We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Meaghan Anderson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Meaghan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.
If 10 years ago you had told me that I would be a Long COVID specialist, I would have looked at you with 10 heads and asked, “What is Long COVID”. Heck, if you had asked me this question 4.5 or 5 years ago I would have had the same reaction. Yet, here we are going on our 5th year in the post-COVID era and I am a Long COVID rehab specialist. I would be shocked if there is a single individual on this planet whose life has not been affected by COVID in some way. Whether you had it or not, it had major ripples on how we operate as individuals and a society. To say that COVID was life changing for me is an understatement. Prior to the pandemic, I had just transferred jobs within my organization. After nearly 5 years working as a physical therapist in a level one trauma center and its inpatient rehabilitation facility, I had landed my dream job. I had finally made it to the hospital and the rehab unit I always wanted to work for. I honestly thought that I was going to retire there. I was looking forward to less stress, less demands, and a different culture from the bigger hospital. Being a staff physical therapist treating strokes, amputations, brain injuries and total knee replacements sounded perfect to me. That was January of 2020. We all know what came next. In a blink of an eye, I went from being a staff physical therapist to a frontline healthcare worker. Suddenly, I spent hours in gowns, masks, and shields treating very sick individuals. As the youngest physical therapist on our rehab staff, I volunteered to be the designated COVID physical therapist. This meant that any COVID cases that needed physical therapy in the hospital or at rehab came to me. And being located on the East Coast meant that we surged very early in the pandemic, which meant I got to lay eyes first on this medical mystery that was killing by the thousands. As terrifying as it was, I was like a moth drawn to the flame. The novelty, the complexity, and the desire to help those in their worst moments drew me to do everything I could to learn about this condition. Not only that, but I was determined to bring the human touch back to health care. The health care system was beyond stretched thin. I saw it with my very own eyes. I lived through the trauma of being understaffed, overworked, and poorly protected from a deadly disease. And yet, every time I walked into a hospital room with someone who was COVID positive, I put on the biggest smile beneath my N95. These individuals were hospitalized for weeks…some for more than 2 months. It was up to me to help restore their physical mobility so they could return home safely. Stuck in the same room, we made rehab fun. We danced, we sang, and we even played soccer. The patients didn’t even realize that they were improving their lung strength, building muscle, and improving their endurance through all this. I remember the first patient that we sent home…James. I’ll never forget him. It was my day off and I drove to the hospital and waited outside to watch his family greet him for the first time in over 6 weeks. I banged my cowbell, celebrated and cheered for him. He survived. He went home when so many hadn’t. A month later, we reached out to James as a follow-up to check-in on his status. To our surprise, he shared that he hadn’t made any progress since leaving the hospital. He was still using a cane, still short of breath, and still out of work. Something wasn’t right. Long COVID. I knew the system was failing him. I knew that they were missing something and not recognizing what was happening. I could see the writing on the wall. Millions were going to be left behind by Long COVID. I couldn’t stand by and do nothing. And suddenly I realized that being a hospital and rehab physical therapist wasn’t enough of an impact. In May of 2021, I launched my own COVID recovery program and started accepting private clients. The rest is history. 3 years later my practice has grown to include group programs, 1:1 clients, webinars, and teaching physical therapists about Long COVID. When looking back on this journey I have learned so much, but I think the real lesson for me is complacency. I had always dreamed of owning my own business one day, but I had become complacent in the 9-5 narrative. If it wasn’t for a life-altering event, I’m not sure I would have ever found the nudge to make a change. As much as I am humbled by my experience and grateful for my path to entrepreneurship, I wish it didn’t take such a life-altering event to move me.
