INTERVIEWS
What a Pain in the...Back (Valley Magazine February 2005) pending upload
PRESS RELEASES
ARTICLES: (written by Lori Andersen) pending upload
Screen Test Your Injury IQ
IFT: An Important Part of Training (Inside Stunts Magazine Summer 2004) pending upload
Balance--To Find It You Have To Lose It (Inside Stunts Magazine Fall 2004) pending upload
Stability Training (Inside Stunts Magazine Winter 2004) pending upload
Power Training (Inside Stunts Magazine Spring 2005) pending upload

LA411 Update Newsletter
October 2003 Issue 2

Though many would consider it a luxury, physical therapist and health & fitness advisor Lori Andersen believes that the service she provides should be an integral part of any production shoot. Andersen, an orthopedic specialist who began in private practice, works with cast and crew on anything from exercise regimes and massage to injury prevention and first aid to keep them healthy while they work.

"The industry is hard on actors and crew, so I provide the kind of therapy they need, either because they have an injury or they need to stay fit. Everyone needs to be healthy to stay productive. It's a win-win deal for producers and crew," says Andersen.

Andersen has devised various solutions to filming in remote locations and on the road, involving easy-to-manage equipment such as therapy balls, medicine balls, bands, and exercise mats, with routines she has developed that can be set up at virtually any location. "I can be creative in locations that don't have all the amenities. It may be a MASH tent but it works," she says.

For short shoots she provides mainly stretching, manual therapy, and modalities to keep actors and crew from getting sore and injured. For long shoots, there's time to set up a mobile gym and rehab area and really get to work.

"Healthy people are more productive," insists Andersen. "Delays, such as those caused by injury or strain, cost money, so it makes sense to keep people healthy."
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September 2003

Lori Andersen is a state licensed physical therapist, sport trainer, and accredited ergonomist with more than a decade of hands-on experience. Qualifications include masters degrees in physical therapy and psychology, certifications in physical training, accreditation as an ergonomist, and CPR certified.

Andersen’s on-location services to the Industry help keep productions on track, on time, and on budget. Services range from pre-production script advice about what the human body can and can’t do in various situations to a full program of physical training and injury management.

“The technical advice aspect of our business comes into play with pre-production script advice about sets that depict a medical theme or actors portraying physical limitations and injuries,” says APT principal Lori Andersen. With TV shows like CSI and commercials that focus on people exercising, productions strive to be authentic. She explains, “In CSI, if an autopsy reveals that a victim’s shoulder was dislocated by the killer dragging him, how would his arm need to be positioned when he was dragged? The victim would be face up, arm overhead, and pulled with a jerky motion.” Commercials for pharmaceuticals and food products are trying to appeal to healthy folks who exercise, and they don’t always get the scene in the gym or the yoga movements correct. “Without proper technical advice the script can have actors referring to certain body parts by the wrong name, scenes with physical movements that don’t make sense, or an actor getting hurt,” Andersen says.

There are new technologies in medicine, like artificial intervertebral discs, and Andersen keeps up with current research so that when a scene calls for it the information is ready. Also on hand are a good supply of canes, walkers, braces, and other props to use in a scene.

In practice as an orthopedic specialist since 1992, Andersen uses a holistic approach to physical therapy that she calls Integrative Functional Therapy (IFT). “I call my style of physical therapy IFT because I evaluate the whole person. The idea is to fix the musculoskeletal problem before injuries occur or rehab the person to get their whole system in good working order,” she says. This may involve hands-on soft tissue mobilization and stretching, modalities such as ultrasound, e-stim, or muscle biofeedback, and functional training exercises. Functional exercises recruit many muscles to do real-life movements like squatting, bending, twisting, pushing, pulling, and reaching. The focus is on all of life’s requirements – strength, endurance, flexibility, balance, coordination, and agility. “The Industry is hard on actors and crew, so IFT is the kind of therapy that they need - either because they have an injury or they need to stay fit. Everyone needs to be healthy to stay productive – it’s a win-win deal for producers and crew," Andersen says.

Short shoots or standby sevices are stretching, manual therapy, and modalities to keep actors and crew from getting sore and injured. For long shoots, there is time to set up a mobile gym and rehab area. Filming in remote locations or on the road may present a challenge for a traditional gym setup, but Andersen uses therapy balls, medicine balls, bands, mats, and routines she has put together that can be set up at any location. “I can be creative in locations that don’t have all the amenities - it may be a MASH tent but it works,” she says.

Sometimes rehab can turn into work in front of the camera for Andersen. “I was Jim Gott’s (Dodgers) physical therapist and the production team decided to use us in a part of a commercial that depicted therapy instead of hiring outside talent. There is no substitute for the real thing,” Andersen says.
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