Does pain stop you from living your best life?

You genuinely care about my health and me as a person not just a diagnosis or a disease. You are excellent in what you do, as my body can speak to that; less pain, more movement, more function. I feel like I am getting the best there is when I work with you. I have learned so much from you, the side of medicine that you don’t get from a physician. You give another perspective. You help me understand how the body works and how emotional and spiritual health play a part in how the body heals. You have helped me understand how all the parts are connected together and have taught me how to help myself, both physically and emotionally.
– Laurel W.

The first time I saw you I was impressed because you did not have the “one size fits all approach” for treating back pain issues. Our medical world is so fixed on “this is your symptom, this is your diagnosis, this is your pill”. You were different and took the time to look at me and figure out what would be the best treatment for me. Our sessions were always evolving and not a static treatment. Helping me see past my pain and disability you empowered me and I came to know that I could cope and co-exist with pain. I know when I do “my little bag of Carol Tricks”, I even have days where I forget that I have this severe scoliosis and pain. People in my situation, it is easy to feel helpless. As a nurse, I knew what was happening: Pain, loss of function, depression, helplessness, more loss of function, more pain, etc. Knowing the cycle made me even more angry and I just couldn’t get out of it: smoke more, eat more, don’t move because of pain, gain weight, don’t move and then repeat it over and over again. It was like a big chain and I didn’t have the bolt cutter. You had the bolt cutter. People are put in our pathway to help us and it is up to us to recognize these people. You are one of those “people”. I have been able to return to a profession that I love after YEARS of disability, I have lost over 100 pounds and continue to work-out and strengthen the patterns of my curves that need it the most. I want you to know that in my work as a nurse specializing in hospice care, every time I am comforting someone who is dying or a family member, helping them manage a symptom, walking into a patient’s room and making a difference in their life, you are with me and everyone who has supported me is with me. I want you to know you are making a difference in these people’s life. And without you I could not be making a difference. Thanks.
– Karen C. Hospice Nurse, Wife, Grateful Mother and Grandmother

Carol has this compassionate and unconditional approach to teaching that allows her to let go of any particular agenda and be with her students in an open way. I am always talking about her gait workshop explaining the counter rotation concepts. Understanding the depth of human gait is missing in yoga. Carol provides such a clear and in-depth understanding of gait that is not provided elsewhere. It allows walking to be not just a natural activity but a real pleasure. My chest feels uplifted and I feel happiness. The clarity is in the knowing that all things are not just connected. She teaches “how the connections relate together”: This has made all the difference in me finding my best physical and energy alignment in my body.– Phil G., Gait for Wild Human Potential Workshop Participant

As a speech pathologist, I had attended the Physical Therapy evaluation that Carol performed on my patient. I was able to witness her accomplish in 45 mins significant changes in my patient’s function and I thought: “this is someone who cares AND is good at what they do”. So I knew right there that day that I needed to see her. Carol is a holistic practitioner who goes out of her way to help and sees a patient as a “whole” person. With the recent amputation of my leg, my life changed radically. It is overwhelming when you don’t know what is going to be “normal”. Carol has helped me find my “wholeness and a new normal” on so many levels physically, emotionally, and mentally.
– Glenda H., Speech Pathologist

I fell three times in less than 8 months. The last time I was walking forward and looking over my right shoulder and fell really hard. Since then I have felt so unsteady. Only 56 and I was feeling like I was 76. Just after one session with Carol, I felt so much better (less pain and more confidence in standing, walking and climbing) and was clear on what I could do to help myself get out of foot, knee and back pain. Her teaching style of using skeletal models gave me a better understanding of how everything in the body is related and works together. I really understand now that it is just not exercising that makes the difference, it is how I am doing the exercise that matters.
– Mary Helen P., Educator and Athletic Director

My sessions with Carol helped me to move beyond the postural aches and pain I would get when I played my guitar so that now I am able to channel my music freely and fully.
– Barney Quick, Musician and Writer

So fortunate to have Carol Montgomery as a trusted Physical Therapist. She delivered on what it was I came to her for: pain relief and an understanding of why is this happening. Where so many health professionals treat the symptom to heal, she is masterful at finding root cause so it’s not likely to happen again AND you heal. It is very clear that she knows how to make a difference in a person’s life. Intentional about forming a working relationship with clients, i.e. who am I, what are some of the other things going on in my life that can be influencing my problem, etc. She is able to recognize my capacity and is tuned to what I needed.
– Elise Caruso Foster, Author of the Multiplier effect: Tapping the Genius in Schools

From my first meeting with Carol I could tell that she was really willing to listen to me and help me and even today, I do those movements she taught me to relieve my neck pain. Carol is so generous with her time and knows how to build a team and healing resource community. She also led me to other people, this eventually increased my support team, my healing community and that has made all the difference to me.
– Cathy B.

You are not like other physical therapists. You are very knowledgeable and go beyond the basics of rehabilitation. You have a gift of being able to look at a person, understand their body and know what it might be that could help that person. I think when you look at me, you see the “whole” me. You have a number of approaches and give me a number of choices and suggestions. I like the approach: “let’s see if this small thing will make a difference”. You give me a measure of trust and confidence with all the training methods and education you have had. I also feel that if you thought I needed someone else’s help, you could steer me in the right direction.
– Lorraine Vacketta, Pilates Instructor

When you touch or move me, you have that experiential knowledge in additional to the technical or theoretical understanding of movement – healing is not just a concept to you. You convey the experience that no matter what is going on inside,” it is all ok”. When you work on me, I have an understanding that although you are really, really skilled, you can assess where I am and what I need to do to move to the next place. When you touch my joint, you are not trying to move me to an ideal or theoretical state. You are feeling what my capacity is and what needs to happen. You take me through a process that helps me understand and feel myself. For me, it feels like a transmission. Developmentally it is what is supposed to happen for a child in order to become a human being.
– Andrew R. Heimann, AP, LAc, MSTOM