Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Saunders.
Hi Anna, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My interest is physical therapy started with my years in the performing arts as a ballerina and concert harpist. The training for a professional career in the performing arts is very taxing, both physically and emotionally, and the technical demands are very repetitive. I love the arts, and especially the performing arts. I find that many medical professionals don’t fully understand the demands of a performing artist and how it differs from traditional sports or athletics. It is not as easy for a performing artist to ‘sit out for a season” or skip a show, for example. as doctors often recommend to musicians and dancers. My interest in physical therapy began with wanting to help performing artists to be able to recover from their injuries and get them back to what they want to be doing, but better, smarter, and stronger. I educate to help the performing artist prevent injury in the first place and understand why they occur. I have a Bachelor’s of Science in classical ballet performance from Indiana University and was studying harp performance there as well. I trained with a ballet company in Spain for a short while before moving to LA to attend USC’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program. There is a lot of science in movement mechanics and orthopedics at USC, which really complemented my background in ballet. After graduating from USC, in addition to working with dancers and performers, I took on a mentorship in the rehabilitation of various pelvic dysfunctions. We saw a huge number of both female and male pelvic patients of various issues. There was a large amount of pre- and post-partum patients, but also many other diagnoses, such as post-cancer rehab and sexual medicine issues. It became a niche practice that I worked out of for more than 10 years while continuing to work with dancers and performers either on-site backstage or at the pre-professional or collegiate level. I have continued my physical therapy education in orthopedics, osteopathic manipulation, and manual therapy, and I am a Fellow of American Accredited Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy. I have slowed down recently, as I am now a mother of three and have also been caring for my husband, who is a 5 yr. leukemia survivor. I still work as an independent contractor and provide on-site backstage care, provide lectures to dance studios and companies in the area, and see patients at Evergreen Physical Therapy in Pasadena. I provide physical therapy and dance medicine services for the California Institute of the Arts Dance Department as well as the Dance Department at Colburn School. I love my work as a physical therapist and have found it extremely rewarding to help those with injuries or dysfunction in both the performing arts setting as well as in pelvic health and orthopedics.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My journey into my career as a physical therapist has been a relatively smooth road, yes. Most of my struggles were along the lines of navigating the balance of family life with my work life and career ambitions. When I found that my family life needed more attention, it was easier to switch into independent contract work as a PT, providing me with more flexibility over my schedule. I also have enjoyed finding ways to keep my mind busy through continuing education when my time working in a clinical setting needed to slow down for things like having babies, the pandemic, or during my husband’s cancer treatments.
I find that there is a large network of dancers and performers in the LA area, and one of the struggles was in trying to market to and offer work with the many dance communities in LA. It has been far better to work as a team and make friends with surrounding performing arts physical therapists so we can all work together, collaborating on things like medical screenings or backstage coverage, versus creating more of a competitive vibe. I love and respect all of my fellow performing arts PTs throughout LA, and I hope that we can find ways to collaborate more in the future to provide care to the Los Angeles dance community at large.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a physical therapist specializing in orthopedics and osteopathic manual therapy, women’s health, and movement science. I predominantly work with two subgroups: performing arts (ballet, dance, gymnastic, cirque arts/acrobatics, musicians), and pelvic dysfunction (pre- and post-partum, pelvic pain, incontinence, urinary retention, erectile dysfunction, post cancer treatment of the pelvis), but I treat all orthopedic diagnoses. My current work is a mix of backstage or on-site care (working with dancers within their dance department, providing simple triage, ongoing physical therapy services, and educational lecture series in injury prevention and management for dancers/performers) and in clinic evaluation and treatments at Evergreen Physical Therapy in Pasadena.
I am well regarded for my intimate knowledge and expertise, applying the latest science to promote optimal recovery and healing. I enjoy communicating what I know to my patients and tend to make deep connections them, establishing myself as a partner in their recovery. In other words, not just a physical therapist, but a friend, a mentor, a source of expert advice in line with their personal goals and ambitions. I help patients to understand their injuries, to understand the root cause of the injury, to try and avoid unnecessary procedures, and to explore what lifestyle changes might need to happen for them to prevent injury in the future and keep them on the best track for their future.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I was the middle child of 3 girls. There was not a lot of room for my voice or my emotions in my household, simply by the nature of being in the middle of a family of 5. I really took to the arts as an outlet for myself. My parents helped each of their children access the extracurricular activities that interested them. For myself, I was drawn to the discipline and the challenge of both ballet and harp. I loved to see how something that was so challenging could become easier with dedicated practice and the discipline to get better and work harder. And both of those activities are art forms where the challenge never ends. Once you master something, there is always something harder and more complicated to master beyond it. I loved that about concert harp and ballet. I loved that you could simply get lost in the art form and the practice of it. Everything within your day would be forgotten while working in ballet technique class, or in trying to get the fingering precision correct for the next harp piece. In a lot of ways, I am very much still like that today. I thrive the most when I have a challenge to try and master or a problem to figure out. I get bored easily and love to have something to plan for or an adventure to go on. Ballet and music are very much like that for me, but they also have to connect you to what’s at the core of humanity: our emotions. If we are not fully engaged as an artist in what we feel, then there is no connection to the audience. I thing that in many ways, art, and especially dance, has had moments where we value the simple physicality and athleticism. But when dance becomes only about the tricks, then suddenly, we have lost the art form, and we are no longer connected to the audience on an emotional level. I was shy as a child, reserved, and a rule follower. The performing arts of ballet and harp gave me a certain voice and level of confidence that I didn’t have in a social setting. There were definite, concrete rules, but you had to find a way to express yourself within and also a bit outside of those rules. That’s what I love about the classical arts. I am not one to naturally strike up a conversation with someone or join the social hang-out after school. I would rather have been in the ballet studio all weekend long or home practicing my harp in elementary and middle school. Even today, I find public speaking or oral exams so much more nerve-wracking than performing a harp piece or ballet solo on a stage. It has taken me a lot longer to find my confidence and my voice in lecturing or speaking in front of a large group. I also have always been a natural nurturer and empath. When I was young, I used to want to open an animal sanctuary for gorillas and primates. Jane Goodall was my idol, and I wanted to make a difference in the world like she did. I believe that nurturing is also what drove me toward a career in physical therapy. I love helping my patients to get better, to improve, and to find a better, healthier version of themselves post injury. I love trying new things, learning new skills, and figuring out a problem. Physical therapy is very much like that. Your patient is an open canvas. Their body and injury tells a certain story, and as a PT, part of that job is trying to figure out what techniques and skills you want to pull from your bag of tricks to best help the body that’s in front of you. It’s fun and creative, and the problems and learning never end.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.annasaundersdpt.com
- Instagram: @annasaundersdpt or @annarosemarychang
- Facebook: Anna Saunders
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/anna-saunders-7a773a24
Image Credits
Oliver Endahl
