I grew up with a mom who was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at 24. By age 40 she had undergone total joint arthroplasty on both hips and both knees. I watched her go through revisions of those original surgeries. I saw firsthand what physical therapy can do.

One revision resulted from a fall in our backyard that caused the prosthesis to fracture out of the femur on the right hip replacement. I happened to be home from school that summer, following my first clinical internship, so my mom asked her orthopedic surgeon if she could do her exercises at the house, with me. He granted her request—with the qualification that if my mom did not progress sufficiently she would have to see a physical therapist (PT) in a clinical setting.