Max has a background as a professional triathlete, collegiate swimmer, and swim/tri coach. He has completed 10 IRONMAN races, including the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona twice, and also has a decade of swim and triathlon coaching experience under his belt. His background allows him to combine PT and rehab with training, in order to help his patients remain active and avoid having to stop all of their favorite activities. He is able to do this by adapting training loads and styles. Max’s main area of expertise is overuse injuries from highly repetitive types of activities.
When not at the clinic, you can find Max at the local bike trail training for his next race — be it a 5K, an open water swim, or an IRONMAN. He enjoys competing in a variety of events, from road races to ultra trail runs to open water swims.
Your favorite place in the world?
Anywhere outdoors
Before working at Rausch, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?
I worked as an intern in a virus lab studying pig herpes, stem cells, and influenza type viruses in Tuebingen, Germany.
The reason you became a PT…
I began my undergrad studies with an interest in biology and bioresearch. Then, I began racing triathlons and coaching the collegiate team and found a love for coaching. After undergrad, I worked as a swim coach with age group swimmers and then realized I could combine the love for science with the love for coaching with physical therapy!
Dr. Max Biessmann PT, DPT
Let’s talk! We are here to help. Give us a call for a complimentary consultation. We would love to meet you.
Did you know there’s no prescription needed from a doctor to see us – but we will communicate your progress and treatment to your doctor if you’d like us too! (949) 276-5401
Dr. Ruth Meltzer is a familiar face at Rausch PT. She has treated patients at our Laguna Niguel clinic for the past 2 ½ years, and just recently joined us at our Dana Point location! Ruth is very talented at diagnosing the root cause of an issue, looking at the whole body and not just where the pain is, and giving specific exercises that are tailored for that specific issue. She looks outside the box and sees the big picture to identify why her patients are experiencing pain and dysfunction. She loves pinpointing precisely what is the cause of her patient’s pain and then crafting a plan to fix it.
Ruth has a special interest in the lower back because there are so many people who are debilitated by it, and there is such a need for someone to carefully and properly diagnose it. She treats patients young, old, and everything in between. Ruth treats a lot of patients with lower back and sciatica problems, headaches/neck pain, runners, and postpartum and post-op patients.
At the beginning of her career as a physical therapist, Ruth was told that she had good hands. Her goal is to help her patients experience PT the way it should be experienced, and follow through with a full plan of care. Her many years of experience helping people through her manual skills and big picture approach make Ruth an asset to us all here at Rausch PT Inc!
Ruth’s favorite place in the world?
THE BEACH!!!
Ruth’s first concert?
Linkin Park
If Ruth were stuck on an island, what three things would she bring?
My bible, chocolate, and a volleyball.
Before working at Rausch PT, what was the most unusual or interesting job Ruth ever had?
I was a shift manager at McDonald’s at 17 and LOVED it!
Dr. Ruth Meltzer PT, DPT, OCS
Let’s talk! We are here to help. Give us a call for a complimentary consultation. We would love to meet you.
Did you know there’s no prescription needed from a doctor to see us – but we will communicate your progress and treatment to your doctor if you’d like us too! (949) 276-5401
Sarah enjoys treating a variety of orthopedic issues. Because of her involvement in gymnastics, while growing up, she has a special interest in treating athletes, especially gymnastics-related injuries. She likes being able to use her manual skills and knowledge about therapeutic exercise in order to get adults back to work and give them the ability to interact with their community again.
Sarah treats a wide variety of issues including back pain, shoulder pain, and knee pain. Having been a gymnast for 13 years, she has had her fair share of injuries and has seen her teammates get injured as well. For that reason, she is quite familiar with how hard the gymnasts train and what it takes to recover from an injury. Sarah also enjoys working with the older population and watching their progress after attending physical therapy.
What is the first concert Sarah attended?
Miranda Lambert
The reason why Sarah became a Physical Therapist:
Because she wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. Sarah wants to be able to give people the tools they need and help them get back to their daily activities and help give them a better quality of life.
Where’s Sarah’s favorite place in the world?
One of her favorite places is the United Kingdom. She went there on a trip with her family in 2016. Sarah thinks the history in England and Scotland is so interesting, and the countryside in both countries beautiful!
Dr. Sarah MacMillan PT
Let’s talk! We are here to help. Give us a call for a complimentary consultation. We would love to meet you.
