Edge Physical Therapy
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 months, 3 weeks AGO
The team at Edge Physical Therapy: Dr. Joanne Thomas, PT, DPT; Ashley Roessler, PTA, CPT; Patient Care Coordinator Christine Bare; Dr. Erica Crafts, DPT; and Dr. Chad Crafts, DPT, MS, CSCS, PES, CES.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | October 29, 2025 3:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — When it comes to health, sometimes you have to start in the middle.
“We believe in treating the whole person because the pelvis is literally the middle of the body,” said Physical Therapist Erica Crafts, owner of Edge Physical Therapy. “Everything from top to bottom connects right in the center of our body.”
Edge is the only clinic in a 60-plus-mile radius that provides comprehensive pelvic health care, according to Crafts. It’s not a common specialty; a study cited by the American Physical Therapy Association showed that rural communities like the Columbia Basin have fewer than two pelvic health specialists per million people. And yet it’s essential, particularly for women. Pelvic floor disorders affect about one in four women at some point in their lives, according to the Food and Drug Administration, resulting in prolapsed organs, incontinence and pain, as well as problems during and after pregnancy.
Pelvic health isn’t just for women, Crafts said. Men often need help after prostate surgery, and therapy can help children with bedwetting as well. Because the pelvis is the central point, therapy includes a lot of work on the surrounding body parts.
“We'll treat everything from their posture all the way to their foot position because it affects the function of the pelvis itself,” Crafts said. “We're going to address not just (the muscles) in your pelvic floor, but also the muscles that surround it: your back, your hips, your abdominal muscles, all of it is connected. It doesn't necessarily look like what people expect.”
The key is strength, Crafts said. Therapists use movement to build muscle strength, and also techniques like cupping, a decompression therapy that takes the pressure off nerves and allows freer blood flow to the affected area. This decreases pain and improves mobility, she said.
Building strength is also the focus for Chad Crafts, Erica Crafts’ husband and an orthopedic and sports therapist at Edge.
“Strength is the single biggest determinant of pain,” Chad said. “The stronger you are, the less pain you have, and the stronger you are, the more you’re able to do. And the stronger you are, the longer you live. There's a big study out on longevity and strength (that shows) not only do you live longer, but you live a better quality of life because you're able to do the things that you would like to do.”
Strength training can go a long way toward preventing the problems that physical therapy is often used to repair, Chad said.
“We (have) a treatment-based medical system where something happens and we treat it, and it's not a very cost-effective model,” he said. “It is much easier and much more inexpensive to prevent something than it is to treat it … It's not just about coming back from an injury; it's coming back to life and enjoying the things that life is all about: hanging with kids and grandkids, sports, hiking, anything that you want to do, to get back to the things that you enjoy and live life to its fullest, not just endure.”
Erica Crafts started Edge in 2018 as a one-woman clinic, she said. Today, she has two other therapists besides Chad. Ashley Roessler and Joanne Thomas both treat orthopedic and pelvic patients. Thomas also works in vestibular rehab, a specialty dealing with balance and dizziness disorders, and lymphedema, which is swelling in the lymph nodes that’s a common side effect of breast cancer treatment.
Edge holds occasional educational events, Erica said. The clinic held a pelvic health event in February for mothers and daughters to explain some of the issues that girls in their teens and tweens face. There will also be a men’s health event on Nov. 18 in conjunction with Moses Lake Professional Pharmacy, covering mental health, hormone balance, heart and prostate health, and the muscle and bone loss that often comes with getting older.
“Men don't always necessarily reach out on their own,” Erica said. “They’re like, ‘Oh, I’m fine, I’ll tough it out, and if it gets worse, maybe I’ll go in.’ Their wives are usually the ones dragging them to it. We're approaching it more like date night: Bring your spouse or your significant other and come learn together.”
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake author’s book, “A Christian Woman Striving to Live Her Faith in a Man-Controlled World,” takes aim at the role to which many churches relegate the female half of their congregations. “It’s to encourage women in the faith,” Linda Curran said. “A lot of churches say, ‘Teach Sunday school, do this, do that, but don’t (evangelize.)’" In her book, Curran recounts a time when she moved to a new community and joined a church there. She was surprised to learn that, as a new female member, she had been automatically assigned church cleaning duties. When she questioned it, she wrote, she was met with condescension and her objections were brushed aside. In other churches, she said, women who were capable of teaching were relegated to “women’s ministry.”