"I grew up doing PT," she said. "My dad was a physical therapist. And I was an accident-prone kid."
Meet Sarah Dahl, DPT, our newest provider at PT Center for Women!
Sarah earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree in 2017 from Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa and her undergrad from UW-Platteville. She has treated women's pelvic health issues for the entirety of her career.
With a seemingly innate ability to connect, communicate and educate, Sarah begins by talking about her favorite subject: her patients.
"My favorite part of PT is getting to know my patients," she said. "I get to learn about their hopes, goals, and what's important in their lives. And they get to know that my goal is to get them back to what they love doing, and a big part of that is teaching them how to fix themselves."
Specializing in women's pelvic health, Sarah treats a wide range of pelvic floor conditions including incontinence, prolapse, pregnancy/postpartum complications, and painful intercourse. She also has a special interest in the postpartum return to fitness community.
A distance runner herself, Sarah is all about keeping runners healthy.
"Yes, my focus is on women's pelvic health, but my training and background allows me to help athletes with hip, knee and foot pain as well. And I see lot of moms looking to return to form following pregnancy," Sarah said. "I love working with both of those populations, as they are highly motivated to do the things they need to do to improve."
Recalling a PT school task where students were asked to provide a home exercise program to address their own physical issues, Sarah made a classic mistake.
"I gave myself a lot of exercises, and it just didn't happen for me," she said. "I was the least compliant patient in the entire group."
That experience as a student led to the learned advice the of the practitioner, words she shares regularly with patients: "Changes aren't all or nothing. So even if there's a whole treatment plan of things to work on, if you can do little bits often, what you can do that's manageable is so much better than not doing anything at all."
Sarah's patients appreciate her honesty, her sense of fun, her talents as a physical therapist, all of which make their physical therapy sessions enjoyable and rewarding.
Ready to get started? Schedule an appointment with Sarah by calling or texting 920.729.2982.