Convergent Gymnastics
Physical Therapy and Performance
You know you’re in the right place if you’re ready to discover the step-by-step path to reaching your full potential as a dedicated and passionate gymnast!
Welcome to
Convergent Gymnastics
A truly holistic (“CONVERGENT”), mindful, and personalized 1-on-1 program specifically specializing in:
Helping motivated gymnasts excel in their skills and routines by resolving pain and injury, mastering shapes, optimizing fitness, and maximizing overall gymnastics-specific physical performance.
This program is especially for those passionate gymnasts that love gymnastics more than anything… and just wish they had a specialist that knew how they felt and what their sport requires.
Convergent Gymnastics was designed for the gymnasts, families, and coaches that have come to realize that finding a healthcare provider that truly understands the intricacies and demands of the sport is rare, and there is an enormous gap between healthcare, “traditional” physical therapy, and gymnastics.
Step 1: Connect
FREE Path to Performance Consult
Provided Through Live-Video (Telehealth) or Phone
Like with any other goal worth pursuing, there will be numerous ups and downs on a gymnast’s path to success. Are you ready to take on unexpected challenges alone?
In times like these, you can be sure that Dr. Ketselman will personally be there for you, and help the dedicated gymnast reach her goals and realize her full potential.
Dr. Gene Ketselman, PT, DPT, Cert. MDT, CSCS, FAAOMPT
As a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists (FAAOMPT), Dr. Gene Ketselman is recognized by the American Physical Therapy Association as being among the most highly trained and specialized physical therapists within the profession.
In fact, Dr. Ketselman’s Fellowship status places him in the top 2.5% of the most highly trained and specialized Orthopedic and Manual physical therapists in the United States.
Furthermore, Dr. Ketselman converges specialized physical therapy with his extensive background in strength and conditioning as well as gymnastics-specific rehab and training.
In addition to treating and training gymnasts within the clinical setting, Dr. Ketselman serves the role as a health and performance consultant for competitive teams, which includes being on-site during practices, communicating closely with the coaches, and providing on-site treatment and training when necessary.
Lastly, when appropriate Dr. Ketselman incorporates methods from his advanced training in wellness, yoga, breathwork, mindfulness, and meditation. The approaches utilized within this program are truly personalized and individualized, with a deep focus on progressing from pain and injury all the way to the highest levels of gymnastics performance.
Click below to connect
Connect to experience the Convergent Difference and see how we can help.
Step 2: Determine a Plan
The Convergent Assessment
Maximizing performance is undoubtedly the ultimate goal for any dedicated and passionate gymnast. But there is much more to performance enhancement than training hard.
The Convergent Gymnastics program aims to go beyond traditional approaches to recovery and performance-enhancement by placing direct focus on the Convergent Pillars of Wellness:
- State: Balancing stress and recovery
- Nutrition: Fueling the body with healing nutrition
- Movement: Enhancing healthy pain-free mobility, strength, endurance, and control
- Sleep: Discovering truly restful sleep
- Connection: Developing strong, appropriate, and healthy connections with yourself and others (including coaches/teammates)
So what exactly should the competitive and motivated gymnast focus on? And how?
This detailed assessment will map out the gymnast’s individualized path to resolving pain and maximizing performance.
The Convergent Gymnastics Movement and Pain Assessment
- Specifically assess the source of pain, as well as screen the body regions most commonly injured during participation in gymnastics. This is based not only on my own clinical experience treating, rehabbing, and training gymnasts over the years, but also based on the most up-to-date research, documented injury trends within the sport, and collaboration with other top experts within the field.
- Determine whether current injury/pain exists, or whether injury risk factors are present that may contribute to future injury.
- Determine whether mobility/flexibility, body awareness, or shape control issues exist, and whether they a)contribute to current pain, b) increase the risk of future injury, and c) decrease the gymnast’s potential for performance during skills and routines.
- Provide a detailed plan on what to do next based on the results of the assessment.
Click below to speak to Dr. Ketselman about the Convergent Assessment in Bridgewater, New Jersey
The Convergent Gymnastics Physical Therapy and Performance program begins with the Convergent Assessment which is approximately 60-90 minutes in length, and always 1-on-1 (with the parent/guardian present) and without distractions.
The assessment is provided online through private and secure one-on-one live-video appointments (click here for additional details on our Concierge Telehealth approach). If live in-person sessions are deemed more appropriate, we will adhere to appropriate COVID-19 related guidelines (click here for additional details on our latest COVID-19 related guidelines).
Step 3: Resolve What's Holding You Back
Convergent Gymnastics Physical Therapy
Pain, setbacks, and uncertainty can come in many ways. If a gymnast is currently experiencing pain during daily activity and/or gymnastics training, or if pain was uncovered during the Movement and Pain Screen, then this pain becomes the priority and must be addressed first.
Always remember, you can’t move forward until you resolve what’s holding you back!
Bridgewater, New Jersey Location
Warren, New Jersey Location
Pain and injury directly affect the ability to reach maximal performance. Just think about it… doesn’t it seem likely that skills and routines that feel good will result in higher performance as compared to those that the gymnast dreads and avoids because of pain?
