Growing up, sports and competition were a huge part of my life. My family was always active, and my sister and I were encouraged to try different sports and find ways to stay active. I quickly fell in love with soccer and decided to pursue it exclusively as I entered high school. Unfortunately, with my pursuit of soccer came a long list of injuries and ailments that frequently kept me away from the sport I loved. Fortunately, I was able to continue my soccer career at Randolph-Macon College, but I quickly began experiencing repetitive ankle sprains, hamstring injuries, concussions, and eventually stress fractures. I found myself becoming a frequent visitor to the athletic training room and local physical therapy clinic—far more often than I ever expected.

At the time, I simply considered myself injury-prone and unlucky. I began to question my ability to be a competitive athlete as my body seemed to break down whenever I reached a certain level of competition. Entering my senior season of college, I was determined to make it through an entire season without an injury. Unfortunately, that season came to a quick end when I suffered an ankle stress fracture. That year, I found myself completely drained and exhausted from constantly resting and being told that I could not do the things I wanted to do. I lost motivation for physical therapy and began to believe that nothing would change my outcome—that perhaps this was simply how my body was.

Around this same time, I decided to pursue physical therapy school. I initially viewed it as an opportunity to remain involved in sports and work with athletes on a day-to-day basis. However, once I entered physical therapy school, my perspective completely changed. I realized that my body was not inherently broken; rather, my previous care had often focused on treating a diagnosis instead of treating me as an individual. Through my education, I learned that a diagnosis is only one small piece of the physical therapy process. If we are not considering the individual as a whole—including their personal beliefs, nutrition, health habits, stress, lifestyle, and goals—we may miss the underlying factors contributing to their injury.

I also learned that recovery and rehabilitation are complex processes that are rarely linear. Most importantly, I recognized the significant gap that can exist between rehabilitation and returning to sport or high-level competition. Looking back on my own experience, I believe this gap played a major role in my repeated injuries. I was often able to return to activity, but I did not always feel fully prepared to handle the demands of my sport. This realization drove me to pursue a sports residency following physical therapy school, where I developed the skills and clinical reasoning necessary to bridge the gap between rehabilitation, recovery, and performance.

My experiences as an athlete and patient have ultimately shaped the type of physical therapist I strive to be. I know what it feels like to be frustrated, uncertain, and afraid that your body will not allow you to return to the activities you love. I also know how powerful it can be when a clinician takes the time to understand not just your injury, but who you are and what you want to accomplish. My goal is to provide care that is individualized, comprehensive, and centered around each patient’s unique goals and aspirations. I want every patient to leave my care with more than just an improved physical capacity—I want them to leave with the knowledge, confidence, and trust in their body to pursue the things that matter most to them. Having once questioned whether I could continue competing at the level I wanted, I am committed to helping others believe that their goals are possible and giving them the tools to achieve them.