sports therapy

Excel Therapy Spotlight with Mustang’s Ryan Flanary

In sports and everyday life challenges, personal experience helps to create a winning strategy. And, when faced with overcoming injury setbacks, the first hand experiences of the physical therapists at EXCEL Physical Therapy provide a game plan for total recovery.

Ryan Flanary, physical therapist and clinic director at the Mustang office for EXCEL, recalls the his own first hand benefits of physical therapy while growing up in Henryetta, Oklahoma. 

“In high school, I played baseball, basketball and football and had some issues that involved me needing some therapy to overcome those,” recalled Flanary. “The great thing was that my cousin Mike Flanary, who is now a member of the Excel Therapy ownership team, was the one who helped me through those. Now today things have come full circle with both of us working together at EXCEL.”

A 19-year professional in outpatient physical therapy, Flanary enjoys the opportunity of giving back to today’s athletes by partnering with the Mustang Public Schools. 

“When you’re there you see the actual injuries happen and you know exactly how it happened giving you more of a personal relationship with the athlete,” Flanary said, “so when they come back for therapy, you’ve seen them in action so that you can better treat them and know what they’re going back to.”

The experience of Flanary and the team of physical therapists at any of Excel Physical Therapy’s 13 clinics across Oklahoma insure the development of an individual game plan. Regardless the injury, EXCEL PTs tailor to specific needs of each athlete on the high school as well as collegiate levels.

“Whether it’s cheerleading, tumbling and gymnastics or other times it’s football, soccer and baseball, it’s still the one-to-one relationships that get them back to the action,” Flanary explained regarding the wide variety of patients trusting EXCEL for their complete recovery.

“You see a lot of sprains and strains but there’s not one common injury, males or females. I also see a lot of ACL injuries, which are season ending injuries where you deal with the physical side of recovery as well as the emotional side of that athlete not being able to come back for that year. That’s again where the one-to-one relationship helps out to give the athlete complete trust in the plan to see their progress understanding there’s a process to getting that injury better and that we are going to get them returned to the field of play is our goal.”

Ryan Flanary has been voted Mustang’s Best Physical Therapist three years in a row based on producing excellent patient outcomes. 

And just like Flanary wanted to know when his setbacks required therapy, the first question remains the same no matter the age or the injury.

“I’m always asked how fast can I get back to playing my sport,” Flanary confirmed. “I tell everyone I’m going to return you back to action as soon as it’s safely possible. That way they know my goal is the same as theirs, to get them back, but we want to get them back safe.”

From youth, high school and college sports to the outdoorsmen as well as female athletes still competing in competitive adult leagues or everyday workers, Flanary and the team of specialists at EXCEL continue to meet the needs of all ages, treating the person not the sport while developing a relationship first and forever.

“I have a lot of people that saw me 12 or 15 years ago that are still coming in and now send their own kids or their nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles and other family members because of the individual care and therapy we provide at Excel,” said Flanary. “It’s a family of therapists who are solely focused on helping our patients find a way to total recovery in order to get back in the game.”

From Setback to COMEBACK… It’s all about RELATIONSHIPS

By Bill Huddleston

In sports at every level, winning championships requires talented athletes motivated by their coaches, all working together to create a team bond of strength that can overcome every challenge. The same can be said for the day-to-day commitment of Excel Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine to form a relationship with patients for a lifetime of care.

One of the many advantages of the therapist owned practice is the team at Excel Therapy including Shawn Mayes, PT/DPT whose journey to a career in Physical Therapy went through physical therapy.

“While competing in football and track in high school and college, I had six knee surgeries,” recalled Mayes, a 20-year veteran working in orthopedics and sports medicine in the Tulsa community. “I missed my entire senior year at Washington Community HS in Illinois, which got me to rubbing elbows with a physical therapist that knew how to push my buttons to get me better. At some time during that journey I said this is what I want to do.”

A lifetime journey of commitment fuels the efforts of Mayes as well as the team at Excel Physical Therapy that includes 13 locations statewide proudly serving Oklahoma including four offices in the Tulsa metropolitan area. Mayes and his team serve the Tulsa market at 51st and Yale.

“I love working with athletes, passionate about that, but athletes come in many forms. It can be the 8-year old that got wrecked on a trampoline to the athletes in their seventies. I just evaluated someone today that wants to get back to playing pickle ball. If it’s a sport or an activity, I’m going to work to get them back to doing what they want to do,” replied Mayes. “And at Excel Therapy, our team really cares about the patient, about the person, about the heart of the person. The decisions we make are not about business but they’re about people.”

Or as Mayes describes, at Excel it’s all about relationships.

“That’s probably the most fun part of physical therapy. It really is about developing a relationship with a patient, getting to know them, getting to know their goals and desires as well as their hesitations and their fears,” smiled Mayes, “and, then walking through that journey of getting them back to doing what they want to do. I would call it holy ground, that when you get to interface with a patient in an area of struggle, pain or loss and be able to be a part of their lives in that puts us in a high-trust category.”

Among the many advantages available through Excel Physical Therapy is direct access to get their patients on the road to recovery the very next day.

“Direct access means that you don’t have to have a physician referral to start your medical care. We can be the entry point for care for your sprains and strains as soon as something happens,” Mayes explained. “In Oklahoma, direct access is good for 30 days and if we can get you back and return to your normal activity in that time frame great but if not then you have to return to your doctor or go to your doctor to get a prescription to continue with therapy.”

Among the many success stories of recovery, the team of professionals at Excel Therapy provides the proper professional treatment for all kinds of injuries from back pain or ACL reconstruction as well as shoulders, ankles, hips and other orthopedic-related pain, they also specialize in helping men and women, boys and girls of all ages to prevent an injury. 

“It’s our passion at Excel Therapy,” said Mayes, “we’re about developing relationships with our patients for a lifetime of care. Not just one injury or a complaint, it’s a lifetime of care to get them and keep them at the highest level of function. That is the true joy of physical therapy and the game plan for success at Excel Physical Therapy.”