Plymouth
A casual walk into the office suites of OPTP Orthopedic Physical Therapy Products (OPTP) on Annapolis Lane in Plymouth and you’ll see a tastefully decorated, small but busy company, much like many others. But if you happen to visit on a midweek afternoon and venture beyond the entrance area, you might be surprised at the scene in front of the copy machine, next to a line of cubicles.
On Wednesday afternoons, this stretch of office corridor becomes an ad hoc Pilates studio, where four or five OPTP employees at a time take a break from their duties to participate in a 40- or 45-minute class. Exercise mats are neatly laid out and participants use equipment like foam rollers or stretch therapy bands as they go through a series of exercises led by Pilates instructor and registered occupational therapist Angela Kneale.
These days, of course, quite a few large organizations offer education and support to help workers stay well, but it seems rarer to find a business, especially a small one, that encourages its employees to step away from their workstation to actively engage in exercise and education on company time. But OPTP president Shari Schroeder, who engaged Kneale to implement the program two years ago, considers it “one of the best things to have happened to OPTP.”
Perhaps it’s not surprising that it’s a company like OPTP that took this step. Based in Plymouth since 1982, it’s an international catalog company that offers orthopedic, physical therapy, rehabilitation and fitness products to healthcare and fitness professionals. Initially, the focus was more on rehabilitation and therapy needs, but it expanded to include more general fitness products about 10 years ago. An office showroom allows clients to try out their products before purchasing.
OPTP’s marketing tagline is “tools for fitness, knowledge for health,” so education is also a large part of its mission, and it publishes a range of materials to inform the consumer. Schroeder describes this as key: “It is so important that people are knowledgeable about what they do with a product. Instead of just purchasing a foam roller, people should know how to use it appropriately so that they don’t injure themselves.” During her work there, Kneale has written three books on Pilates, including one titled Desk Pilates, which OPTP published and distributes.
