Life & Work with Dr. Ann MacDougall of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Ann MacDougall.

Hi Dr. Ann, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Absolutely— I am a performing arts physical therapist with a specialization in dance medicine and hypermobility. I am a partner and the clinic director for Atlanta Dance Medicine (ADM) which is a highly-specialized PT practice dedicated to serving dancers, performing artists, and movers of all kinds. I also run my own personal business, Authentic Movement PT, providing in-house concierge physical therapy for select clients.

My journey here was not straight and narrow but instead the result of following continued interests and marrying them into a career. I grew up dancing classical ballet, starting just before I was three-years-old and continued through college. While dancing, I also taught dance to adolescents and beginner level adults. While in college, I was majoring in biology (with a large interest in marine biology) and minoring in dance. Not a typical combo but I was enjoying continuing both of those interests and seeking ways I could utilize them together.

My dance minor involved courses in pedagogy, somatic movement, and dance therapies which sparked my idea of pursuing physical therapy with an eventual goal of working with dancers. With luck on my side, I started my Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Mercer University where one of the adjunct faculty members was the PT for a professional ballet company in town. I stayed as close to her as possible, gathering as much mentorship and connection to other dance medicine professionals as I could, while in the program. Notably she paired me with another dance medicine mentor who served as one of my clinical instructors on a long-term rotation. These meaningful connections were instrumental in my pursuit to become a dance medicine PT.

Both of my mentors had been growing this small niche of dance medicine in the Atlanta area. We all served as the main PTs for the same professional ballet company for several years. Our mentor/mentee relationship evolved to close colleagues and strong friendships, and now since our inception in 2020 we serve as the three partners of Atlanta Dance Medicine. We have grown our business to 3 full clinics with an additional satellite location at The Georgia Ballet. We strive to be the place where dancers and performing artists come to be seen and validated, feel safe, and receive top tier care. It has truly been a dream and we are all so proud of it!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not smooth. I took a personal leap after having my first baby to quit my former job at a large corporate owned physical therapy company and fully go “out-of-network” with Atlanta Dance Medicine, a private-pay clinic. This came with uncertainty but also hopeful anticipation that we could make this beautiful idea a success. The challenge was very real as the COVID-19 pandemic was still ongoing and the arts took such a hard hit as a result of that.

When ADM started in 2020, we were a single clinic in Roswell with a small group of PTs. We were networking and building the practice while learning what worked and what didn’t. We worked hard to be the practice that physicians and dance organizations referred to and where parents would trust to have their dancers be taken care of holistically.

What felt the most important to me personally during all of this transition was keeping myself rooted in dance while grooming a career that would bring me happiness, fulfillment, and stability— and ADM has been that for me in so many ways.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work as a performing arts physical therapist, with special interest in dance medicine and hypermobility, is extremely rewarding. I treat dancers from adolescence to collegiate level to professionals to post-professional. Dancers are fascinating to treat, hands down. It is an honor to work with a client that has dedicated every bit of their being (physically, emotionally, mentally) to an art form and I don’t take it lightly. And on my own personal level, I get them. I danced for 21 years before stopping, it was everything to me too.

When it comes to my practicing-style, holistic rehabilitation is what I strive to provide. My goal is to ensure trust with all of my clients with an open and honest (and trauma-free) environment. I put a lot of emphasis on nervous system regulation from the first initial visit and as I guide a client through their plan of care. I want all of my clients to feel seen knowing their goals matter to me and that I will always meet them where they are.

When it comes to my skill set, as a manual therapist, one tool to highlight that I find to be most transformative is that of dry needling. I spent countless hours studying and practicing this technique and am fully certified through Myopain Seminars. This tool has transformed my practice as a physical therapist. For my many clients, and especially those that fall on the hypermobility spectrum, dry needling is game changer when it comes to chronic pain and associated dysfunction.

What I am particularly proud of is the exponential growth of ADM. I took the leap of faith to leave my other practice, not knowing for sure what the success of ADM would be. Now 6 years later, I stand alongside an amazing group of women that make up our PT team who are immensely dedicated to our practice, our clients, and the support of the arts as a whole. We have created a safe space for dancers to receive specialized one-on-one, individualized care where it is perfectly okay (and encouraged) for them to dump all of their worries, concerns, and fears into our hands. Historically, serious and/or professional dance environments leave dancers concealing injuries and brewing anxiety over losing roles/performances—we validate those fears, tend to the nervous system, and create the pathway for healing. Treating dancers is a such a delicate task but, as I said before, so rewarding to witness and be a part of. I only wish I had a place like this to go to for dancer support when I was a young dancer!

What’s next?
I stay busy! I am a mom of two, partner and clinic director at ADM, and both my husband and myself are entrepreneurs. My plans are to continue doing what I love while also having time for my family. Flexibility is key in my season of life currently and balancing it all can be hard, but it is doable.

ADM just opened our first stand-alone clinic in South Buckhead inside Tula Arts Center this past September (our other locations are strategically located within dance and fitness studios). It was a labor of love to create but we are deeply proud to have an inclusive, holistic space that invites performing artists of all kinds, not just dancers. And that’s key, while we do specialize, we treat everyone!

In addition to providing physical therapy, we at ADM provide seminars and and workshops for studios to learn about injury risk reduction, self-management tools, and related exercises. Myself and many of my colleagues speak on these related topics locally, nationally, and internationally.

And for my own personal business at Authentic Movement PT, it is intentionally slow growing. I work with a select group of clients needing maintenance therapy where I can flexibly schedule visits amongst my caseload of dancers at ADM. This has been a fun venture to grow and learn from as the sole owner and has been a personal goal for a long while.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.atlantadancemedicine.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/atlantadancemedicine