Our bodies were designed to heal after injury, however there are many things that can get in the way of the healing process reaching full completion. This can lead to problems that develop down the road effecting one or more regions in the body. It is our job as physical therapists to find out where the root cause of the problem is and make sure the healing process can be completed.  Most of the time this involves a healthy balance of hands on manual therapy along with a robust home management program that may include postural adjustments, strengthening, stretching and many other useful techniques aimed to ensure continued healing and progress can be made.  

I believe that as YOUR physical therapist it is MY JOB to educate you thoroughly on what is causing your pain and help you develop a plan of attack.  Then it will be your job to implement the plan between sessions.  Ideally we’ll be able to adjust the plan each session based on your progress until pain has been defeated and you’re living life free of it’s grasp. 

To be honest I did not always know what I wanted to do for a career.  I knew I loved helping people and I was intrigued by the complexity of the human body and mind so I claimed Psychology as my undergraduate major.  After a few classes I knew that Psychology was not for me and that I was going to need some real life experience to focus my career search.  So I took a job at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital as a nurse technician while continuing to study Biomedical Science.  

While at Mary Free Bed I was part of the rehab process and I was amazed to watch patients whom had suffered strokes, spinal cord injuries, and brain injuries be able to recover through intensive therapy and hard work! Toying with the idea of medical school or physical therapy I was torn. However by working as a nurse technician and helping the rehab team I knew I wanted to walk along side patients, helping them work through the recovery process to see what their God given bodies were able to do in the presence of trauma and injury.  I was accepted into Grand Valley State Universities program in 2005 and the rest is history… or shall I say, things are just getting started!

• Spinal and joint mobilization
• Instrument assisted soft tissue augmentation
• Soft tissue mobilization
• Mobilization with movement
• Postural training
• Corrective exercises/stretching
• Core Strengthening/activation
• Functional movement retraining
• Gait training
• Vestibular and balance correction
• Loads of education (knowledge is power)

• Golfing
• Rock Climbing
• Mountain Biking
• Hiking
• Reptiles
• Chess
• Gardening
• Irreducible Complexity
• Wood Working
• Puzzles
• Birds
• Apologetics
• Most anything science

“Practice does not make perfect… Perfect practice makes perfect.”

“Beware of your thoughts as they influence your words, beware of your words as they influence your actions, beware of your actions as they drive your habits, beware of your habits as they build your character, beware of your character as it determines your destiny.”

“In a world full of followers, dare to be a leader”