Menu
Shaun Scissom, DPT, ATC, Cert. DN
Shaun Scissom’s first exposure to the field of physical therapy was thanks to his mother, who is an X-ray technician. When Shaun was growing up, his mother worked for a sports medicine clinic that had a physical therapy clinic attached.
But, he says like many people who go into the field of physical therapy, an athletics injury he suffered during play that required physical therapy was what inspired his path to become a team coordinator for outpatient physical therapy at Sentara Fort Norfolk.
My daily inspiration comes from seeing my patients achieve their goals and improve their quality of life.” — Shaun
“I get to work on my feet and am able to build special relationships with people, which is unlike many other medical professions because we typically interact with them at a much higher frequency.”
Shaun treats a mix of patients with neurological, orthopedic and, more recently, post-COVID needs. The variety means the days can be hectic at times, but he says seeing a patient achieving a goal or returning to an activity that significantly improves their quality of life makes it easy to stay focused.
The COVID-19 pandemic created an incredibly challenging environment for healthcare, and Shaun says his clinic is continuing to deal with patients suffering from long COVID. Working closely with Dr. Qiao at the Sentara Post-COVID clinic, his team is working to address the functional and cognitive impairments that individuals with long-term deficits are demonstrating. The primary goal is to help each patient return to their prior level of function, while the secondary goal is to formulate a research study to further assist other clinicians in treating these individuals from what they learn and observe.
“From a physical therapy perspective, we have found some interesting trends that patients will present with when they are experiencing long term COVID complications that are much more than shortness of breath,” Shaun says. “Patients are presenting with hip weakness, functional strength deficits, poor dynamic balance, myalgia, and reduced overall muscular endurance.”
However, he is quick to add that the outlook is promising—most patients are improving in most areas.
“My advice for others would be to take care of and listen to your body, practice good lifting mechanics, and move daily to promote longevity!”
Shaun Scissom, DPT, ATC, Cert. DN
Shaun Scissom’s first exposure to the field of physical therapy was thanks to his mother, who is an X-ray technician. When Shaun was growing up, his mother worked for a sports medicine clinic that had a physical therapy clinic attached.
But, he says like many people who go into the field of physical therapy, an athletics injury he suffered during play that required physical therapy was what inspired his path to become a team coordinator for outpatient physical therapy at Sentara Fort Norfolk.
My daily inspiration comes from seeing my patients achieve their goals and improve their quality of life.” — Shaun
The Sentara Healthcare team is nearly 30,000 people strong, all working with a unified objective to create an environment of health and healing for our patients. Join us today.
Sentara is recognized nationally for clinical quality and safety and is strategically focused on innovation and creating an extraordinary health care experience for our patients and members.