Why Choose Renaissance Performance Medicine
Listening is an art; being heard is a gift.
At your initial visit, you can expect to spend a significant amount of time talking to the Doctor.
Dr. Estes has created RPM based on the idea that developing a strong relationship is key to finding your health. For this reason, you should plan to spend more time during your appointment than you may have experienced at other clinics.
As a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) physician, he treats the whole person, not just the problem area. The goal of PM&R medicine is to restore and maintain your quality of life by enhancing the body’s performance. Whether your desired “performance” is playing pickleball or the violin with less pain, picking up your grandchildren or returning to work after being a “weekend warrior,” we can help. In addition, we are here to help guide long-term recovery, support ongoing functional improvement and continue the work when intensive Rehab is concluded following a major injury or illness.
Once again, plan to spend time with us – you are a person, NOT a 15-minute time slot.
The name Renaissance Performance Medicine has a special meaning. The Renaissance was a time of “looking back” to Antiquity, drawing from their knowledge of art, philosophy and literature, and applying it to the understanding of life and the arts in their time. In the same way, we utilize time-honored tenets of good sleep, exercise, nutrition and hands-on medicine (OMM) combined with today’s medical treatments to help our patients to find and grow their health within.
The concept of Performance applies to us all… whether we want to work in the garden, continue to play golf (or pickleball!), or perhaps feel more comfortable with daily life tasks, we all need to be able to “perform” something. Additionally, the arts-related nature of this word underscores RPM’s commitment to helping all performing artists (singers, instrumentalists, dancers, sculptors, painters) create more freely, with less restriction and pain.
OMM
In addition to being trained as a PM&R physician, Dr. Estes has spent hundreds of hours studying, practicing, and utilizing, as well as teaching Medical Residents, Osteopathic Manual Medicine. The benefits of OMM (it has a few different names) are significant and manifold. OMM (or OMT – Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment) involves the therapeutic application of manual (hand) pressure or force in different manipulation techniques that can be used to treat structural and functional issues in the bones, joints, tissues and muscles of the body. OMM uses the relationship between the neuromusculoskeletal (nerves, muscles and bones) system and the rest of the body to restore function, typically by removing barriers to motion and healing. This hands-on approach is an additional tool that helps achieve and maintain patient health when used as part of a whole system of evaluation and treatment.
OMM is beneficial when implemented as a stand-alone therapy. It also plays well with Traditional Western Medicine, and as such Dr. Estes may also provide medications taken by mouth along with different types of injections. Working together with the patient, Dr. Estes will determine the interventions best suited to a particular situation.
For more information on OMM, please visit: www.aacom.org
Traditional Medicine
Traditional Western Medicine offers a wide variety of medications and therapeutic approaches to finding health in our patients. On occasion, medications taken by mouth (“pills”) or more localized injections to joints or muscles may be indicated. Many patients find relief from a single injection, and/or a short course of medications in pill form. Others benefit from ongoing treatment. In addition, we strongly advocate for therapy (Physical, Occupational, Speech) to help patients maintain or re-establish an active lifestyle.
Brain Injury Fellowship
Dr. Estes completed Fellowship Training in the subspecialty field of PM&R – Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation Medicine. He is trained to help patients that suffer from the complications and symptoms that accompany Brain Injury such as sleep disturbances, difficulty walking and talking as well as deficits in Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). Milder forms of Brain Injury, such as concussion, often go undiagnosed and can lead to these symptoms, as well as headache and confusion. Through the application of OMM, medications and therapy we can help.
Curiously, Long-COVID symptoms are very similar to Concussion. The fatigue, difficulty thinking and concentrating and poor sleep you experience after even a mild COVID infection are common – we can help.
Meet Dr. Estes
Dr. Estes is a Board Certified Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician (PM&R). He attended medical school at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, trained in PM&R at Larkin Community Hospital in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area and completed Fellowship training at Atrium (Carolinas Rehabilitation) in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Prior to attending medical school, Dr. Estes earned a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School in New York City. He is a classically-trained organist, pianist, conductor and composer and has served as Music Director/Minister of Music in several churches in New York City and the surrounding area, as well as churches in Pennsylvania and Florida.
Dr. Estes lives in the Charlotte area with his wife and two sons. He enjoys gardening, woodworking, and being involved in the community – including leading music in various churches as a substitute, volunteering at his sons’ school, as well as coaching their baseball teams.
