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.”