STEAM: Meet a physical therapist changing lives
It takes science and art to design movement programs to help patients manage pain. In this week's STEAM profile, KCAL News Meteorologist Evelyn Taft introduces us to a physical therapist.
Kneading. Strengthening. Stretching. Aligning. It's all in a day's work for Gabrielle Shrier.
"I am a physical therapist," said Shriere. And she's co-owner of Core Conditioning in Studio City. "This is an outpatient orthopedic practice."
People who go there are often in pain.
"We evaluate them and come up with a way of treating them," said Shrier.
But first, some detective work.
"The patient definitely does not know they're always being observed," said Shrier.
Pain in one area of the body can be caused by dysfunction somewhere else.
Using gliders, wheels, pullies and harnesses,
"We do therapeutic activity or therapeutic exercise," said Shrier.
Physical therapists rely most on science and art.
"You really are treating the neurological connection of the brain to the body," said Shrier.
A lifelong fitness buff, Gabrielle Shrier got her bachelor's degree in kinesiology, then a master's degree in physical therapy.
"When I love something and I understand it deeply, then I'm good at it," said Shrier.
The thing she loves most: Patients that come in with pain...
"And at the end of the session they felt better. And when they feel better I feel rewarded," said Shrier. "What we do really does change lives."
For more on STEAM careers, visit the KCAL News STEAM page here.