I have been able to hear a number of physical therapy and physical development thought leaders speak at conferences over the years.
Shirley Sahrmann, Florence Kendall, Gary Gray, Gray Cook, David Butler, Dr. Yun-Tao Ma, Frans Bosch, Vern Gambetta, Mike Boyle, Louie Simmons are a few that spring to mind.
My contact with some was a lecture or a few days at a course. With some I consumed everything I could find and corresponded as much as I could without becoming annoying.
I had the most contact with Shirley Sahrmann. She taught us at Washington University. I was a lab assistant at her level one course a few years. My practice is a few miles from her home so I see her walking her dogs and send hellos through patients who are her neighbors. I would see her at national meetings and get five minutes of encouragement and advice. The last time I saw her at a physical therapy convention she said greeted me by name and we walked and talked for several minutes before I thanked her and excused myself. We had grown a tail of fifty people waiting to have a work with her and a moment of her time.
Every time I see her I leave feeling good about myself and my decision to become and continue to be a physical therapist.
Her decision making process is the foundation of evaluation and treatment for every physical therapist educated at Washington University for the last 30 years. I have woven other things into my practice but what she taught me remains at the core of my approach to evaluating and treating a patient.
Imagine having half the impact on the people in your life and business that she has had on physical therapy and physical therapists.