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Meet Davis Koh of Koh Physical Therapy Lab in Irvine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Davis Koh.

Davis, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My physical therapy journey began on the recommendation of a counselor at UCLA. Since then, my journey has led me to love all things about physical therapy. My career has encompassed PT experiences in the cardiac and neuro rehabilitation settings, pediatric and geriatric depts, burn units, psych wards, home health, skilled nursing facilities, Olympic teams internationally, concert tours for Beyonce, Dancing with the Stars, and Carrie Underwood, pro circuits like the AVP Pro Beach Tour, ASP Pro Surfing Tour and the Mountain Dew Tour. With each stop, I have only grown to love treating people with my head knowledge as well as ‘hand knowledge’ more and more.

My approach to my craft and starting a physical therapy lab and a medical continuing education company was to build a strong foundation as possible. For example, after receiving my master’s in PT at USC, I was the youngest student to go back to get an advanced Doctor of PT in USC’s history. Before opening my PT Lab, I got my MBA from USC as part of building a foundation of business knowledge. In my first few years of opening my Lab, it was not unusual to spend over $10,000/yr in continuing education seminars to further build a solid foundation on my clinical skills already learned in graduate school. The desire to learn every year helped to parlay setting up a a successful continuing education company for PTs, PTAs, Athletic Trainers, Massage Therapists, Chiropractors, Medical Doctors and Occupational Therapists called Aquire. The company features over 12 instructors with myself teaching on average 30 seminars/year.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Learning to pivot with the changing times and endure the economic downturns nationally, insurance reimbursements, Medicare caps on PT, rising deductibles contributing to patients not using their insurance at all and regulations that have constantly changed has brought down some clinics unable to change with the times. When we bought our new building in Irvine Spectrum, it was at the height of the real estate market and when the real estate crash happened, almost 90% of the buildings adjacent to us foreclosed and construction for fwy extensions, shopping centers stopped. It was a hard time persevering through that situation but we were able to come thru by the grace of God and thru maintaining our differentiation from other traditional PT clinics.

Finding qualified candidates especially the new graduates. There are certain techniques we require all our clinicians to be certified in and also to be certified in any technique they employ on our patients. Many clinicians simply watch some techniques or exercise strategies on “YouTube University” and think they’re experts without the proper certifications and training. The idea of “insta-therapist” is a mindset that is hard to overcome from what we’ve seen esp in this day and age. But you cannot become an insta-concert pianist, insta-surgeon, insta-NBA player or insta-anything requiring a manual skill and technique.

Koh Physical Therapy Lab – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Koh Physical Therapy Lab name is very important and was trademarked for a reason. Obviously, because my last name is involved in the brand but also the Lab moniker is meant to show our PT Lab is a place to find the latest research and clinical applications of the latest manual therapy techniques as well as cutting edge modalities such as Focused Shockwave Therapy and Laser Treatments normally reserved for the pro athlete community like the Lakers or the Olympic Training Centers. Our techniques originated from all over the world from Great Britain, Spain, France, Italy, Asia, and Australia… No body part is ignored and every tissue level (e.g., muscle tissue, ligament, superficial/deep fascial tissue, nerve tissue, etc.) is assessed.

We also work on some uncommon diagnoses that are more niche such as pelvic health, prostatitis, TMJ, pudendal nerve entrapment, lewy body disease, erectile dysfunction, etc.

We also have unique advanced modalities such as Focused Shockwave Therapy by Piezowave. Currently used by over 30 NBA and NFL teams, fccused shockwave therapy uses a focused ultrasound beam to break up adhesions and scar tissue in the muscles, ligaments, etc. that we can’t reach with our hands. Per the manufacturer, we are the only facility with the Shockwave Therapy device in Orange County. This is the same for certain techniques such as Fascial Manipulation Techniques and Active Release Techniques where there are less than 20 PT’s practicing both in California. We also have a doc that’s the only PT currently certified as a Masters Level Fascial Manipulation and Active Release Techniques practitioner in California. Fascial Joint Pumping and Spinal Fascial/Myofascial Stretching exercises are some other unique techniques employed at Koh’s Physical Therapy Lab.

The last differentiator is a reversal on the 80/20 rule. Industry-standard is for the patient to spend 80% of treatment time alone doing their exercises or with an aide and then spend 20% with the actual PT. We flip that usual standard on its head and aim for 80-90% with the clinician and 10% with a lab tech for warm-ups, etc. In this world of insta-everything, spending a large volume of time of fluff does not work just like dial-up internet not working in a 4G LTE internet world. We aim for efficiency and accuracy in teaching exercises, manual techniques, concise education and that can only be done by the clinician. We often tell our patients you can do your icing, basic exercises, heat packs at home instead of wasting time doing at your treatment time and just get the meat of treatment without the fat.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Hard to say. Some patient testimonies. One patient with four months of the frozen shoulder was cured in one treatment. 38 years old patient with a damaged sciatic nerve from a botched surgery who couldn’t sit for more than 10 min and could not jog for over seven years, both symptoms cured, a pro NBA player who could not lift his arm or lift a 5lb. weight without severe pain for over nine months after a workout accident able to go back to full workouts in 4 visits, etc.

Being invited to be a speaker for the white coat and commencement ceremonies for USC School of PT is a great moment.

I am also very proud to be a part of FBI’s Infragard Private Corporation Section member as well as an FBI Citizens Academy graduate.  Also serving as a contracted Expert Witness for the U.S. Dept of Health and Medicare Division working on federal cases the last 6 years has been a privilege as well.

Pricing:

  • Focused shockwave therapy around $150-350/session based on LA and OC prices

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
KOHPT Lab

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