After earning a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from the University of Maryland in 1985, Jennifer started her career as a PT in England, where she somewhat unknowingly started addressing human asymmetries. At first by becoming Bobath Certified and treating “Adults with Hemiplegia,” where ‘neurological’ asymmetries were clearly accepted, but also while completing more ‘orthopedic’ research on “The Biomechanics and Orthotic Management of the Foot.” For it was while conducting this research that Jennifer noted that the left foot of most of their healthy, young control subjects was consistently more pronated than their right foot. These asymmetrical patterns continued to surface throughout Jennifer’s multi-faceted career. For example, while becoming a bike fitter she learned that the right foot almost always required more medial posting than the left and, when she started specializing in treating people with Parkinson’s Disease, she learned that the initial presentation of this disease is uniquely unilateral.
Jennifer returned to academia to earn her DPT from the University of North Carolina in 2009, but it wasn’t until 2012, when she read a bike fitting article that introduced her to Postural Restoration, that she started to understand the science behind the patterned asymmetries she had been seeing. She became certified in PRI in 2015, while at the same time advancing her education regarding Parkinson’s Disease, receiving her LSVT, Rock Steady Boxing, and PWR! Certifications, attending the World Parkinson’s Congress, and developing both an exercise class and a tandem bicycle program for people with Parkinson’s Disease. What soon became apparent was that by learning about Parkinson’s Disease, she was gaining a unique insight into the neurology behind PRI concepts. She presented these insights at the 2021 PRI Symposium on Basal Ganglia Disease. Following this, in 2022, Jennifer was invited to join the PRI faculty to teach their Cranial Resolution course.
Jennifer continues to treat a variety of patients at a small, outpatient clinic in Oriental NC, where she lives with her husband, Tim. She also remains a boxing coach for people with Parkinsons in the neighboring town of New Bern. And, after having spent years sailing small boats across both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, she is now more content sailing locally, while doing her more extensive traveling by bicycle, peddling across large sections of both Europe and the United States.
