Patient Experience
After a devastating motorcycle accident left me with a brachial plexus injury and zero movement in my right arm, I was told I might never regain function. Dr. Ayşe Esra didn't accept that prognosis. She designed a radical, multi-modal rehabilitation program combining targeted nerve stimulation, specialized myofascial release techniques I'd never heard of, and a bizarre but brilliant series of mirror therapy exercises. She even coordinated with a neuro-orthopedic surgeon for a novel nerve transfer as part of the plan. It was grueling, but she was there for every painful milestone. Eighteen months later, I can write my name again and lift my toddler. She didn't just treat an injury; she rebuilt a life from shattered nerves and hope.
We brought our 7-year-old son, Kerem, who has cerebral palsy, for a consultation. His spasticity was limiting his mobility and causing him pain. Other doctors immediately suggested aggressive Botox injections. Dr. Ayşe Esra took a completely different approach. She spent an hour just observing how Kerem moved and played. She then proposed a 'pre-habilitation' strategy: a specific series of warm-water therapy sessions at the hospital's pool first, followed by gentle, game-based stretching routines she taught us, using his favorite cartoon characters as guides. Only after six weeks of this did she administer a very small, precisely targeted dose of medication. The change was miraculous and gradual. She treated him like a child, not a condition, and gave us tools, not just a procedure.
As a 78-year-old with severe spinal stenosis and osteoporosis, I had resigned myself to a life of pain and a walker. My routine checkup with Dr. Ayşe Esra turned into a revelation. Instead of just adjusting my pain medication, she performed a fascinating functional movement analysis, noting how I compensated for the pain. Her prescription? A custom-fitted, lightweight spinal orthosis she designed in collaboration with the hospital's workshop, and a 'micro-walking' plan—five minutes every hour, with a specific heel-to-toe rhythm she demonstrated. She called it 'rehabilitating my gait memory.' It sounded strange, but the relief was immediate and profound. She addressed the root cause of my instability, not just the symptoms. I've put the walker in the closet.
I arrived at the Emergency Department after a sudden, severe flare-up of ankylosing spondylitis. I was bent over, frozen in pain, and couldn't straighten my spine. The ER doctors managed the acute inflammation, but it was Dr. Ayşe Esra's unscheduled, after-hours intervention that changed everything. She didn't just prescribe rest; she performed a gentle, manual traction technique right there in the ER bay, combined with a specific breathing pattern to help my rib cage expand. Then, she sent me home with an audio file of her voice guiding a crisis-management movement sequence. Her approach was like an emergency physical reset—calm, mechanical, and incredibly effective. She turned a traumatic emergency into a manageable episode with a clear exit strategy.