Did you know there’s no prescription needed from a doctor to see us – but we will communicate your progress and treatment to your doctor if you’d like us too! (949) 276-5401
Meet our amazing PT Dr. Renee Rinard. Renee has always found the human body to be very interesting and she always knew she wanted to end up in the medical field to learn more about it. Renee landed on physical therapy as a career because she believes conservative, movement-based treatment is the best option for most cases. She has always been an active person and believes proper exercise with manual therapy can help people live a better quality of life and continue to do the things that they love to do. Renee also loves that as a physical therapist she gets to spend the most time with patients compared to other medical professions. By spending this quality time with her patients Renee actually gets to know them and can really dig deep to figure out what is going on!
Renee played soccer for 10 years at the recreational, club, and High School varsity levels so she would consider soccer-related injuries to be her specific niche. These issues are the most common ankle sprains, inner hip pain and injuries, and knee injuries including ACL and meniscus. However, these issues do not solely occur in soccer players! Renee also treats quite a bit of knee, shoulder, and post-operative patients but she loves to treat just about everything to keep her skills up!
Where’s your favorite place in the world?
Italy – Renee studied abroad in Florence in college and went back in 2018 for a vacation. The best spots for her are Florence and the Amalfi Coast!
What is the first concert you attended?
Rascal Flatts when she was 14.
Dr. Renee Rinard
Let’s talk! We are here to help. Give us a call for a complimentary consultation. We would love to meet you.
Did you know there’s no prescription needed from a doctor to see us – but we will communicate your progress and treatment to your doctor if you’d like us too! (949) 276-5401
Disclaimer — All the information that you find on our blogs and social media pages are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be used as your personal professional diagnosis, or treatment. Come and see us for your excellent, personalized care!https://staging.rauschpt.net/
Meet Ashley our “Water Sports PT”. Ashley has been surfing locally in the area for 25 years and loves working with athletes. There are a range of injuries surfers can experience including shoulder impingement/rotator cuff tears, lower back injuries, ACL/MCL and meniscus injuries to the knee, and compression injuries to ankle or knee from more progressive surfing. Ashley’s experience as a competitor as well as experience as a manual orthopedic Physical Therapist helps her understand what specific demands surfing athletes are under and how she can help them best.
Where’s your favorite place in the world?
Fiji
If you were stuck on an island what three things would you bring?
My Family, Surfboard, a Survival Knife
Before working at Rausch, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?
I lifeguarded for over 10 years
The reason I got into this industry is…
To work with people in a medical setting where we actually get to know someone and help them heal and make a difference in their lives.
Ashley Heller
Let’s talk! We are here to help. Give us a call for a complimentary consultation. We would love to meet you.
Did you know there’s no prescription needed from a doctor to see us – but we will communicate your progress and treatment to your doctor if you’d like us too! (949) 276-5401
Disclaimer —All the information that you find on our blogs and social media pages are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be used as your personal professional diagnosis, or treatment. Come and see us for your excellent, personalized care!https://staging.rauschpt.net/
As a life-long outdoor enthusiast and doctor of physical therapy, PT Sean Swopes knows how dangerous and difficult high-altitude hiking can be for many people. Sean shares the unique way he prepared his body to battle the elements (and dreaded altitude sickness) while crossing off an item from his bucket list: summiting Mount Whitney.
BY SEAN SWOPES, PT, DPT, CSCS, RAUSCH PHYSICAL THERAPY
On July 16, I sought out to make a journey into the wild with my brother and father. The plan was to spend five days and four nights hiking our way north through the Eastern Sierras. Our experience would peak at the summit of Mount Whitney, reaching an ultimate elevation of 14,508 feet.
Anyone who’s done any amount of physical activity, whether it be hiking or cycling, will tell you that being at altitude changes everything. I’ve seen some of the most aerobically fit people fall apart once they’re at altitude. Having taken many trips to the Sierras throughout my life, I’ve learned this fact the hard way.
The months leading up to the hike, my main concerns were the distance and elevation. My main training modality was casual and competitive mountain biking, and while it did give me a big push for my cardiovascular training, I knew that alone wouldn’t prepare me for the 50+ miles I’d be walking with 50 pounds strapped to my back at 10,000+ feet.
Training Your Body to Adapt to Stress
Fortunately, during this trip, I felt great with no major signs of altitude sickness. I attribute this to not only mountain biking, but competitive mountain biking. The key difference is the extreme of how competition pushes the body to its limits. I hadn’t done any extensive altitude training within the weeks leading up to the trip, however I had taken my body—physically and aerobically—to it limits by racing at the Over the Hump series nearly every week this summer. That’s exactly what I was going to be putting my body through summiting three, 14,000+ feet mountains: Mount Langley, Mount Muir and Mount Whitney.
