Meet the Team: Curtis Dodson - COO/Doctor of Physical Therapy

1.  What is your athletic background?

I grew up playing multiple sports; baseball, basketball, and eventually geared my focus to football in high school. I was a walk-on for the Oregon State football team my first two years in college which was a phenomenal opportunity. With that, came my passion for training and learning as much as I could about aspects of strength training and speed development. This turned into training and competing in the sport of Powerlifting, which is where I currently spend most of my training time, developing technique and skill for squat, bench press and deadlift.

2.  How did you land on becoming a physical therapist?

As an athlete, dealing with pain always came with the territory, however I always found that subtle changes to technique or altering training parameters in the weight room would dramatically improve my performance and pain tolerance. In school, I wanted to find a career where my passion for training and competing could be blended with rehab to help others dealing with pain and injury. Be merging the two, it sets the foundation to work towards getting back to doing what they love. Whether that is playing sports, engaging in regular physical activity/hobbies or just being able to keep up with kids/grandkids, the ability to be physically active throughout the lifespan is very important in maintaining a high quality of life.

3.  What do you enjoy about your profession?

The physical therapy profession as a whole is very diverse in regards to the setting you can work in. This allows different people to enter into the profession and work with various populations. A physical therapist can find their niche to practice in, based on personal passions. For me, I enjoy showing individuals an active approach in achieving their rehabilitation goals.

4.  What's one thing you think the general public misunderstands about physical therapy?  What's one thing you wish the general public would realize about physical therapy? 

I think the general public views physical therapy as a place you go to have someone “fix” you. This view drives a reliance model of care, where the physical therapist is seen as a “healer” of sorts. This couldn’t be further from the truth. While most things traditionally performed in physical therapy include hot packs, ultrasound, e-stim, cupping, massage/manual therapy etc are done to the patient. Although these things might temporarily make someone feel good, there are much better ways in rehab to move someone from injury to full function and beyond.

5.  What sets Headquarters Physical Therapy apart?

Our ability to work 1-on-1 during each session and make a personal connection with each patient we work with. We work for the patient and have the ability to spend time to comprehensively educate and create a rehab plan that puts them in the driver's seat with the focus being on whatever they want to achieve. We have the ability to integrate recovery, exercise and training, as well as nutrition into each person's program if necessary. We help people drown out all the noise within the rehab industry and develop ways to make faster gains in their recovery that are evidence-based and efficacious.

6.  What do you like to do when you aren't working with clients?

Most of my time outside of working with clients is spent with my family. I have 3 daughters that keep my wife and I on our toes, so keeping them engaged in sports and staying active is very important. I personally enjoy watching movies and listening to podcasts related to film and movie pop culture news. I also do a lot of self study in the field of sleep science and circadian biology to bring some of those elements to the treatment of injury.