Physical therapist Kirsten Sverdrup Robinson moved to America in 1983 because she was curious about its medical system.
When she opened her own practice in April 2007, she brought a little bit of Norway with her.
At the Newport Beach office of Stand Tall, Robinson treats patients with the Redcord Sling Exercise Therapy system, a machine that was developed in her home country.
Robinson is the first physical therapist in America certified to use the Redcord, which uses one or more slings and elastic cords to strengthen muscles and enhance passive range of motion in patients where pain is making it difficult for them to move.
Raised on a small Norwegian island with a population of about 900, Robinson said she knew at age 7 that she wanted to be a physical therapist when she grew up. She just doesn’t know why.
“There were no physical therapists on the island, which was just above the Arctic Circle,” Robinson said.
“I had no idea what physical therapists did. I just knew I wanted to help people, but take it with a pinch of salt how much I really knew about it at that time.”
According to her patients, Robinson knows plenty now.
Her treatment program combines tough, no-nonsense therapy with compassion and humor, and it gets results.
Sandy Segerstrom Daniels ruptured a disk in her neck that required surgery last November.
After about six weeks recuperating, Daniels’ doctor referred her to Robinson for physical therapy.
At the time, Daniels said she wasn’t in any pain, but she also wasn’t doing anything — no exercise, nothing physical, including moving her neck.
The first time Robinson asked her to turn her head, suspended in the Redcord, Daniels said she was scared.
Robinson asked Daniels a lot of questions about what she had done before she ruptured her disk, trying to find out why it might have “blown” in the first place.
“What I like about Kirsten is that she’s one-on-one, she takes the time, asks questions, and there are no machines. She talks to you, her concentration level is high, and she’s hands-on,” Daniels said.
Part of Robinson’s hands-on approach, in addition to massage was her willingness to share “great stories” about the road she traveled to become a physical therapist, and how she ended up in the United States.
