HERE IS WHAT I'M ABOUT...

Hey Sports Therapist! I'm Ryan Esdohr a sports therapist who has made a career treating athletes and owning a business that allows me to do what I love on my terms. Now I share the lessons I've learned so that you can do the same.

HOW I GOT STARTED

I knew I always wanted to work with my hands. However I quickly learned that mechanics and a lot of craftsmanship required an aptitude for math which I did not possess.

Eventually, I found my way into manual therapy and once I took a course on sports therapy I was hooked. I ended up moving to Atlanta, had great mentors take me under their wing, and started to work on professional athletes.

After about 4 years we had our first child and decided it was time to move back to Iowa where I opened my current business Superhuman Lab.

It Wasn't Easy In The Beginning

We moved back to Iowa in 2010 towards the end of the housing crisis. We lost money on the sale of our home, lived with my in-laws for the first year, and I had quit manual therapy because I thought I was "burnt out". For just over a year I worked a remote job but luckily, I had some advice from an old teacher who encouraged me to return to massage therapy. This time I wanted to take the lessons I learned and implement them in a much more sustainable way.

Are You "Burnt Out" Or Have You Lost The Joy And Enthusiasm That You Once Had?

Tell me if you can relate to any of this...

You drive to work already tired
Your current income doesn't motivate you
You find yourself doing the same mundane techniques
You aren't getting clients that are "raving fans"
You have to work nights or weekends to make ends meet

If this is you don't worry you are not alone. For years I would pay my overhead and whatever was left was my paycheck for that month. I had no consistent income and when I had a good month it was because I took clients on the weekends or evenings.

A New Vision For The Future

I believe that every therapist has their own unique way of approaching this work. The goal isn't to reinvent yourself, abandoning all you have learned through your experience but instead evolve your work while keeping the essence of it.

Methods are many, principles are few

If we strip away all the lingo and confusing terminology in our industry I find that there are a few principles that I have used through my entire career that within those principles it allows me all the creative freedom I need to pursue a rewarding career in sports therapy.

I know this was supposed to be a section "about me" but I want to take a moment to encourage you not to ignore the knock at the door that will allow you the freedom to evolve your work into something that is authentic and rewarding to you!

If you could design your perfect day what would it be? Without editing your thoughts, what would you fill up the hours of today with?

That is how I approach my work. I didn't get into this career to have the ordinary 9-5, 40 hour work week. I want spontaneity sprinkled in throughout the year and within my career, not just when I can afford to take a vacation.

At The End Of The Day I Want To Be A Master Of My Craft

So far I have covered a lot of the business side of sports therapy because without it you can't afford to stay in the game long enough to be a master of your craft. If you struggle on the business side it becomes a distraction to the work. You will find yourself task switching and the smallest of interruptions will throw you off.

To become the best therapist you can be it is key to eliminate the amount of inputs you encounter in a given day. Which is why my work may look a bit unorthodox from afar. I don't cram a bunch of clients on my schedule back to back. My goal is to work on the smallest viable number of people I can in order to ensure costs are covered while giving me time to read, do research, and travel for leisure or learning.

In equal parts I enjoy the experimentation and research just as much as the work itself. Which is why I named my company Superhuman Lab; it is the reminder to always stay curious and experiment. That is what keeps the work fresh for me after 15+ years in the sports therapy industry.