracle. I do believe in miracles but I will tell
you without a doubt how Amy is doing today is due to the talents and knowledge
of the one and only Ken Moench. If you have a competitive athlete as a child
our story about Amy may be...
... familiar. However, living and dealing with the experience with
Amy was far from familiar but a roller coaster ride of a lifetime. I will
begin with telling you that we started seeing Ken in 1996 for our son Ray.
We continue to see Ken on a maintenance basis for our daughter Amy. To be
able to say a maintenance basis is truly a blessing considering we were
seeing him three times a week for a long period of time.
Our daughter Amy turned 12 on June 28, 2003. She is a high level competitive gymnast. Amy has been competing in gymnastics since she was 7. Amy is a very hard worker whosets her goals and pushes herself to achieve them. In the fall of 2001 Amy was competing at level 8.She started to have heel problems that were causing her severe pain and were interfering with her training. We like most parents began addressing the problem from the traditional medical standpoint. We took Amy to her primary doctor then on to several orthopedic doctors. The medical diagnosis was Severs disease. Amy had to take time off training and wear a cast boot for several months. To a competitive gymnast this treatment was devastating. Her heels did not get better.
Amy continued to train and compete in pain. Not only did she have heel pain but, she started having severe lower back pain. I can remember days I would go to the gym topick her up and she would be trying her best to train and she would have the look of complete and severe pain in her eyes. Many days there were tears, which not only broke my heart but made me seriously question whether to allow my daughter to do what she truly loved. Amy was training to compete in level 9 and try for a spot on the TOPS National team in the summer of 2002. The day came when training in pain came to a screeching halt.
The day came when Amy’s body said no more. Ironically Amy was not performing a difficult skill but she actually just bent over and could not stand up. Amy’s back popped and she couldn’t move. She was terrified and her coaches were beside themselves with worry. Her father picked her up and carried her to the car and then carried into the house. I will never forget that day. I was overwhelmed with fear for my daughter’s health. I experienced the spectrum of emotions from fear to guilt and anger. Most of all I just wanted Amy to be free from pain.
I took Amy to her doctor
who checked her and took x-rays. I was then sent to an
orthopedic back doctor in Austin. This is where the roller coaster ride
reached its peak. The orthopedic doctor said that Amy had either multiple
fractures in her back or spursfrom old fractures that never healed correctly.
He sent Amy to have an MRI and a bonescan. We were told Amy was not to do
any gymnastics and he did not even want her in the gym. Once again Amy was
stopped from training and had to worry about getting behind or lose progress
on skills she was just learning. We received the wonderful results that
Amy did not have fractures or bone spurs. However, the doctor wanted to
put Amy in a full body back brace to allow her back to heal. This is the
turning point of the story.
As Amy’s parents we have to rely on other people to do things for her that we may not be qualified to do. For instance, her teachers educate her, her coaches coach her, and her doctors help her stay healthy. There is a point as a parent where you start to question and you decide you know what is best for your child. Her father and I decided to take her to see Ken before we went through any other medical treatment from her doctors. You have to understand we sought medical advice and put Amy through medical treatment for months that was not helping and not cheap. We knew there had to be another answer.
We took Amy to Ken because
we knew first of all that he knew and understood athlete’s bodies.
He also knows how to get to the root of the problem. Ken does not just treat
the pain but he finds out what is causing the pain and treats both issues.
We outlined for Ken the entire situation from start to finish. From the
minute Ken understood Amy’s pain and what exactly from her daily workouts
could be causing the pain he showed extreme confidence that he could help
her. I look back on that day and I realize that it was Ken’s confidence
in what he knows and what he does that enabled me to put my child in his
care. I ask myself why I didn’t take Amy to Ken first before I took
her to the doctor thinking they would help her. The answer to that question
is that as a mother I needed to know that she did not have fractures or
skeletal problems that would prohibit her from being a gymnast or possibly
walking. Once I knew that she didn’t I also knew that Ken was the
best person to help her for the long term… not just band aid the
immediate pain.
Ken worked on Amy for three days a week for a couple of months. It was only a couple of weeks before she was back in the gym training. Amy’s coaches thought she would have to miss most of her level 9 season, with the hopes she could compete in her last meet to qualify for regionals. Fortunately because of Ken Amy not only competed in her first meet but she was the all around champion in her next meet and made it to regionals too.
I will be honest with
you the treatment from Ken is not a walk in the park. It is an
ongoing joke that you walk in smiling and walk out crying. With Amy it was
not a joke. I sat and watched every treatment holding her hand watching
her cry in severe pain. I also got to watch her walk out feeling better
and getting better every time she went. Ken also had Amy at 11 years old
doing something most adults including myself would never do. Amy had to
come home from her treatment and sit in a bathtub full of cold water with
4 or 5 bags of ice on her. This allowed all her muscles to heal at the same
time. As I watched Amy sit in this ice bath I realized not only how much
guts and determination my sweet child had but, how much she truly loved
being a gymnast.
Amy is now training for her level 10 season, and for the first time in a long time she is pain free. She calls Ken her hero and I call him my angel. Needless to say he is very important to us. Ken not only helped my daughter be pain free but he helped her learn about her body and how to listen to it. She continues to make stretching her muscles a priority and we see Ken once or twice a month just to keep Amy’s muscles loose.
When I sat down to write this testimonial I did not realize how painful it would be. I have been in tears off and on had to walk away and compose myself a few times. When I remember how much pain my daughter was in and how hard she fought to be a good gymnast even while in that pain it makes me very sad. I also am forced to realize how close she came to losing the dream she works for every day of becoming an Olympic gymnast. I write this testimonial not only because I believe in and love Ken for what he does but, because I have complete admiration and respect for what Ken did for my daughter and all the athletes that are realizing a dream. My hope from this information is to save other parents from going down a path blinded like we did. Parents want to do the best for their child. Trust someone who has been there you will give your child no better gift than Ken if they have pain from their sport. Ken not only provided Amy with hope he gave her back her flexibility and she is doing better than ever. God Bless you Ken.
Julie Burnham, Mom
Round Rock, Texas