Meaghan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Imagine that you are having heart palpitations, can’t think clearly, extreme fatigue, dizziness, bloating, diarrhea, losing your hair, and you have no idea why. Now, imagine that you are explaining all of this to your doctor and your doctor doesn’t believe you because the tests they ran are normal. This is what somebody with Long COVID goes through. Over and over again, many people experience medical gaslighting when they have post-COVID complications. The problem is that Long COVID isn’t going to be found on an x-ray or in blood work, but a physical therapist can identify it. As a doctor of physical therapy, I am trained in looking at the body in a unique way. Not only are physical therapists experts in the science of movement, we have a strong medical foundation which allows us to see things differently than doctors. There is a huge need for people with knowledge about Long COVID. The latest data reports that 10-30% of individuals who weren’t hospitalized will develop Long COVID and 50-70% of those who were hospitalized for COVID will develop Long COVID. What you may not know is that Long COVID isn’t just one thing. It is an umbrella term for many different overlapping conditions that are triggered by the COVID virus. These conditions aren’t mainstream knowledge to most healthcare practitioners. In fact, there are even healthcare providers going about their lives not even realizing that they have Long COVID, let alone be able to identify it in their patients. I have made it my mission not only to help treat individuals with Long COVID, but to also educate health care professionals and the general population on early identification of Long COVID. To meet this demand, I opened my online coaching business in May of 2021 known as Rising Tides Restorative Training. Through this coaching service, clients get clarity on their post-covid condition. Many people come to me after having seen nearly a dozen doctors and having dozens of tests that reveal nothing. The truth is that even when every medical test comes back normal, the body doesn’t lie. The traditional medical system just isn’t examining or interpreting it correctly. This is why I perform an in-depth assessment of people’s breathing, movement, and vital signs to draw a more clear picture on what exactly is happening to their body that is making them feel so miserable. Through a combination of online coaching, breath training, education on pacing, optimizing nutrition, and restoring movement I help people restore a sense of normalcy. Most people I talk to have been feeling so uncomfortable and so afraid of their own body for so long that we restore trust and confidence in themselves. One of the best examples I can give is of a 28 year old male who had no idea why he only had enough energy to work. Previously, he had been able to play flag football, hike, run, and lift weights. Anytime he attempted the slightest exercise, it felt like his chest was going to explode. Everyone was telling him that it was anxiety, but he wasn’t getting better with counseling and medication. Together, we identified that he had autonomic dysfunction. We corrected his breathing pattern, optimized his nutrition, gradually restored movement and now he is back to playing 3 sports per week (volleyball, softball, and football). This is the kind of work I do, and we never met in person to do it. We live in an era where recovery doesn’t have to be performed in-person, and to be honest, some of my clients can’t tolerate leaving their house. Delivering my services digitally is the only way I would do this, and it is one of the major reasons why my clients have seen more success with me compared to the Long COVID clinics they have attended. Over the course of the years, what I have realized is that I can’t do this alone. There are too many affected individuals for me to help by myself. And so, I have started providing lectures on Long COVID to physical therapists and am in the process of building an online training for physical therapists to become Long COVID certified. This work has been a labor of love over the past 8 months and is a culmination of experience and research. The course is built from my 4 years of Long COVID practice using unique methods and frameworks I have developed myself. The information in the course is aimed to help physical therapists better evaluate and treat Long COVID, however the most important thing that I do is believe people. I believe that their experience is real. When everyone wants to shed doubt on the existence of Long COVID or the prognosis with Long COVID, I believe that healing is possible.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Every person on this Earth wants 3 things. They want to be seen, heard, and validated. Of course my clients want their life back. They want to be able to play in the backyard with their kids. They want to take their dog for a walk. They want to stand for 20 minutes to cook a meal. They want to live life to the fullest, but they have been dismissed over and over again by healthcare providers, COVID naysayers, family, friends and society. They have been shut out and isolated. They have been told that it is all in their head. So, the first three things that I do for every potential client is make sure that their story is heard. And I’m not just talking about their story being listened to, but actually showing them that I hear everything they said. The next step is proving to them that I accept their reality unconditionally. I can offer the perfect medical treatment or the perfect physical therapy routine, but if the person I am speaking to doesn’t think that I believe their reality, none of it will work. This is not only important as a business owner, but as a human being. We live in such a divisive world. I believe in showing people that they matter. There’s no marketing strategy that can outpace showing people that they are important, their experience matters, and their problems are real. That’s when you get the opportunity to start showing them the solutions.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
I have always thrived on being intelligent. I was never number #1 or even #2 in my class, but I was always near the top. In physical therapy school, I devoted myself to owning each bit of information because I knew that one day my patients would be relying on me to know my facts. I thought that being as smart as possible meant providing the best care as possible. I’ve always had great interpersonal skills and have been acknowledged for my compassion and empathy. So, it’s not as if I operate as a robot. However, when I started my own business I realized that being smart isn’t enough. There is something about being the face of your business that allows the world to view you with a microscope. And when they are looking at you, all they want to see is the most original, most true and most authentic version of yourself through and through. I learned that in order to be as successful as I am, I have to truly be grounded in WHO I am and not what I am. It isn’t about what you know or what you’ve done. It’s about who you are. People will see right through you unless you show them the real you. This led me to investing in my own personal development, which has allowed me to gain a greater understanding of self. This is by far the most helpful thing I have done in my entrepreneurial career. I cannot speak enough good things about investing in your own personal growth and development to foster entrepreneurial success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://risingtidesrecovery.com/
- Instagram: Dr_Meg_Is_In
- Facebook: Meg Anderson