I’m not sure when this thought actually took shape in my mind, because it was hidden by the fact that what I really wanted to be when I grew up was an Olympic Beach Volleyball Professional.  But since it always makes sense to have a back up plan, I pursued a top notch physical therapy degree (at SUNY @ BUFFALO where I could also play Division I Volleyball, of course).  The career choice made sense;  I like to exercise, I like to help people, I grew up with an affinity against pharmaceuticals, I had a good experience in PT as a high school athlete myself, and I had a grandfather that would have lived a longer life with less pain if his physical therapy had been more successful. These things all just formed together and naturally led me to a career choice that I was a complete shoo-in for.

My decision to pursue physical therapy has never deceived me.  I have always loved my career path and the jobs it has led me to.  I was gratefully offered a job at the clinic that I did my internship at in Fairport, NY right after graduation.  There were 7 other amazing therapists at that clinic that I could draw knowledge from and I learned a fantastic approach to complete knee recovery.  I moved to California and worked alongside a massage therapist that had amazing results with her blessed hands, and she taught me how to trust my gift of locating the source of peoples pain (even if it wasn’t exactly where they pointed to).  I have been hired by dozens of clinics doing per diem work, and gathered up a bunch of ideas from the charts of how the other therapists were treating the patients.  And with the per diem work, sometimes only seeing a patient one time ever, I practiced my gift of choosing just one exercise that I felt would have the biggest impact towards helping their injury…then enjoyed seeing the hope light up on their face when they realized that something so simple could hit the spot so well.

I love my job, and am proud to say that in my 20+ years of experience as a Physical Therapist, I have helped thousands of people just like you who have sustained injuries to their muscles, tendons, bones, and nerves to feel better. I worked hard, (actually, I taught THEM to work hard) to get them back to their job, their sport, and their everyday activities at or above the functional level where they were before the injury. People don’t often care how much you know, until they know how much you care. And it wasn’t hard for my patients to tell right away that I care.  Careful observation to my patients response to treatment, numerous continuing education classes, and open mindedly accepting ideas of other professionals has brought me to a high skill level and has molded me into a top professional in my field. It feels good helping people.

And now I’ve come to a point in my life where I’m asking myself, “How can I improve?” and, “How can I help more people?” I do my best to get people well as fast as possible and to heal through their injury while maintaining as much normalcy in their life as possible.  But, how about if I could PREVENT them from getting injured in the first place? Stop the injury progression right in its tracks before it even starts to feel like a problem? And, teach people how to help themselves to get through it? YEAH! Not only could the unmeasurable amount of pain and suffering be avoided, but thousands of dollars could be saved in medical related costs, additional insurance premiums, reduced productivity, and time off of work.

From years of hearing people tell me how their injury started, I knew I could teach people how to interpret the warning signs that their body was telling them (back when the injury was barely a tiny ache), and how to take action (a simple position change or stretch), to completely prevent these injuries.  Yeah, I desperately want to teach people these things. And, by the way, being that I’m still pursuing a modified version of my beach volleyball dream into my 40th decade, I gotta say that I’m feeling more and more like an expert at interpreting pain signals every day!…#40&sporty)