Dr. Michael Chua
Dr. Michael Chua is a Doctor of Physical Therapy whose career has been built in the settings where the stakes are highest: home health, skilled nursing facilities and acute care hospitals. His clinical focus is pain management, geriatrics and dementia management, and his approach is to find what a person can still do and build outward from there. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from the University of Perpetual Help Rizal in 1999 and his Doctor of Physical Therapy from the University of the Incarnate Word in Texas in 2014, graduating Cum Laude. He is a Certified Dementia Practitioner, a Certified Clinical Instructor and a Senior Fitness Specialist, and he serves as Chief Inspirational Officer at TN Therapy Outsource, LLC. He is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association, the Tennessee Physical Therapy Association, the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners, the International Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners, the Academy of Filipino-American Physical Therapists and the National Academy of Sports Medicine.
GeriHab is so amazing and caring. I feel so much better when the care team get done with me. I highly recommend them for your Physical therapy needs.
What guides the work.
Most patients arrive having been told the same thing by somebody: it is just age, it is just arthritis, this is what happens now. Dr. Chua does not start there. He starts with what you are actually trying to do, get up off the couch without a hand, walk out to the mailbox, keep living in your own house, and then works out which part of the system is failing you. Treatment is one on one for the full session, every technique gets explained while it happens, and progress is measured against your goal rather than a generic chart. In dementia care the same principle holds, and it holds for the family too: the person in front of you is still in there, and the way you approach them changes what they are able to do.
Family in Martin, and four books for caregivers.
Dr. Chua is married to Puppen, and together they are the proud parents of Alyssa, Akeisha and Izaiah. The family lives in Martin, Tennessee. Away from the clinic, much of his time goes to the people doing the hardest and least visible work in dementia care, the families. He is the author of four books written for them: MisUnderstanding Dementia, Time to Fly, 365 Daily Tips for Dementia Caregivers, and Caregivers Freedom Journal. He also keeps current through continuing education in physical therapy and dementia redirection techniques, so what you get in a session reflects the current evidence rather than the way it has always been done.