Furthermore, the presence of pain often alters the way a gymnast performs skills. These alterations result in poor form and bad habits, in addition to a significantly higher risk of further or future injury. Gymnastics is certainly not a sport you want to gamble with.
It is very well known among the gymnastics community that finding a healthcare provider that truly understands the intricacies and demands of the sport is rare, and there is an enormous gap between healthcare, “traditional” physical therapy, and gymnastics. Just consider whether you or someone you know experienced this before: Everything seemed to be going great and progress was made within the physical therapy clinic, but then things inevitably worsened or even fall apart when returning to the gym for normal practice and competition.
Convergent Gymnastics is here to help with that.
Sessions are provided online through secure one-on-one live video appointments. Under select circumstances, in-person sessions may be conducted.
Sessions focus on optimizing the Convergent Pillars of Wellness. The end goal is provide the gymnast with skills that allow them to be fully independent and capable of understanding and managing their condition.
In addition to specializing in gymnastics-related injuries and conditions, we make it a point to maintain clear and open communication and respectful collaboration with each gymnast’s physician, coach, and anyone else involved in the gymnast’s training and healthcare.
The specialized approach utilized by Convergent Movement and Performance focuses on conquering pain and returning to gymnastics in as little time as safely possible. We work hard to provide the gymnast with the ability to mindfully understand exactly what makes them better, what makes them worse, what is safe and not safe to do, and what will lead to optimal performance in the gym and in life.
Our Guarantee
Finally and most importantly, we guarantee that THE GYMNAST is the priority. Services are always provided 1-on-1 (with the parent/guardian present), with Dr. Gene Ketselman, for the full length of each session.
- Our complete attention and focus are on you and your needs for the entirety of each session.
- Rest assured that there will never be other clients, patients, or distractions present… unless you have special requests.
- Remain confident that ALL of your questions and concerns will be addressed each session, and throughout the course of our time together.
- You will never feel rushed, dismissed, or pushed away.
- You will never be handed off to an assistant or aide.
- You will never be left alone to do exercises, or left alone on ice, heat, or fancy machines that seem “cool” and “feel nice,” but make you question whether they really do anything meaningful.
- Your sessions will not consist of things that make you think “Well I can just do this at home myself.”
Click below to learn more about Gymnastics Physical Therapy in Bridgewater, New Jersey
It is during this stage that the gymnast will begin taking steps to take back control of her training!
Click below to begin utilizing specialized methods that allow gymnasts to recover from fatigue, soreness, pain, and injury…so they no longer negatively impact the ability to enjoy and excel in gymnastics.
Step 4: Focus On Both General and Gymnastics-Specific Fitness and Wellness
Convergent Gymnastics Conditioning, Strength, Fitness, and Wellness
Fitness (along with maintaining optimal wellness) becomes the priority as soon as pain is appropriately resolved.
Fitness involves the balance between movement quality, strength, endurance, and speed. Developing fitness has consistently shown to not only improve sports-performance, but also serve as one of the most powerful means of injury prevention. For maximal safety and performance, gymnasts must demonstrate both general as well as gymnastics-specific qualities of fitness.
We must always begin by ensuring optimal movement quality, which includes: flexibility/mobility, stability, control, and technique.
General movement quality is seen through the expression of the primary functional movement patterns of pushing, pulling, squatting, lunging, lifting, carrying, walking/running, and jumping.
Gymnastics-specific movement quality is seen through the expression of various body shapes performed in each skill within a routine, such as straight body, hollow, tight arch, pike, tuck, bridge, straddle, and split.
Once general movement quality is obtained, Convergent Gymnastics believes that a mastery of the gymnastics-specific body shapes is the cornerstone of maximizing performance within this one-of-a-kind sport. After all, I always teach my gymnasts that skills and routines are simply the transition of one shape to another. If you do not master your shapes, you will never master your routines.
Therefore we focus heavily on developing the body awareness and pain-free mobility, control, stiffness, and technique that is required to perform each of the general movement patterns in addition to each gymnastics-specific body shape.
This process begins with the Convergent Gymnastics Movement and Shapes Assessment, which involves a specialized one-on-one assessment testing each of the primary functional movement patterns as well as the major body shapes utilized in the sport of gymnastics.
Each pattern or shape deemed faulty within the assessment is then broken down joint-by-joint and muscle-by-muscle into all the individual components in order to determine exactly what the cause of the impaired performance is. This assessment is based on the convergence of years of doctoral clinical practice specifically treating gymnasts, with advanced knowledge of gymnastics skills and shapes.
Finally, as appropriate movement quality is developed within each primary movement pattern and shape, the focus then shifts onto developing movement and shapes-specific strength, endurance, and speed. It is only at this final stage of training that optimal physical performance is achieved.
Click below to learn more about Convergent Gymnastics Conditioning, Strength, and Fitness Coaching
Sessions are provided online through secure one-on-one live video appointments. Under select circumstances, in-person sessions may be conducted.
It is during this stage that the gymnast will finally begin to realize her full potential!
Click below to begin applying advanced methods of developing flexibility/mobility, technique, skill, strength, endurance, and speed…allowing you to become faster, stronger, and better equipped to dominate your path.
Step 5: Celebrate your success
