Inspiring Conversations with Amanda Townsend of Misama

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Townsend

Amanda, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Missy and I connected 2 years ago. We both are physical therapist. We both have athletic backgrounds personally with sports and orthopedic backgrounds professionally as physical therapist. We connected over a passion to help people who are dealing with pelvic related symptoms through their lifespan, young, middle age, or older. Some of those conditions can include: pelvic pain, urinary leakage, pelvic organ prolapse, and pain with sexual activities / intimacy. We both also feel very passionate about helping women during their pregnancies, preparing them for labor and delivery, and helping with postpartum recovery. This includes those with fertility difficulties. Our loves for this growing field of medicine was born from our own personal journeys into motherhood, where we were able to see the gaps in the medical system for those suffering with pelvic related symptoms and needing more help during their obstetrical journey.

We feel strongly about raising awareness and advocating for individuals with these conditions. Truly being apart of changing the landscape for medical care for these individuals.

We started our business, Misama, which is a blend of our names Missy and Amanda in November of 2023.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Of course, there are struggles and challenges along the way!

I have two children and a husband. Missy has three children and a husband. The balancing act between showing up for your family, your business and yourself is not easy at all. But the passion we have for the population we work drives us to take on the struggles and challenges. Each person we get to help fills our cup and it’s worth it.

There is lack of medical research, resources, and awareness in our community regarding pelvic related and obstetrical conditions. There are a lot of people suffering with these conditions, who don’t need to be suffering. This is a huge challenge and contributes to a lot of medical trauma, not to mention the effects on a person’s quality of life. This is why we prioritize doing free workshops, network with other providers in our community, put information out via social media platforms, and participate in opportunities like this interview because it allows us opportunities to raise awareness, escalate our community and allow people to get the medical care they need! Again, making the struggles and challenges worth it.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Misama is a specialized Physical Therapy practice with a blend of orthopedic, pelvic, obstetrical and sports medicine care. We are trained to evaluate and treat pelvic floor conditions such as pelvic pain, urinary leakage, pelvic organ prolapse, and pain with sexual activities / intimacy. We also work with women during pregnancy and postpartum as well as those with fertility issues. Our orthopedic and sports background also makes us experts with treating low back pain, hip pain, sports hernias, muscle and tendon issues like adductor, hip flexor or hamstring strains. When people are suffering from 2 conditions listed above, they are often related. For example, someone with a hip labral tear might have hip pain, but also urinary leakage. Because we have the blended training, we are able to see how these two conditions are connected and contributing to each other. Often times, these individuals will go see one physical therapist for their hip and another physical therapist for there urine leaking. This involves more time, money and often they don’t get better. When you work with us we can see how those conditions are related, treat both, and get to resolution of symptoms saving you time, money and suffering. There is so much interconnection between the spine, pelvis, hips and the muscles surrounding these areas. Our blended training in orthopedics, pelvic, obstetrical, and sports medicine really sets us apart from others.

What makes us different?
– We offer a blend of orthopedic, pelvic, obstetrical and sports medicine worlds
– We perform internal and external Pelvic Floor assessment and treatments. The internal assessment and treatment can be a vital part in a person understanding the function of her pelvic floor muscles.
– We believe exercise is a very integral part of getting to resolution of symptoms. Pelvic floor is just one part of a bigger system of bones, joints, nerves, and other muscles. We pride ourselves on being able to evaluate NOT only the pelvic floor, but also see how it fits into the larger body system so we can fit all the pieces of together and create a comprehensive program
– We focus on function.
– We offer a variety of strength training equipment and are able to develop customized programs that ensure our patients are strong enough to manage the physical demands of their day to day lives.
– We specialize in working with higher level athletes

We offer 1:1 with a physical therapist services, in person or virtual, helping to address any back, hip, pelvic, pelvic floor, and obstetrical conditions.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
We are a out of network practice. Which allows us to work for our patients, not the insurance company. This also allows us to see those who need maintenance or prevention care. We provide superbills which they can submit to their insurance for reimbursement.

Our explanation for why we don’t take insurance.

“The current insurance model forces clinicians to see multiple patients at one time and bill your insurance at a high rate. We want to be transparent with our fees.

Insurance companies don’t practice in a proactive or preventative model. Unfortunately the health care model is still reactive, not paying for ANY care that is geared towards prevention. In addition, they often will only cover X # of sessions per diagnosis, deny certain treatment options during your visits (Example: dry needling) and don’t pay for services that are geared towards higher level function. Things like painful sex or leaking with heavy lifting, jumping or running.

Because of that you don’t know what your bill will look like from session to session or how much you will pay out of pocket.

We believe you deserve better and refuse to let insurance dictate your care!

We feel that if you want to stay ahead of your healthcare, have specific treatments like dry needling available to you, or participate in higher level activities that affect your quality of life you should be able to receive care!

We have full transparency on our pricing and our clinicians aren’t burnt out from the overload of billing and documentation to your insurance which allows us to give you 100% of our attention during each treatment session and keep you advancing towards meeting your goals!”

Pricing:

• $200 a session

Contact Info:

• Website: https://misamawellness.com/
• Instagram: instagram.com/dramanda_orthopelvicpt & instagram.com/dr.missy_pelvicpt