New Karate Class Offers Rehab for Some

After a car accident injured his back, shoulders, neck, hips and threw him off balance six years ago, Mike Larkin drew from his 30-year background in karate to provide himself with physical therapy. That's why he'd like to recommend it to other Bryn Mawr residents.

"I got pretty messed up in the auto accident," he said. "For a few years [I've been] dealing with it medically.[Karate] is an art of being able to breath and move."

Larkin said he only recently began using karate as physical therapy -- though he'd been doing stretches and poses on his own after his accident. But he prefers a group setting. That's why he's thankful his friend and teacher, Bejar Fazliu, secured a spot at Main Line Budo teaching a karate class.

"Very disciplined, traditional," Larkin said of Fazliu's class, which is called Shotokan Karate-do. "The existing [program] is an aikido school—it’s a different Japenese martial art."

Larkin said he'd offer the class to anyone interested in physical therapy, stress relief, self-defense and weight reduction.

The classes are for those 14 and up, he says, and are Tuesdays and Thursdays by drop-in status for $15 at 1020 Lancaster Avenue.