The PEAK Center at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado, is a pioneering adaptive health and wellness facility dedicated to enhancing recovery and promoting lifelong health for individuals with neurologic disabilities nationwide. Learn more about them and their great resources in our newest spotlight article!

When did the PEAK Center at Craig Hospital start?

We started in 2011. Craig Hospital is a world-renowned rehabilitation hospital that exclusively specializes in neurorehabilitation and research for individuals with spinal cord injury and brain injury. Craig is a 93-bed, private, not-for-profit inpatient/outpatient hospital that offers acute, short and long-term follow-up care.

What are your goals or mission?

The PEAK (Performance, Exercise, Attitude and Knowledge) Wellness Center at Craig Hospital offers specialized health and wellness programs focused on enriching the quality of life for those affected by neurological conditions. With knowledge and passion, we inspire our community to live healthier lives through unique, innovative and traditional wellness strategies.

Where are you located?

Craig Hospital is located at 3425 S Clarkson St, Englewood, CO 80113.

How many employees do you have?

• 3 administrators
• 2 Physical Therapists
• 8 Clinical Exercise Specialists
• 3 Aides

What do you all do?

We are an adaptive health and wellness center serving individuals across the United States with neurologic disabilities to optimize their recovery and create a lifelong plan for their health and wellness. Our services are open to anyone in the community with a neurological diagnosis. Clients do not have to be current or former Craig patients and we accept clients with any neuro diagnosis. Our services include:

• Personal training
• Group classes
• FES bikes
• Open gym – fully accessible gym with a variety of strength and cardio equipment

Tell us a success story or brag about yourselves. What would you like us to highlight or share about your organization?

We provide specialized personal training programs to clients in the community as an adjunct to their outpatient therapy services. We are also available to clients who are no longer in therapy as an accessible and inclusive environment to continue their health and wellness journey. We utilize traditional training methods and have access to state-of-the-art technologies to provide clients with the opportunity to move and exercise in ways they can’t do on their own. Some of the specialized equipment we use includes:

• Robotic exoskeletons
• Body weight support devices to safely walk clients overground or over a treadmill
• Several different functional electric stimulation technologies
• A pool and an underwater treadmill

Here is a link to an article about a few of our clients! https://craighospital.org/blog/achieving-goals-at-the-peak

When did PEAK/Craig and NCHPAD start working together? What do you all hope to gain (or for your participants to gain) from this partnership?

In the fall of 2020! During the COVID-19 pandemic, we needed to be very careful about exposure, as many of our clients were at a higher risk of severe illness due to their injuries. We saw it as an incredible opportunity to provide our clients with a free online training program to improve their understanding of the mind, body and spirit connection. The information provided in the MENTOR program is extremely valuable to our clients, and this program offers an invaluable form of peer mentorship and education about the health and wellness of the body and the soul.

Tell us about your resources. Do you have a current resource campaign you’d like to highlight? What resources have been the most successful or important to you all?

We are thankful to have the incredible support of the Craig Hospital Foundation, which works with our generous donors to provide three essential resources for our clients:

• Specialized, state-of-the-art technologies to get our clients out of their wheelchairs and safely moving their bodies for exercise
• A scholarship program for our general gym memberships, which allows our clients who may need some financial assistance to access the open gym at no cost
• A strong electrode donation fund, which allows us to provide the electrodes we use for many of our services to our clients at no cost

What are some resources or services you provide that people may not know about?

• One-on-one personal training services for any neurological injury or diagnosis
• Group classes currently include:
  • PEAK Beats (cardio)
  • Happy Hour
  • Weights on Wheels
  • Glutes, Core and More (strength classes)
  • Adaptive yoga
  • Tai Chi
• FES (functional electrical stimulation) bike program – utilizing the RT300 from Restorative Therapies or the MyoCycle by Myolyn
• Open gym membership for independent use, including access to standing frames, weights and cardio equipment