Action Physical Therapy

MV Therapist Practices What She Preaches by Janet O’Mara

Michel Hanson, licensed physical therapist and owner of Action Physical Therapy, Mount Vernon and Bellingham, can tell her clients “been there, done that” and mean it. Active and athletic, she has been through several surgeries and rehabilitation and now, at age “50-something,” is back doing everything she wants to do.

“I let others know I’ve been through it and I know how it feels,” she says.

“It does get better,” Hanson says with conviction. “You have to put some effort into it, but it does get better.” She has been in her profession for 32 years, accumulating extensive and varied experience in everything from hospital acute care to home therapy. She even volunteered as team therapist for her kids’ soccer team.

Hanson’s business, a private practice formed in 1994, specializes in outpatient, orthopedic and sports rehabilitation. “Orthopedic therapy treats musculoskeletal injuries — for example: broken bones, sprained joints, back injuries, work injuries, knee and ankle injuries, and rehabilitation after hip or knee replacement,” she explains.

Michel (pronounced “Michael”) and her staff offer aquatic rehabilitation, too, using pools at the Skagit Valley Family YMCA and the Riverside Health Club, both in Mount Vernon. “We take people there and teach them therapeutic exercise,” she declares. “Exercise can be much easier in the water because you don’t have to deal with gravity.”

She also specializes in gait evaluations. “I videotape runners on a treadmill and then analyze their gait,” she states. “I try to see anything that can help them out with getting over their problems running.” She got interested in that “because the way people move can be a big puzzle” and has taken several specialty courses on it.

Hanson says she enjoys helping people accustomed to incorporating any kind of activity on a regular basis into their way of life. “If they have to change because of an injury, that’s a major change,” she notes. “I see a lot of recreational runners — it’s a big part of their lives — and I can certainly sympathize with them.”

 

Career-threatening injuries

With athletics an important part of her own life, when Hanson had to have surgery on both of her knees and her shoulder, “I thought that I wouldn’t be able to play soccer or ski or run any more — but I was getting really bored with life,” she admits. “So I got back into an exercise program and got my legs as strong as I could. Now I’m back doing everything that I want.” But it took time, at least four years. Today, Hanson is on the ski patrol at Mt. Baker and runs, lifts free weights and is a certified trainer in strength training and conditioning. She truly “practices what she preaches” — and is such a strong believer; she “preaches what she practices,” too.

Physical therapy has changed a lot since Hanson first began in her profession. “When I first started out, working in hospitals, we just saw everything from spinal-cord injuries, head injuries, pediatrics, geriatrics; now each of those has become a specialty,” she explains. “For example, today you treat some of the pediatric problems a lot differently than you treat an adult.”

Insurance companies and HMOs (health maintenance organizations) have not really changed physical therapy as much as one might think, Hanson reports. “The insurance company may limit what it will pay, but you can still offer to continue the therapy and people are willing to pay out-of-pocket for it,” she says. Also, a referral from a doctor may not be needed. “We are allowed by the state to evaluate and treat without a doctor’s prescription.”

Prevention is also being addressed. “We’ve learned that you must stay active,” she says enthusiastically. “You have to work harder to stay in the same condition than when you were younger. If you don’t do anything at all, the aging process takes over and you deteriorate. It’s not fair, but that’s the way it is.

“Another important change for me,” she continues, “is the increased recognition and acknowledgment of physical therapy by the other professions. It’s becoming a lot more respected.

“At one time, I had gotten out of it (her profession) because it was too passive,” she recalls. “We did something to somebody; you can’t make people better that way.”

Since then, “the philosophy has changed. Now physical therapy is an active treatment — you help somebody help themselves get better,” she says with satisfaction.

Action Physical Therapy is located at 1300 E. College Way, Mount Vernon. Call 428-6985.