For Silver Creek, NY, physical therapy in Buffalo is a realistic option as long as the plan respects a drive of a little under an hour. The village sits on Lake Erie in Chautauqua County’s Town of Hanover, and Lake Erie Physical Therapy is 33 road miles away at 531 Virginia Street. Below are the roads, a Metro bus option, and how lake-effect winters and lakeshore summers figure into a recovery plan.
Routes 5 and 20, then Camp Road
East of the village, Routes 5 and 20 run together through Irving. Our mapped route then stays on Route 20 for about 18 miles before turning north on Camp Road in Hamburg, which feeds into Route 5 by way of St. Francis Drive; Route 5 then follows the shoreline and crosses the Skyway into downtown. The Thruway from Exit 58 in Irving, the exit the village’s Festival of Grapes directions point visitors to, is the other way north. Without traffic the drive runs about 53 minutes. Allow more at rush hour, and a lot more when a lake-effect band sets up over the roads.
Route 76 Lakeshore Express
If you already ride the bus to a downtown job, NFTA Metro’s Route 76 Lakeshore Express may be part of your week. On weekdays it runs between Seneca One Stop in Irving and downtown Buffalo along Route 5, with timepoints including Farnham, Evangola State Park, Angola and the Athol Springs Park & Ride. Trips head into the city in the morning and back out in the late afternoon, so a visit can be worked into a downtown workday: Metro Rail runs from downtown to the Allen/Medical Campus station, about a 4-minute walk from our door. See directions, parking and transit for the last few blocks, and check the current schedule on metro.nfta.com before you count on it.
Black Knights on one campus
Silver Creek Central School District keeps all three of its schools, from the elementary school through Silver Creek High School, on one campus at 1 Dickinson Street. The district draws students from the Town of Hanover, the Town of Sheridan, the village, Irving, the Cattaraugus Territory and a small part of the Town of Brant (see our Brant page). When a Black Knights athlete is coming back from an injury, sports physical therapy works through strength, control and sport drills before the return to play.
Tennis courts, the boat launch and George Borrello Park
Summer in the village brings its own wear and tear. Silver Creek keeps tennis courts (keys come from the Village Clerk’s office), a pavilion at the ballpark, Park Place Park, a boat launch and George Borrello Park. A backhand that leaves the outside of the elbow sore, a serve that pinches the shoulder, or a trailer tongue lifted at an awkward angle can all linger longer than expected. Outer-elbow pain usually calls for easing the load and then strengthening the forearm, which is the core of our care for tennis elbow.
Physical therapy for Silver Creek, NY through a lake-effect winter
The National Weather Service says more than half of Buffalo’s yearly snowfall comes from the lake-effect process, and that prevailing winds push far more of it south of Buffalo than north. Silver Creek lies south and west of the city, and winter here means shoveling, which is hard on backs.
Back pain is where the McKenzie Method comes in. Your exam tests repeated movements and positions to find the directions that ease your symptoms, and you go home with a short list of exercises for snowed-in days too. Dr. Will Tso, PT, DPT, Cert. MDT, holds the McKenzie Institute’s credential in the method, and its emphasis on treating yourself can mean fewer drives up Route 20. Read more about the McKenzie Method.
Early on, visits often run two or three a week. Tuesday through Friday the doors open at 7 AM, and the schedule can loosen once your home routine is doing more of the work.
Chest pain, pressure or unusual shortness of breath while shoveling calls for 911, not a physical therapist. So does back pain with new loss of bladder or bowel control.
Questions about getting here from Silver Creek, by car or by bus? Call (716) 332-4838, or ask for an appointment online.