It’s a common stereotype in modern healthcare that it’s difficult to find a practitioner who truly cares. At your doctor’s office, you may feel like just another chart, just another name on a schedule, no matter how friendly your physician may be. When you find a professional who cares about your well-being, whether a personal trainer, a hairstylist, or a dentist, you want to stick with them no matter what, because you have come to appreciate not only the quality of their service but also their genuine concern for you as a person, not just as another name on their schedule.
Deanna Newman, a cardio-pulmonary rehab nurse and triathlon world champion, has been a client of ours at EW Motion Therapy for over 25 years, coming to physical therapy for injuries, strength training, and returning to the clinic for regular maintenance when needed. Her story shows how impactful it can be to find a physical therapist who cares about your goals and will encourage you every step of your journey. Let’s dive deeper and learn why Deanna has remained a client of ours for all these years.
How Deanna found EW Motion Therapy
Deanna has been running triathlons since she was 23 and has gotten incredible opportunities in her career. Early on, sometime around the year 2000, she injured her shoulder. A mentor of hers named Johnny Montgomery knew one of our founders, Mike Eskridge, very well, and sent Deanna to his new practice, Eskridge and White Physiotherapy. When Deanna came in for treatment, she was put under the care of our other founding partner, Ethan White. Her shoulder healed under Ethan’s careful rehabilitation, and she was racing again only three weeks after her injury. With regular maintenance in the clinic, her shoulder continued to perform as expected for the next 18 years, until she tore her rotator cuff and had it repaired in 2018.
Even now, Deanna comes into the clinic for regular maintenance every other week, meeting with Ethan to check in and make sure every part of her body is operating as it should. In fact, she refers to herself as Ethan’s “old car” that he continues to tinker with regularly. She credits this regular maintenance with her being able to continue her career - at 53, she is still running triathlons and even competed in the World Games with Team USA in 2022. With the EW team at her back, she has become unstoppable.
What Deanna loves about EW Motion Therapy
So why has Deanna kept coming back after all this time? Simple: her therapists always encourage her to keep going. A different practitioner might look at Deanna, a 53-year-old triathlete, and suggest that she slow down, lest she get injured. Deanna loves that at EW, we don’t look at her age as a restrictive number - we see it as an empowering milestone. If she wants to remain competitive, we will help her take care of her body and set realistic goals so she can continue to do what she loves. If she has confidence in herself that she can do it, who are we to stop her?
Along with what she loves about EW, Deanna has a few people who she loves from EW as well. She trusts Ethan as much as her doctor regarding how she rehabilitates injuries and handles pain - her coaches even listen to Ethan’s advice. She gives him credit for keeping her going with his knowledge of body mechanics, especially how he’s learned her body over the years of treating her. Chris Brandt and Caroline Pitts have also treated Deanna well, and she appreciates their expertise and advice. Both Deanna and her husband train with Jesse Douglas, and she loves how knowledgeable and willing to learn he is; he makes every training session fun.
Lessons Deanna has learned
Over the 25 years she has been visiting our clinic, Deanna has learned a lot about keeping her body healthy. She knows to always listen to her body no matter what - if it hurts, she knows to stop. She understands that regular maintenance and strength work should be essential parts of your routine no matter what sport you’re in or how old you are. Most importantly, she has learned that age really is just a number. You might think that you should stop pursuing your sport because you’re getting older, but through regular sessions with her physical therapist and listening to her body, Deanna knows that if you keep moving and work on what’s hurting you, you can stay strong and competitive in your sport for years to come.
What Deanna’s story means for you
Deanna is just one example of an EW client story, but she is truly extraordinary. At 53, she has accomplished more in her career as a triathlete than most can ever dream of doing. She competed at a professional level for 11 years while balancing her career in nursing. All the while, she has done the work to keep her body primed to compete, even though her competitors now may balk at her age. Deanna is an example to us all of what commitment to a sport is supposed to look like: if you set your mind to something and care for yourself along the way, you can accomplish anything.
But the point of Deanna’s story is that she didn’t do it alone: she had trusted professionals who coached, worked with, and encouraged her to pursue her goals, never telling her she couldn’t do something unless her body truly couldn’t handle it. Many of us may never find that in a friend, much less in a medical professional, but at EW Motion Therapy, that is the kind of environment we strive to provide daily. Our clients know that we have their back, and just like Deanna, many of our clients become dear, lifelong friends. EW might be the right place for you to pursue your next big goal, whether you want to hit a new PR or safely play with your grandkids again. Click here to read our story, and if you’d like to explore which of our programs might best fit your needs, click below to browse through our self-selection tool.