As a physical therapist, I like this concept of pushing your body to its limits as a training philosophy. I view the body as an instrument with a threshold of tolerance. As people age, their body tends to develop imbalances, weakness and stiffness, which decreases their body’s threshold for biomechanical stress (i.e. running, jumping, climbing, etc.) Consistent competitive racing forced my body to adapt and increased my body’s threshold, which enabled it to withstand more physical and aerobical stressors on my hike.
Still, there was one large unknown variable to conquer: altitude.
At high elevation, less oxygen can be inhaled per breath, which can cause hikers to experience early onset fatigue, or worse, altitude sickness. For most people, this takes effect when they get above 12,000 feet. To ensure my success at altitude, I got to the mountains three days early and went on two training hikes at 9,000-11,000 feet and slept at 8,000 feet; this allowed my body to acclimate.
The Challenge of Summiting Mount Whitney
If you look at Mount Whitney from the city of Lone Pine, just below the mountain range you’ll see two small peaks with a large peak just to the right. At the base of the two smaller peaks you are roughly at an elevation of 13,500 feet with 1,000 feet of elevation to gain over a distance of two miles. This is where most people feel the extreme effects of altitude, including my brother. He was hit with nausea, fatigue and a pounding headache, forcing him to turn around and head back to base camp.
With even more determination now, my father and I continued our ascent. It wasn’t until the last half-mile that he was met with his final challenge. The altitude was taking its effect on him, but luckily he wasn’t experiencing any other symptoms other than extreme fatigue. His body would feel fine at rest, however any physical exertion would drain his energy instantly. It was slow-going that last half-mile while he was forced to take breaks every 10 feet of hiking the variable rocky terrain, but in the end we both prevailed, reaching the summit and our goal destination at 14,508 feet.
The toughest endeavors always make the most memorable experiences. Think of your body as an instrument you are constantly fine tuning. Preparing for those tough, yet memorable life adventures to the top of any “mountain” in your life.
Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.
― Theodore Roosevelt
Sean Swopes, PT, DPT, CSCS graduated from CSU Fullerton with a bachelor of science in kinesiology. He went on to receive his doctorate in physical therapy in 2015 from University of St. Augustine, and began his career here at Rausch Physical Therapy and Sports Performance. Sean is also a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. As a physical therapist, Sean’s goal is to help his patients understand their musculoskeletal impairments and work together to improve them.
Doctor of Physical Therapy Jonathan Meltzer is a licensed orthopedic physical therapist at Rausch Physical Therapy & Sports Performance in Laguna Niguel, Calif. Known as “The Baseball PT,” Jonathan not only specializes in baseball-specific rehab and helping players get back onto the field faster and healthier, but he also advocates for injury prevention and is passionate about combating avoidable overuse injuries plaguing youth baseball athletes. Jonathan’s goals are to identify limitations and treat his patients with the most recent and innovative techniques in order to maximize functional independence and obtain his patients’ individual goals.
As “The Endurance PT” at Rausch Physical Therapy & Sports Performance, it makes sense that Max Biessmann’s favorite saying is, “Always remember to enjoy the journey, the destination will take care of itself.”
Max has been on some pretty epic journeys in his own life so far. From a summer spent in Germany as a college intern in a virus/stem cell laboratory (when he also competed in his first IRONMAN in Frankfurt) to now nine IRONMANs later and a doctor of physical therapy degree to boot, Max is proof that you’ll always wind up where you belong—if you can keep your head in the game.
Max’s first taste for physical therapy came while rehabbing a calf injury that was threatening to stop him from running the Frankfurt IRONMAN. The experience made Max the Microbiology Student more interested in human movement and sports performance, compelling him to take sports physiology and kinesiology courses. While unfortunately it was too late to switch his focus, Max never gave up on his dream to combine his love of science with sports. After graduating with a degree in microbiology, Max found success as a swim coach and worked part-time in a local bicycle/triathlon shop, all while taking classes in anatomy and physiology, until finally deciding that physical therapy school would be his ticket to the rewarding career he always dreamed of.
While he may have taken a winding course to get to his final destination here at Rausch PT, Max says every part of his journey has only helped to build his expertise. For instance, as a coach Max can see movement dysfunctions and correct them with cues, and as a physical therapist he has the skills to manually affect the tissues to improve and reduce the limitation causing the dysfunction. As a triathlete, Max has an appreciation of the highly repetitive nature of endurance sports and understands the mental struggle at the core of all these types of events; mix it all up, and you have a recipe for the perfect Endurance PT.
