About
Karen Morgan
Doctor of Physical Therapy, Writer
union of practicing physical therapy and writing
Bellingham, WA
When I was in the fourth grade, I read the novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and like many girls my age, identified with the second oldest sister Jo, who was an aspiring writer. Even though it did not occur to me at that time to write for a living, I got a diary and wrote in it nearly every day of my life. I found that writing was something I had to do to keep life in focus, to understand it, and to remember the wonders. Over the decades, writing grounds me, releases me, and sharpens me; it is, to this day, a necessary and daily practice for me.
Drawn into
Physical Therapy
It challenges my heart, mind, body and soul.
Successful Patients Treated
Workshops / Retreats
Inspire movement, health and healing
Independent PT Practice
Years later, I was drawn into Physical Therapy. It challenges my heart, mind, body and soul. I’m honored to serve, observe, analyze and inspire movement, health and healing. After several years of working in inpatient, outpatient and home health settings, I chose to practice independently, and eventually started up a solo practice. Here I have created a therapy experience for my patients that incorporates my teaching and treatment and their engagement. It is a place where patients struggling with the frustrations of their injuries or disabilities, can unload load them, be real, be heard and be helped in attaining their goals to return to their life stories.
Incredible stories
Human Body & Spirit
Through the years I have borne witness to some pretty incredible stories revolving around the resilience of the human body and spirit. It’s everyday-people doing their thing, and I have a front row seat to their recovery against all odds, emotionally and physically. I have seen wrenching heartaches and heart breaks in my patients as they worked with their injuries and their background stories.
Working with my patients, we are all free to share our stories, and I believe it is in the sharing of our stories, combined with the rehabilitation of our bodies that true treatment and return to function occurs. Treatment addresses the connection of the body and the soul, and how they influence each other. I value my patients’ trust and they value mine. It is because of this trust we are privy to experiencing the beauty of how healing manifests itself in unexpected ways. Best of all, through connection, I get to help people regain their lives, and they in turn, teach me priceless lessons. Their stories inspire me.
combining physical therapy & writing
Sharing Stories of
What is Possible
And so was born in me the union of practicing physical therapy and writing. Through these two practices I try to bring hope and healing to people suffering from injury or disease. Likewise, I seek to advocate for my profession, educating both health care providers and the public about the value of physical therapy by sharing stories of what is possible. And finally, I find the telling of stories of pain and the process of all forms of healing, brings hope and healing to the writer and the reader.
Karen Morgan, Writer
Articles by Dr Karen Morgan
Why The Long Absence from Writing
The last you heard from me was at the end of February when I shared my life lesson in relinquishing a family heirloom. What also happened on that same day, was that as we emptied the remaining furniture in that downstairs guestroom to make way for my new clinic space...
On Relinquishing
There’s this ritual I do when I release an object that has held a meaningful place in my heart. First, I pause and recognize that while it may be a small thing to those around me, this moment is significant to me, and I need to visit with the why. And then second, I...
An Arthritic Knee: Jan’s Story
Thanks to Nathan Dumlao for his photo A Visit This past weekend longtime friends from south of Seattle visited us. Jan and I have been dear friends since college days at CSULB in California and I am very familiar with her arthritic woes. But as she...
Magazine Articles Published on
And how they work together
Our mindset, coupled with pain, steals our energy and youth.
An approach to health and healing from inside and outside the Western Medicine box
