For PT Carolyn Forrester, being able to provide physical therapy in Lynnwood, WA. is a fulfilling chapter in her professional journey. As part of the Seattle Metro area, Lynwood is growing quickly, bringing a lot of people and businesses to the area. Being centrally located and easily accessible means the clinic draws patients from all around, providing Carolyn the opportunity to work with a wide variety of people in their pursuit of healing and health & wellness.
Variety outside the clinic is also something that brings Carolyn joy, whether it’s catching a local football game, trying a new brewery or exploring with her daughter.
Q&A with Carolyn Forrester
Q: Why did you decide to pursue a career as a physical therapist?
Physical therapy was something that came on my radar when I was in undergrad. I actually grew up dancing ballet, tap, jazz, all different styles. So, when I got to college, I kind of threw myself into the dance department and I ended up taking an anatomy for dancers course and just fell in love with it. I found it fascinating just learning how the body works to be able to perform all these different moves that I’d been doing for years. So, that summer I got the opportunity to shadow a friend’s mom who is a certified hand therapist, so she mostly worked hands and upper extremities, but something even as specific as that, I still just found it fascinating — just the inner workings of the body.
I looked more into the kinesiology department at my school and decided I wanted to declare for that.
I also had a friend my freshman year who was still dancing at my old studio, who was having a bunch of issues with her feet, and she went to see a physical therapist who worked with her to be able to continue dancing, just making modifications, working on strengthening. And that was just something that really appealed to me because you often go see your doctor when things hurt and they tell you just take a couple weeks off, you’ll be fine. Athletes don’t have that ability to take time off in the middle of their season or even in the off-season sometimes. And dance is something that’s generally year-round. The opportunity to work with someone while they’re going through whatever this pain or dysfunction might be to get them back to doing what they love to do is what really drew me in.
And once I started taking my kinesiology courses, it was something that just continued to fascinate me and drew me to continue doing all of this.
Q: What is your favorite way to spend a day off?
My favorite way to spend a day off has changed recently. I would say it used to be that my husband and I would typically go explore a new brewery in the area, get to know that area, the people out there.
I’m a newer mom, so at this point it’s probably spending the day with my daughter and getting to go out and do something with her and get to experience something new with her.
The other week we went and picked sunflowers, so just, you know, getting to go explore the world with her has been pretty amazing.
Q: Have you had any experiences that you would NEVER want to do again?
So, an experience that I would never want to do again is actually ziplining. My now husband and I went to Cancun several years ago and we did go ziplining at this adventure park that we were at. I am not a fan of heights … it’s more so the fear of falling.
But I agreed to do this ziplining tour where you do a bunch of little ones kind of pieced together and we get to the tallest, longest zip line. It’s super windy and they tell you to lean back while you’re going across, and my version of that was to curl up into a ball and then try to push myself back. That caused me to slow down as I was going across and I end up at the end. I’m slowing down and I end up stopped hanging over this fake crocodile right at the edge, right in front of the camera that’s taking pictures of me. So, one of the guys had to come out and grab my feet and drag me the rest of the way in. And after that one I just was done.
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
So one thing on my bucket list would probably be travelling to Ireland. The opportunity to travel, I feel like, doesn’t always present itself, but I would love to travel more if I had that ability and Ireland has just always appealed to me.
It feels similar to the Pacific Northwest, and I love it here. So it just, it seems like a beautiful place to go visit. Going out in the countryside and getting to explore out there, learning the history.
Q: What is your favorite sport to watch?
I would say my favorite sport to watch is probably football. I’m definitely a big Seahawks fan and we actually have season tickets for the Seattle Sea Dragons, the XFL team that has started up. We actually took my daughter to her first game at 5 weeks old. So that’s something that we want to keep going with. It’s just it’s a fun environment to be in.
Q: What’s the most memorable vacation you’ve taken?
So, I think my favorite vacation that I’ve been on was actually my honeymoon. We went to Hawaii, and we started on the island of Kauai, and it was just incredible getting back into nature.
You had no light pollution driving around at night. There’s no lights anywhere. You spend every day just going out and exploring and then when you go try to find food, even if you ask tour guides for recommendations, they send you to the places that they eat at. So, you feel like you’re not in this tourist trap, you actually feel like you are part of the community.
It just it was an incredible spot and took about 24 hours for my husband to start looking at houses in the area and what it would cost to move there … way too much!
Reach Your Goals With PT!
As a physical therapist, Carolyn Forrester is committed to helping people overcome whatever is keeping them from the things they love. As an avid adventurer, she understand the value in pain-free movement.