Karley Loewen
Karley Loewen grew up in Hillsboro, Kansas, and came to physical therapy the long way round. Before the PTA program she spent five years working as a certified nursing assistant, which is not a small thing to carry into a clinic. That work teaches you what a body genuinely needs help with on its worst day, and it teaches patience with people who are sore, frustrated, and tired of explaining themselves to somebody new. She graduated from the physical therapist assistant program at Washburn University in 2026 and is LSVT BIG certified, the intensive movement protocol used with people living with Parkinson's.
The work only counts if it holds up outside the clinic. That is what I am watching for in every session.
What guides the work.
A physical therapist assistant carries out the plan of care your physical therapist builds, which in practice means Karley is often the person who spots the small changes first. The repetition that stopped hurting. The stair you took without thinking about it. The hesitation before a turn that is not there this week. She reports what she sees, the plan gets adjusted, and nothing runs on autopilot because it worked last month. Her LSVT BIG training rests on the same principle: big, specific, measured effort, repeated until the nervous system takes it seriously. You will always know what an exercise is for and how it connects to the thing you actually want back.
Life beyond the treatment table.
Away from the clinic, Karley is outdoors as often as she can be. She hikes, she travels, and she reads. There is a straight line between that and how she works. Nobody who spends their own time on trails and in unfamiliar places thinks of recovery as a list of exercises to finish. The exercises are the route back to a body that can carry you somewhere worth going.