Dr. Hartley Bowman, PT, DPT earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 2022. Her clinical training included extensive experience in neurological, musculoskeletal, and pelvic health rehabilitation. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Psychology at Oklahoma Christian University in 2018.
Dr. Bowman specializes in pelvic health and treats a wide range of conditions, including pelvic floor dysfunction for both women and men, chronic pelvic pain, low back pain, hip pathology, SI joint pain and instability, and core weakness. She has advanced training in pelvic rehabilitation and is an ICE Certified Specialist in Pelvic Health through the Institute of Clinical Excellence.
During graduate school, Dr. Bowman was selected for the national Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. Alongside her occupational therapy counterpart, she co-led Veggies for Life, a community program providing accessible nutritional education for persons with mobility impairments in partnership with the OU Culinary Medicine team.
When she’s not in the clinic, you can often find Hartley with her husband, their son, and their dog. She enjoys reading, lifting weights, running, and spending time with friends, and brings that same warm, supportive energy to her clients every day.
Hartley’s Story
Witnessing the transformational power of physical therapy put Hartley Bowman on a path that led her to us at LifeMotion. It’s a story that begins her Junior year at Edison Preparatory High School here in Tulsa.
“I had lots of interests like most high schoolers do,” Harley says. “One of my teachers I was very close with ended up in the hospital with a septic infection.”
While in the hospital her teacher suffered a spinal cord injury that caused paralysis from his neck down. Hartley found inspiration as his wife shared updates on Facebook about his physical therapy, including taking his first steps.
“Just watching it and seeing the transformation and what physical therapy was able to do for him, I thought, that’s what I want to do,” Hartley says. “I want to help people in that way.”
After earning her Bachelor of Science with a minor in Psychology, she went on to get her Doctorate of Physical Therapy at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center here in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“My experience in physical therapy school was a really interesting one; whenever I first started, it was like any other physical therapy program, in classes all the time, learning the basics, getting that hands-on experience in labs,” Hartley says. “Then COVID happened, it was a tough transition into that virtual experience, but it pushed me to put myself out there.”
Hartley challenged herself while in the clinic and doing internships to embrace that experience fully and get as much hands-on learning as possible.
“I met Ryan Smith on my third rotation in physical therapy school,” Hartley says. “I worked under Megan Bojko. She was training me in pelvic floor and orthopedic physical therapy. I spent about ten weeks at LifeMotion, and during that time, it just felt like I really fit in with the group, and the rest is history, I suppose.”
As a result of her experience, Hartley developed a passion for chronic pelvic pain and chronic pelvic floor-related issues and would love to establish a niche in that community and help people who have been struggling with these issues.
“We want to help patients who walk in our door find out what’s going on and give them a plan to start working on that day,” Hartley says. “Then we want to send them home feeling confident they can take back control of their life.”
Hartley knows it’s possible because she’s seen it first-hand. Remember that teacher she watched regain the ability to walk? After six months of the physical therapy that inspired Hartley to heal others, he walked his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day.