In fact, Max’s love for endurance sports started when he was very young. Max started swimming competitively at the age of five, and says he was immediately drawn toward the longer freestyle events. In high school he chose cross country over track, and in college he left the UC Davis swim team to pursue triathlon.
“I really enjoy the challenge of competing against yourself, and the mental challenge of endurance racing,” Max said. “Of course there’s always competition to race against others, but at the very heart and soul of endurance racing is the self-conflict within yourself between the physical and mental.”
With ten IRONMAN competitions and plenty of trail, road, and open swim races under his speedo, Max has definitely experienced his fair share of internal struggle. Like in 2009, at the Arizona IRONMAN, when Max was desperate to qualify for Kona, but mentally broke down in the run and gave up on a race he says still haunts him; or take his best, “guttiest” race, the 2014 Vineman, when Max landed in the med tent (after winning the race) 15 lbs. lighter and severely dehydrated in need of two liters of fluid.
Max after his win at Vineman 2014, severely dehydrated and 15 lbs. lighter, giving the thumbs up for pushing your limits!”As hard of a lesson as [Arizona] was, it’s had the most impact on my mental and tactical approach to racing and coaching,” Max said. “At 2014 Vineman, I proved to myself that I can power through anything.”
Currently, Max is gearing up to start his second season as a professional triathlete, however he says he’s even more excited to continue “coaching” his patients at Rausch PT.
“I’m excited to keep learning about the human body every day,” Max said. “I love combining the lessons I continue to learn from triathlon with my PT work—so I can become a better athlete, coach, and physical therapist. You have to always remember to enjoy the journey, the destination will take care of itself.”
Kevin Capata: “The Triathlon PT,” Doctor of Physical Therapy, and newly proven IRONMAN!If you’re going to be THE “Triathlon PT,” you better be able to walk the talk. Kevin Capata doesn’t just walk it—he can run, bike and swim it… for 140.6 miles.
In July, Kevin traveled to Whistler, Canada to compete in his first IRONMAN—a dream he’s been working toward since high school. With a finishing time of 12:26:13, Kevin completely crushed his goal, and he says a dedication to proper recovery and taking care of his body helped get him there.
“I didn’t want to be a hypocritical PT, so I did what I tell my patients who are in training to do: listen to your body.” Kevin said. “I focused on proper recovery, nutrition, and strength training, and I made sure to not over-train and suffer under-recovery injuries.”
While he already had a baseline of fitness from competing in several olympic distance races, marathons, and half IRONMAN 70.3 races, for his first full IRONMAN Kevin had to ramp up his training program. He devoted six months to training consistently, six days a week, up to 25 hours per week. Despite the very early mornings and late nights, Kevin says his training and recovery program definitely paid off.
“I felt great at the starting line,” Kevin said. “I was in beautiful Whistler, soaking in the scenery and surrounding competitors, and just pumped to finally get the day started. Some nerves were definitely flowing, but it was more excitement and the fact that it was my first full IRONMAN. I just wanted to try, and cherish every moment.”
Kevin on the second place podium at one of his training races, OC Triathlon 2016.
After crossing the finish line in just under 12.5 hours, Kevin says hearing the famous shout, “Kevin Capata, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!” was worth all the training.
“The finish line was one of the coolest moments of my life so far,” he said. “Hearing my name and seeing my brother, who flew in from South Carolina to support me, made it all worth it. Then came relaxing and realizing what I had just put my body through. Of course I was sore and exhausted, but the training had paid off because I was injury free and good to go the next week!”
While he’s already signed up for next year’s Vineman IRONMAN race, for now Kevin is back at work at Rausch Physical Therapy & Sports Performance and focused on helping his patients achieve their goals. With his own personal experience, combined with his “PT knowledge” and the sport performance services available at Rausch PT, Kevin is ready to help his clients crush their next race—whether it be an IRONMAN or a super-sprint triathlon. For the latter, Kevin says the best thing anyone who is new to the sport can do is just go out and try.
“You’ve got to start somewhere. You’re going to make mistakes—maybe you’ll have a flat on the bike, or maybe you’ll totally bonk on the run—it’s a sport that constantly challenges you both mentally and physically. But triathlon has one of the most welcoming and fun-loving communities of athletes around. Honestly, just have fun and whatever you do, do NOT take yourself too seriously. This is a sport to enjoy and test how far you can push your body to the limits.”
