Elevate Your Practice.

Change Lives.

Love Your Work.

Learn Integrative Manual Physical Therapy approaches, Whole-Body, Systems Based Clinical Reasoning, and Functional Medicine concepts that elevate your clinical outcomes, the health of others and your own health.

Learning opportunities with Jennifer Shepherd, MSPT, CFMT, FMTF, FAAOMPT, IFMCP

Have you ever said to yourself...

Are my treatments effective in improving the structure and function of my patients?
My patients' symptoms are not improving or keep they keep coming back...what am I missing?
I've taken tons of continuing education courses, but I'm unsure how or when to integrate these techniques in the clinic.
I know there is more I can offer my patients, but I'm not sure what or how?
I wish I had more confidence in my manual therapy skills.

Do You Want To Make A Bigger Difference In The Lives Of Our Patients & In The World Of Healthcare?

Today's healthcare systems are primarily symptom-based. That is, the focus is making the symptoms go away, often through medications, injections, surgeries, and often ineffective exercises. While this works for some patients, many others are left frustrated, still struggling with symptoms that affect their lives.

When we look at humans from a systems-based lens, considering all the structures, pathways, and cellular processes as an integrated whole, we are able to have a deeper understanding of the human organism and ask the "next right questions" about:

Why has this person's body entered a state of imbalance...structurally, functionally, and even emotionally?
What has happened to this person over a lifetime?
How has the body compensated to keep the patient moving, protect vital organs, vessels and nerves, to help the person feel safe?
Where in the body are the most significant dysfunctions? (Hint, they are rarely at the site of pain.)
How do these dysfunctional structures relate to other structures, other systems, to the whole body and to a patient's symptoms?
Where does the body need us to begin treatment?
How does the body need us to support and integrate structural mobility, neural pathways, neuromuscular re-education and motor control?
What do our patients need to learn to take optimal care of their precious bodies?

When Physical Therapists Are Equipped With:

The knowledge of anatomical and physiological relationships throughout the body

The understanding of how trauma affects the body and the body's innate brilliance of compensations

Precise and intelligent palpation skills for the assessment and optimization of the structural and functional health of body

Knowing how and when to integrate various techniques

How to make changes quickly and assess progress

How Functional Medicine is a critical role in our patients healing

The results are life-changing for both the patient and the therapist!

Jennifer Shepherd, MSPT, CFMT, FMTF, FAAOMPT, IFMCP

I almost quit the profession of Physical Therapy TWICE...

I went to PT school because I wanted to do better for people who struggled with pain. As I was learning basic concepts and skills, mostly exercise, non-precise joint mobs, massage, and muscle energy technique, I just didn't see (or feel) how these concepts really made someone "better." Maybe they were "better" for a bit, but pain would come back. It was tools in a toolbox that I really didn't know how to coordinate.

At the same time, I was struggling terribly with my own back pain, and I did what I learned and what other PTs had me do. I was working on my core, I was working on my glutes, I stretched my hamstrings...I had my FRS's and ERS's and sacral torsion treated. I rolled out my piriformis. The torsions and tension would come back, as did my pain, which was impacting my life, especially as a triathlete.

I knew there had to be more to understand about the human body beyond muscle length and strength...stretching and strengthening.

Fortunately, I was talked into taking a PNF course from The Institute of Physical Art, which changed my world. I learned how to use my hands to work with joints, tissues and neuromuscular patterns to create instant changes in range of motion. I felt the difference in my own body when I was treated! My curiosity was stoked, and I pursued Certification and Fellowship in Functional Manual Therapy. This led to my studies with The Barral Institute, in which we work inside the container, and certification in Functional Medicine through the Institute for Functional Medicine as cellular health plays a huge role in our patients.

It was a breath of fresh air to be given permission to think outside the box...and look at the person as a whole, integrated, functioning organism.

Fast-forward to today...patients from all over the country reach out to my clinic, as I specialize in:

Problem-solving both simple and complex health issues through a whole person, biomechanical, systems-based lens.
Identifying structural and functional health of the joints, fascia, organs, nerves and vessels through precise "listening" and manual therapy techniques and neuromuscular and motor control retraining and integration
Restoring and integrating these structures back into the whole
Guiding patients on how to take the best care of their bodies
Collaborating with other professionals to address beyond-scope needs

... and I LOVE my work!

Join My Private Community

Weekly videos of clinical reasoning, case studies, and monthly live Q&A

Coming soon!

2026 Mentorship Group

Monthly online study and inperson/zoom hands-on sessions to develop clinical reasoning and treatment skills in a small intimate setting.

Accepting applications now-Learn more!

Functional Medicine in Physical Therapy

Coming Soon!