Beverley East, Contributor
Massage is an-age old art practised for relieving pain. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
This time last summer I was in excruciating pain. My back gave out on me and I could not move. I thought I was having a stroke. I was scared. A friend of mine suggested I call Tanya Rattray a newcomer to the island. I called her, she barely knew me but she came to my rescue immediately. She pulled and pushed my body in various positions and miraculous with her magic hands, she eased my pain tremendously. I've got too much to do to be out of action, I told her. So you can imagine how grateful I was at the time when she came to me and got me moving again.
Here is an interview I did with Tanya Rattray.
When did you know you wanted to be a physiotherapist?
I began studying Business and Hotel Management at Howard University in Washington D.C. In the first year of my course I recognized that this was not what I wanted to do. I quickly changed my major to Physical therapy. My mother kept on saying to me when I was studying business management "are you sure this is what you want to do?" I had a sports injury when I was a teenager and had remembered how quickly the
therapist had removed my pain. I volunteered in a clinic for a few months and fell in love with it. The rest was history as they say.
How did you get started?
My first job when I graduated was with a rehabilitaiton centre in Clinton Maryland. I then moved on to Sibly Memorial Hospital, in Washington D.C. where I worked from 1997 to 2005 when I moved to Jamaica.
Tell me about your
career high?
I continue to heal people so you can say I am on a continuous high. I get to see their developments. People come in with tremendous pain and I get great satisfaction out of watching their recovery.
Tell me about your
career low?
My first job, I was not happy in it. There were a lot of management changes. I was fresh out of college and looking to gain experience from experienced practitioners. I was thrust into a supervisory role, responsible for four staff members. I was overwhelmed with all the management decisions and constant changes.
How did you overcome
this challenge?
After one year on the job, I decided to leave. I went for an interview at Sibley Memorial and my interviewer who later became my boss, introduced me to staff who had lengthy tenure with the hospital. This was comforting after what I had left behind. I stayed there eight years.
How are you adjusting to
relocating to Jamaica?
The first six months were challenging. I am a newly-wed, have a new life and a new practice. Kingston was a new world to me. My parents are from Montego Bay so I am familiar with the other side of Jamaica but not Kingston. Now a year later everything has fallen into place and this is home for me now.
I set up my practice in April of this year- Hands On: Liguanea Sport & Spine, where I specialise in general Physical therapy, with an emphasis on manual therapy, women's health including treatment of pre-natal and post-pregnancy pains and complications, urinary incontinence, pelvic pain, and management of osteoporosis/ osteopenia.
How are you building
your practice?
Most of my patients come to me through word of mouth, doctor referrals and satisfied patients.
What would you tell someone who is trying to reach their goals?
Be honest with themselves. Be what they want to be, rather than what other people want them to be. Once you have figured out what it is you want to be, go for it. Dig way down deep inside and go for it. !!
If you have a pain that won't go away Tanya Rattray can be reached at:
handsonsportandspine@yahoo.com
