Today Show Features Neuroplastic Functional Training

A small group of Roaring Fork Valley health professionals is making a big impact in the lives of people with spinal cord injuries. So much so that The Today Show sent a film crew out earlier this month to document their story. It is scheduled to air at approximately 9 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 21, on NBC.

The Neuroplastic Functional Institute (NFI), founded by Lauryn Maloney-Gepfert, LMT, MFA, PA-C, is based in an office near the Glenwood Springs High School, but much of the work they’re doing takes place at the Launch Pad in Carbondale and at the Iron Mountain Hot Springs in Glenwood Springs. Filming took place at all three locations.

Maloney-Gepfert has many heart-warming success stories about people whose lives she’s helped to turn around. Two of them, her husband Larry Gepfert and local athlete Soren Lindholm, will be featured along with footage of Ben Jenkins of Denver and Bob Kemper from California with whom her team is currently working.

Lindholm, who lives in Carbondale, never thought this day would come. After a skiing accident in March 2017 left him paralyzed from the waist down from a spinal cord injury, this young, extreme athlete learned from one of his teachers about a local woman who might be able to help. He started working with Maloney-Gepfert during the fall of 2017.

“Before I met Lauryn, I had no movement in my legs,” Soren Lindholm said. “We started out working in my home, then moved to Iron Mountain Hot Springs in December 2017. During our sessions in the pool, I move in ways that I can imagine, like pretending to run or ride a bike in my mind. Then we do it in real life. We build connections in the pool to build strength, then I can do these movements out of the water.”

Soren’s training is called Neuroplastic Functional Training, which Maloney-Gepfert has been developing over the past 41 years. It combines neuroplasticity, the breakthrough science of rewiring the brain for better health; kinesiology, the study of human movement, performance and function; and life education, which addresses the body, soul and spirit of an individual; to help people achieve their goals of a pain-free, lifelong, high level of function for the whole person.

Lindholm’s progress continues to amaze him and the people at NFI involved in his training. His Instagram feed, @soren_lindholm99, features a video of him riding an exercise bike last month. During the filming, he walked across the office several times with help from special leg braces and aided by physical therapist Deb Weidemann, who began her training with NFI over the summer. It was the highlight of the day.

The airing of this story furthers Maloney-Gepfert’s goal of encouraging other health professionals around the country to learn and use these techniques, and to help as many people as possible.

The skill sets learned during Neuroplastic Functional Training can be used in every area of a person’s life, including orthopedic issues, addiction, depression and anxiety. There are a range of classes currently taking place at the Launch Pad; the schedule is available at NFIHeals.com/programs.