Starting Wednesday, September 12, Lake Superior College is offering free or low-cost physical therapy services to eligible area residents at LSC’s community clinic for physical therapy.

The service is provided by physical therapist students from the College of St. Scholastica and physical therapist assistant students from LSC. Faculty members, who are licensed physical therapists and physical therapist assistants, supervise all treatments. The clinic provides students with valuable real-world experience and interdisciplinary education. Lake Superior College offers both a two-year Physical Therapy Assistant degree and a Military Bridge PTA AAS degree online program.

The LSC clinic provide services to area residents who are not covered by health insurance or whose insurance benefits have expired. Services are provided on a sliding fee scale with a $10 fee but may be free, depending on income.

The clinic will be open on Monday and Wednesday afternoons during the LSC academic year from mid-September to mid-May. For more information and to make an appointment, please call LSC’s Physical Therapy Clinic at (218) 733-1093.

Physical therapy can provide treatments for pain, weakness, difficulty walking, problems with balance, swelling, stiffness, and muscle tightness.  “We provide treatments for neurologic and orthopedic issues,” said Jane Worley, director of LSC’s Physical Therapist Assistant Program. “Our PT services include range of motion and strengthening exercises, walking and balance training, heat and cold, electrical stimulation, ultrasound, massage, and treatment for neurologic injury or disease.”

The clinic partnership between LSC and CSS began in 1999 and continues to be a national model of teaching collaboration between physical therapist and physical therapist assistant students.