Frank Pinto, co-owner of Butler Physical Therapy Associates, works with a patient Feb. 21 at the company's Butler office. Pinto says technology has evolved over the years, which has made his job easier in some ways, but harder in others.

Things have changed quite a bit since Butler Physical Therapy Associates opened 33 years ago in what used to be an elementary school on Institute Hill in Butler.

Namely, the technology.

What hasn't changed, though, is the way co-owners Terry Faber and Frank Pinto treat their physical therapy patients.

“We treat the weekend warrior the same as the high-profile athlete,” Pinto said. “If you are a bowler or a golfer, that activity is just as important to you as a high-profile basketball player getting back on the court.”

The ways Faber and Pinto get those weekend warriors, athletes and everyone else rehabilitated from their injuries has evolved as well.

In an exercise room, there is high-tech equipment with computer consoles that track every minute movement of the body.

Faber said to afford the equipment “we nearly had to sell our first born.” But he said it was worth it because it helps them better gauge the recovery of their patients.

“It's objective, so you take out the guesswork,” Faber said.

Faber and Pinto are just as thorough in their therapeutic approach.

“We do a lot of manual therapy,” Faber said. “A lot of hands on.”

And he gives out homework. Lots of homework.

He said it is necessary for patients to do exercises on their own to reinforce their recovery.

“If you don't do homework, you might as well not come,” Faber said. “That's how you impose a change.”

Faber also has noticed a disturbing trend in his field. He has noticed a lax attention to injury prevention.

“You have to know what to do, and you have to know what to try to avoid that will put you in harms way,” Faber said.

“That's what a lot of practitioners miss. They get you in, they do adjustments, they show you a few exercises and may use some physical agents to get you to feel better, but if they don't educate you on how to use your back safely, on how to use your arm safely, they have failed you.”

Faber grew up in Sharon and began his medical career in Pittsburgh before moving to Butler as the director of physical therapy at Butler Memorial Hospital. In 1981, he teamed with Richard Corbett to found Butler Physical Therapy.“I decided I wanted to do it myself,” Faber said.Corbett left Butler Physical Therapy five years ago.Faber and Pinto also have offices in Saxonburg, Chicora, Zelienople, Slippery Rock and Emlenton.“We try to provide care for people in the county so they don't have to go to the city,” Faber said. “We want to bring the big city to a small town setting.”Through the years both Faber and Pinto have seen tremendous strides in surgical techniques, which has changed their job greatly.That is one of the thrills Pinto gets from his work.“Years ago when ACL reconstruction surgeries first came out, we knew it was one year recovery from start to finish,” Pinto said.Now, that recovery time has been cut in half. That has made Pinto's job easier in some ways but more difficult in others, he said.“The athletes know that going in, so they have high expectations that we know what to do and are able to get them back in the court or back on the ballfield in that time frame. The surgeries are so good today that people have a third of the pain they used to have.”That gives the patient a false sense of their wellness and sometimes leads to problems, Pinto said.He has to rein them in and slow them down “to allow things to heal.”But Pinto does get great satisfaction out of seeing patients rapidly recover from their surgeries.“It is amazing,” he said. “People never cease to amaze you, in terms of their dedication, their devotion, their hard work.”Butler Physical Therapy isn't all about athletes and weekend warriors. It also conducts occupational and hand therapy.There, the goal is to get the patient back to work with the skills he had before his injury.Joel Nichols is the director of the Occupational Therapy and Hand Center. His interest in the field was piqued when he broke his wrist as a youth playing hockey.“I went through it as a patient,” Nichols said, “and I decided that's what I wanted to get into.”Every hand injury is different, Nichols said, and the challenging part is pushing the patient through the ups and downs, he said.“Some of the traumatic injuries, you hit plateaus,” Nichols said. “You have to get patients motivated to overcome that. It can be frustrating hitting that plateau.”The most satisfying part of Nichols' job is seeing the patient get back to the range of motion in the hand he had before the injury.“That helps motivate you,” said Nichols, who has been at Butler Physical Therapy since 2003.And that's the bottom line for Faber and Pinto.“That's tremendous satisfaction,” Pinto said, “helping people get back to the things they love to do.”

<B>Address: </B>301 First St., Butler<B>Owners: </B>Terry Faber and Frank Pinto<B>Phone: </B>724-282-4764<B>Website: </B>http://butlerpt.com<B>E-mail: </B>butlerpt@zoominternet.net<B>Employees: </B>30<B>What it does: </B>Physical therapy and occupational and hand therapy<B>Quote: </B>“We’d like to return people to active, healthy lifestyles.”Terry Faber, co-owner

Terry Faber