Overview

Measurement Driven Rehabilitation Systems, Inc.

Measurement Driven Rehabilitation Systems is the parent company of Spine and Sport and Dynamic Rehabilitation, a private physical therapy company. The founders envisioned a network of clinics dedicated to personalized, active based, patient-centered care for orthopaedic, sports and work-related injuries. From the beginning, our guiding mission has been to improve the quality of patients’ lives by treating the whole person, not just the injury.

The company recruited well-trained licensed therapists who shared this vision and whose experience and knowledge would result in exceptional treatment outcomes. This combination proved effective, and the company quickly grew to include nine clinics offering comprehensive programs, including hand and upper-extremity, aquatic therapy, and functional capacity evaluations.

Our success during the past decade has been built on our solid partnerships with customers--patients, physicians, employers and insurance companies. We understand the needs of each and work hard to fulfill them. We are committed to exceptional customer service.

We offer patient-centered care delivered by licensed physical and occupational therapists at thirteen locations throughout San Diego County, Imperial County, Riverside County, Northern California and Idaho.. We accept most insurance plans—Medicare, PPOs, and workers compensation. Because we are a Medicare-certified health care company, you may be assured that we comply with all local, state and Federal standards and regulations.

Our centralized appointments coordinator will arrange an evaluation at one of our nine community-based clinics, near your home or work, usually within 48 hours of your physician’s referral. We will also verify your insurance benefits.

Our Story

The story of Measurement Driven Rehabilitation Systems Inc. and Spine and Sport (MDRS) begins in 1991 with the arrival of Scott Leggett in San Diego from the University of Florida. Scott, holding a masters degree in exercise physiology, was personally selected by Arthur Jones, the inventor of Nautilus exercise equipment, to head up a program using MedX equipment that Mr. Jones donated to the University of California San Diego (UCSD). Scott had previously served as research coordinator with Dr. Michael Pollock at the University of Florida, testing and researching the reliability of the innovative MedX equipment as a definitive exercise and strengthening tool for the spine that could also measure physical output. The donated equipment was to be the core of a physical treatment and educational center for MedX on the West Coast. Mr. Jones had previously asked Dr. Vert Mooney, then Professor of Orthopaedics at the University of California Irvine, to visit several facilities in Florida in order to see first hand the capabilities and functions of the MedX equipment. Duly impressed, Dr. Mooney agreed to head up the new physical treatment center at UCSD that was named the OrthoMed Center. This was a perceptive move by Arthur Jones, in that Dr. Mooney's contribution of ideas and research had a powerful influence on the future and success of MedX and the ultimate vision and crafting of the MDRS concepts.

For Scott Leggett and Vert Mooney, the OrthoMed Center provided the platform for a period of mutual education and growing appreciation of each other's perspective. Until that time exercise physiologists in general had little exposure to treatment of musculoskeletal problems as most of their training was in cardiac care. On the other hand, orthopaedic surgeons, especially Dr. Mooney, although certainly familiar with physical therapy, had little previous experience in dealing with exercise physiologists whose training and experience is the measurement of human function. The OrthoMed Center proved to be a very effective physical treatment center, which was well accepted by the community and financially successful as well. It demonstrated that the use of specific equipment allowed objective measurement and definable progress, which removed much of the guesswork in the treatment of spinal pain. The MedX equipment and treatment protocols developed by Dr. Mooney and Scott Leggett, with the help of many talented physical therapists, exercise physiologists and athletic trainers, was especially appreciated by workers' compensation adjusters and patients with chronic and recurrent difficulties who had failed previous physical therapy.

It became apparent to both Mooney and Leggett that their program of measurement driven exercise based treatment protocols, utilizing MedX equipment and treatment teams of therapists, exercise physiologist and athletic trainers, was highly successful. What was not clear, however, was whether the success of this program was unique to the personalities and university setting in San Diego. Therefore, to further test the program in a pure commercial setting, a pre-existent physical therapy practice was purchased from an acquaintance of Scott Leggett's in Knoxville, Tennessee. This became the East Tennessee OrthoMed Center and Greg DeFlippo, a physical therapist and exercise physiologist, moved there to organize the treatment programs. Shortly afterwards, Bryan Nadeau, an exercise physiologist joined him in 1996. Since a built-in source of referrals was not available, and a marketing budget nonexistent, the growth of the business was primarily from word-of-mouth referrals based on superior treatment and results. Eventually the Knoxville clinic achieved profitability in addition to its clinical success, which confirmed to Leggett and Mooney that a protocol driven format of physical treatment was cost effective and commercially feasible. The documentation developed by the use of equipment for exercise gave reassurance to all involved, including the patients and third party payers, that progress could be defined.

Based on this commercial success, and having left UCSD OrthoMed Center for other opportunities, Dr. Mooney and Scott Leggett formed the MDRS corporation in February 1999 for the purpose of implementing their vision of opening new Spine & Sport treatment centers dedicated to the highest quality physical treatment and active care. In Scott's new position with U.S. Orthopedics, Inc., a developer, owner and operator of ambulatory surgery centers, he became exposed to the success of focused treatment centers, that in one location offer patients the best in independently owned outpatient surgery centers, MRI and diagnostic facilities, physician offices, and physical treatment. This model has been an important building block in the development of new Spine & Sport centers. It has become clear that a credible physical treatment unit like MDRS' Spine & Sport centers is an important component of any comprehensive orthopedic surgical center.

A consistent and always important component of the MDRS company is education. Although there are numerous physical therapy companies in America, none have truly standardized their therapeutic programs. It is only possible to standardize clinical programs by means of a consistent educational program with timely updates to the staff. These educational programs initially developed at the OrthoMed Center are being consistently continued at the MDRS Spine & Sport centers. Education will be a continuing strength of MDRS.

Parallel and integral to education is research. MDRS will continue to fund educational and research programs under the U.S. Spine & Sport Research Foundation. In addition to being good for the community, MDRS views this research and education foundation as good business in that it ensures the development and enhancement of a reliable, standardized, and measurement driven physical treatment product which is consistently implemented throughout all MDRS Spine & Sport facilities.

The underlying theme of MDRS is best summarized by the phrase "do you just want to feel better or do you want to get better?" For treatment of degenerative or post injury problems which have not healed spontaneously in several weeks, it is assumed that a weak link has occurred. Active physical training rather than just passive therapy is the goal of MDRS programs. A gradual standardized treatment program is applied wherever possible to allow comparison of results and provide our therapists with greater insight as to productive treatment programs, prognosis, and reassurance of benefit. The concept of measurement is the center of all scientific progress for it allows comparison, classification, and definition. With the measurement driven program we feel that the treatment programs at Spine & Sport centers are as consistent as possible with current evidence for correction of pathology based on scientific therapeutic experience. We feel that this concept provides unique treatment protocols in the area of physical treatment for musculoskeletal disorders, protocols that extremely competitive in comparison to traditional procedures because they are definable. Our system merges two bodies of knowledge and experience. Medicine focused at musculoskeletal problems is summarized by orthopaedics. Human physical function in the cardio neuromuscular sense is summarized by exercise physiology. The partnership of these two disciplines, demonstrated by the blend of Mooney and Leggett, is now extended to a staff that shares in their vision and philosophy. This is the core of MDRS and our Spine & Sport centers.