Denver Fire Capt. Steven Holtz stretched across a treatment table at the Rocky Mountain Fire Academy as a physical therapist wrapped a thick red rubber band around his arm and began pulling Holtz’s arm over his head and back down.
The physical therapist, Casey Stoneberger, worked to extend Holtz’s range of motion as he recovers from surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and biceps tendon.
“They wear oxygen bottles and they have to be able to reach really far behind their backs to turn that on,” Stoneberger said.
Until he can do that, Holtz will stay on desk duty — something he already has grown tired of.
But those who run the Denver Fire Department’s new health and wellness program, which borrows its philosophy and exercise routines from professional sports, hope they can help him climb back onto a fire truck much faster.