Sports Therapists Take Non-Traditional Route

A new sports clinic in Dollard des Ormeaux will not only cure what ails you, but they’ll also tell you why what’s ailing you is doing it and how to make it go away so that your body will perform better and longer down the road.

Quanta Performance Evolution is the brainchild of two accomplished physiotherapists with more than two decades of experience between them — Pierrefonds native Scott Suter and St. Laurent resident Dev Chatterjee — who have brought their collective elite athletics experiences to the general public and are presenting the art of healing and athletic performance to a whole new level.

Suter, who spent 10 years with the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes and Chatterjee, who helped Otis Grant fight back from a catastrophic car accident to world championship contention, have spent their free time and tens of thousands of dollars of their own money in learning new techniques to help heal athletes.

“We took courses in the United States, Vancouver and Toronto and in March 2002 we started taking a course in Denver called Muscle Activation Techniques with (groundbreaking therapist) Greg Roskopf,” Chatterjee said. The 10-month-long internships saw the pair spend eight three-day weekends in Denver learning about Roskopf’s techniques and followed it up with neurophysiology courses in Los Angeles, and ultrasound-acupuncture treatment techniques at University of California — Irvine.

Through it all, the pair, who started their operation out of Monster Gym in Dollard a couple of years back, honed their techniques and began designing the template for Quanta Performance Evolution, which offers rehab training, helps athletes come back from injuries and maximize their performance and teaches them how to take care of themselves.

“Our philosophy in general is ‘treat the body, and find the root of the pain.’ If you just treat the pain, you ignore the underlying effects of what caused the pain, and the pain will return. We work on getting the client — whether it’s an elite athlete or a senior citizen who’s having trouble getting around — to maximize the body’s potential at a given time,” said Suter.

Their setting, amid industrial buildings near Highway 40, reflects the pair’s commitment to going their own way. The non-clinical feel is enhanced by the Zen-infused treatment and rehab room —- it’s anything but traditional, mirroring the pair’s techniques.

“If people are willing to open their wind a little bit,” Suter said, smiling. “I think they’ll be amazed by what happens.”

But don’t just take their word for it. Suter still works with several Alouettes players, including quarterback Anthony Calvillo and receiver Ben Cahoon, while Chatterjee recently was honoured when he received a standing ovation from the gathered crowd at Grant’s recent retirement celebration. The pair rent space adjacent to the Grant Brothers boxing gym on Brunswick Boulevard.

“Not to knock traditional techniques, but with Dev, I notice improvement in my (pain level) as soon as I get on the table and it stays with me all day. He showed me techniques to strengthen certain muscles so they wouldn’t break down as quickly,” said Grant, who couldn’t lift his arm over his head when he first started his comeback in 1999. “I don’t think my comeback would have been as successful without (the techniques).”

Calvillo said working with Suter was a natural after the successful run Calvillo had enjoyed under Suter’s care as the Als’ head therapist.

“He’s keeping me healthy,” said the Als' pivot, who drives out to Dollard once a week during the season and less regularly in the off-season, said a chronic hamstring problem cleared up after working with Suter. “I used to pull my hamstring every year, and I’d miss up to two games. He guaranteed me in 2003, that if I tried some of his techniques, I wouldn’t pull another hamstring, and I haven’t,” he said, adding even when nothing is wrong, he drops by for a “tune-up. That’s what it is. He checks the muscles and isolates the ones that aren’t working properly and he gives me work to do that will isolate the muscle and strengthen it,” he said.

BY MARC LALONDE

marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca