He Runs an Office, He Runs a Store, and He Runs
UNDERSTANDING: Physical therapist Bruce
Wilk understands when a patient such as Annabel Navarro explains a problem
Miami News Service
If not for the passion that Bruce Wilk has for slipping on a pair of
running shoes and pounding the pavement, he definitely would not be a physical
therapist. It’s the activity that has kept him motivated after two decades in
the business.
“I’m blessed to be in a field for 20 years and still wake up and be
excited to go to work,” said Wilk, who lives and owns a private practice in
Kendall and devotes much of his free time to running.
That’s what allows him to remain focused. And if all goes well, he
said, he’d like to “die with his running shoes on.”
‘When I don’t train, or if I can’t train for a week, my mind gets
clogged,” said Wilk, 44. “Running brings a kind of balance. It’s my
time.”
MAKING
A MECCA
For years, Wilk said he has been working to make Miami a mecca for
runners. He sees patients at Orthopedic Rehabilitation Specialists, 8720 North
Kendall Dr., which he founded in 1985 on the condition that other physical
therapists in the office be amateur athletes also.
He volunteers with the Miami Runners Club, where he has been a member
for 20 years, and he leads a track workout sponsored by the club from 6:30-8
a.m. every Wednesday at Miami-Dade Community College Kendall campus.
A year ago he opened the Runner’s High, a retail store for runners at
11209 S. Dixie Hwy.
His motivation for running has rubbed off on his patients and
colleagues.
“He’s extremely knowledgeable and extremely confident,” said Jo
Staniewicz, 67, who said Wilk readied him for the Walt Disney Marathon last year
when his back went out six days before the race.
Staniewicz, a real estate broker and property iminager, said his back
was so bad he couldn’t bend over, and when he drove himself to Wilk’s
office, he had to pull himself out of the car because it was too painful to
bend.
“He worked me Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,” said Staniewicz, who not
only fmished the race but also won his division.
because he likely has had it, too.