Briana Leatham, PT, DPT
Briana joined the Empower Physical Therapy team in 2022. She and her husband moved to Alaska in 2019 after she graduated PT school in 2018 and now have one daughter that is almost 1 year old. She grew up in California and had lived there her entire life until moving to Alaska. They both decided to move to Alaska because of how beautiful it seemed and the opportunity for an adventure together. She enjoys a variety of sports including softball and CrossFit but mostly enjoys hiking and backpacking with her free time. She was very active growing up which is what sparked her interest in becoming a physical therapist. Exercise and sports in general have helped her to overcome both physical and mental challenges throughout her life. She wanted to provide that type of resource to other people and help them recover from various impairments or surgeries in order to return to their favorite activities. She gained a specific interest in pelvic floor therapy after consulting with patients who were referred for other related diagnoses but were also reporting chronic symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction. This dysfunction was preventing them from returning to activities they used to enjoy.
Briana has been treating patients for pelvic floor dysfunction for over 2 years now. Within the past 3 years, Briana has taken over 85 hours of live coursework and lab experience with the American Physical Therapy Association for Pelvic Health. She was taught by pelvic floor therapists at Johns Hopkins Medical Center Outpatient facility in Maryland and professors of pelvic floor therapy for in-person lab experience in order to properly examine and evaluate pelvic floor dysfunction. She was also provided one-on-one instruction in how to properly size/insert a pessary device for patients with prolapse. She continues to seek new research within the field of pelvic floor therapy and has enjoyed working with and seeing great progress in patients that experience pelvic floor dysfunction.