In 2014, I was a manual therapist and an amateur tri-athlete, and I was still on a frustrating quest to find a long-term resolution to physical pain and dysfunction for my clients, as well as myself. The techniques I had acquired provided temporary management of pain and restriction, but I saw clients giving up. They weren’t finding substantial resolution to their problems, and I had begun to believe that, as a therapist, I couldn’t do more to help.
Fortunately, that summer, I contacted Lia Rousset who was a close friend from school. She had been working at Delos, which was in the midst of tremendous growth. Lia knew how seriously I approach my work so she suggested that I join the Delos team. Lia, a former Olympic athlete and a brilliant therapist at the Lincoln Park Delos location, worked on my calf for 15 minutes. I was sold.
After passing scrutiny by the founders Eric and Mimi, I began intensive months of training, which turned out to be the most illuminating and motivating months of my career. Another new hire and I trained together. Building upon our prior education and work experience, we found that like many of the most beautiful and effective things in life, Delos therapy is quite simple. Still, it requires the sort of sensitivity, attentiveness and refined technique that makes people who are the best in their field appear to perform effortlessly.
I also found that working in an environment focused on pain and dysfunction can also lead to tremendous joy and optimism. This fact seems to come from the rich sense of empathy that has been cultivated at Delos, the confidence that what we do works, and the appreciation of seeing results.
After some time working at Delos, I’ve encountered athletes who are training for some of the most grueling events on Earth, to professionals whose challenges are conquered from behind their desks. I’ve worked on parents who simply want to enjoy time with their kids and folks who want to hold on to their solid golf swing deep into retirement. The bottom line is that the specific goal is less important than the fact that they are committed to that goal and we are helping them fulfill it.
Like any serious pursuit, working at Delos is a process of perpetual refinement. Every day we strive to improve our clients’ ability to thrive. And every day we go home knowing that we’re consistently involved in real and dramatic physical change in the physical realities of our clients’ lives – a change that is allowing them to live unencumbered by the pain and restrictions which they could have considered “the inevitability of life”. I’ve come a long way as a therapist and I finally found the solution to my quest.
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