Lawrence Van Lingen is the ART specialist at Rausch Physical Therapy & Sport Performance. He’s worked with Red Bull athletes, IRONMAN champions, and he can work with you, too.
Lawrence Van Lingen, ART Specialist for the Pros… and you, too!
When you first walk into Rausch Physical Therapy & Sports Performance you’ll notice a wall of glass to your right. Behind the very last door, emblazoned with the words “Clinical ART,” is where Lawrence Van Lingen works.
The room is small with bare walls, save for a few pieces of art, and it only contains a small desk and treatment table. It is… remarkably unremarkable. In fact, if it weren’t for the familiar face of a pro athlete popping in and out of that room every once in a while, you’d never suspect that the man inside of it was anything other than your average massage therapist.
The truth is, Lawrence is far from average; he’s a well-respected, highly sought after soft tissue therapist and performance consultant. His elite clients travel across the country—some even across the world—to visit his humble office hidden in the corner of Rausch PT.
So who exactly is Lawrence Van Lingen, why are professional athletes traveling from the other side of the globe to come see him, and most importantly, how can you get on his schedule, too?
Lawrence’s Past Life
Lawrence working on Josh Bryceland, professional downhill mountain biker and Santa Cruz Syndicate Team Racer, at the World Cup in Scotland this past summer.
More than 20 years ago in his home-country of South Africa, Lawrence was highly involved in triathlon when he decided to become a sports chiropractor. His first clients were triathletes and his wife Gwen, an Olympic runner. Soon, word began to spread about the man with the magic touch, and Lawrence became the team chiropractor for a number of professional lifesaving, running, swim and triathlon teams.
It wasn’t until Lawrence himself competed as a professional IRONMAN for two years that his personal interest in sports performance began to creep into his chiropractic career. In 2013 Lawrence became High Performance Manager of Red Bull South Africa, working closely with the best professional endurance, adventure extreme sport athletes around.
“Those pro athletes hold you to a very high standard,” Lawrence said. “As soon as you don’t know what you’re doing, they’re gone.”
In this case, it was Lawrence who was gone; at the end of 2013 his wife took a job in the U.S., and Lawrence started his professional life over again as an ART specialist at Rausch Physical Therapy & Sports Performance. Lawrence says the team atmosphere and holistic approach Rausch PT offers its patients is what drew him in.
“I did my homework and knew I wanted to work at Rausch PT, as it’s the premier place for triathletes,” Lawrence said. “Clients can cohesively move from physical therapy to ART to Performance Lab services; it’s ideal for me. I can’t work in isolation. I need that support.”
Lawrence at Rausch PT
Lawrence performing a bike fit consultation with professional triathlete Rachel Joyce in May. Rachel came for ART with Lawrence after a serious foot injury; just last week she placed second at IRONMAN World Championship.
Lawrence still treats professional athletes these days. He works with the Santa Cruz Syndicate, one of the most well known professional downhill mountain bike racing teams, and endurance athletes travel from far and wide to get treatment from and consult with him.
“The pros who come see me now aren’t usually in pain, they’re just tired of being injured,” Lawrence said. “They want me to free up whatever’s been restricting their movement with ART not necessarily to relieve pain, but to enhance performance. Once you take away that looming fear of getting injured, they’re free to focus solely on how to use their bodies to go quicker.”
However, Lawrence says that ART isn’t just for elite athletes. In fact, you don’t have to be an athlete at all to hop on his schedule and feel the amazing benefits of soft tissue release.
“People underestimate how powerful ART can be,” he said. “Tissue adhesions are a silent bully; often you don’t feel it, but they can significantly influence your posture and patterns. Releasing those adhesions will literally change the way you move.”
Rausch PT physical therapists will often refer their patients to Lawrence if they have restrictions or soft tissue adhesions that need some extra special attention, and thanks to Rausch PT’s holistic care, Lawrence can refer patients back to physical therapy for continual care. Our athletic patients can take advantage of having access to the pros’ “secret weapon” and call in to get on his schedule for performance-enhancement purposes.
No matter who you are, how old you are, or what level of activity you’re at, Lawrence Van Lingen is waiting in that little corner office to help you get some release.
“Having someone like Lawrence on staff just elevates us to a whole other level,” Kevin Rausch, MPT and owner of Rausch Physical Therapy & Sports Performance, said. “To have access to someone with his background and expertise, it’s an incredible opportunity for our amateur triathletes and cyclists.”
Dr. Max Biessmann PT, DPT
Dr. Ruth Meltzer PT, DPT, OCS
Ashley Heller
About Jonathan Meltzer, PT, DPT
