I came upon Optimum Health Physical Therapy and Wellness center by chance, while taking a ride in my car one day. The sign outside let me know that this was a multi-functional center, and not just your average physical therapy practice.

The concept of dealing with issues of health and well-being as a whole has always intrigued me, and so I decided to walk in and explore what they had to offer. 

Once inside, the first thing that I noticed was the positive energy that was apparent—something that I believe to be fundamentally important in a place where people go to recover and improve their health and fitness status.

The center is owned by Keith M. Scott, M.P.T, O.C.S, who first started a solo physical therapy practice in 2003 in Lincoln Park known as "Lincoln Park Physical Therapy & Sports Rehabilitation."  After receiving board certification as an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist in 2006, Keith had a vision for a practice that was multi-disciplinary in helping people to not only recover from injuries, but also to achieve their optimum level  of fitness and health. 

From this vision, Optimum Health Physical Therapy and Wellness was born, and the center at 212 Main St., Lincoln Park, was opened in 2008. Another center, in Butler, is slated to open in early October, indicative of the growth of the practice, a welcomed sight in struggling economic times.

In March, Scott partnered with Robert J. DeVito, owner of Innovation Fitness Solutions, a company that takes an all-encompassing approach to coaching people to establish, define and ultimately achieve their goals in weight management, fitness and healthy living.

He is also the author of "90 days to a new you," a weight loss book that he claims is the last you will ever need. The book can be purchased at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com. 

Though the facility is located in Lincoln Park, Divito said that Montville makes up a lot of his client base.

"We have many patients and clients from Montville," he said. "As a matter of fact, since Montville Family Fitness closed, we have many people taking our classes and using our facility now."

I was impressed with Robert's broad base of knowledge, and his unwavering passion to help clients. He says that although people seek him out for weight loss, what they really want is to improve self esteem and quality of life. The process begins with an evaluation to determine a person's needs, goals and level of fitness. A person's sleep, stress level, diet, cardio and strength training level are important factors. 

A personalized program, focusing on weight management, nutrition, and personal training is then expertly created.  Yoga moves, breathing exercises, and other modalities are then 'wrapped' into the total health package, designed specifically for each person.

Robert stated that he and the staff could hold the job titles "habit disrupters," and habit creators," as  they try to teach people to live "consciously and aware," in order to promote the creation of only healthful habits and values. Although they are best known for helping people get well and healthy, Robert stated that weight loss is a 'side effect' of better living and better habits, which is what they strive to teach.

In helping me to understand the scope of the service that they offer, I had a training session with Kelvin Colón, another highly skilled trainer that Robert brought into the fold recently. Kelvin believes in always keeping a positive focus with clients, stating that "negative energy is counter productive, and that success comes from how you treat yourself and conduct your life." 

As a person who has always maintained an ideal weight and worked out consistently for over 20 years, I figured that there would be nothing earth-shatteringly different that Kelvin could teach me. I figured wrong. Kelvin tested my core strength, and found that I was lacking in this most important aspect of fitness, and gave me special exercises to build strength and increase my balance. 

Many clients at Optimum Health and Wellness come in for help in healing injuries, but then 'graduate' to the individualized wellness program, then quickly progress to the next phase, small group personal training called The Metabolic Series, which focuses on groups of only four to six people.

The final phase consists of group classes, such as A.M.Fitness, to improve overall fitness and endurance, and Baby Boomer Fitness, for those over 50. Packages for both small group fitness and group classes can be purchased in a quantity of 10 classes, for a substantial savings. Not just for those needing PT, everyone can utilize these services at the center.