Dr. Hartley Bowman, PT, DPT graduated from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center with her Doctor of Physical Therapy in 2022. Her clinical internships provided a variety of experience working with patients who had neurological, musculoskeletal, and pelvic floor conditions. Prior to starting her career as a physical therapist, Dr. Bowman earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology and minor in Psychology from Oklahoma Christian University in 2018.
Dr. Bowman has a special interest in pelvic rehabilitation, including pelvic floor dysfunction, chronic pelvic pain, low back pain, hip pathology, SI joint pain and instability, and core weakness. She is currently pursuing a Pelvic Rehabilitation Practitioner Certification (PRPC) through the Herman and Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute.
While in graduate school, Dr. Bowman was also accepted into the national Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. As a Fellow, she served the Tulsa community, providing nutritional education to persons with physical challenges through her “Veggies for Life” program, developed with assistance from the OU Culinary Medicine team. She is excited to bring her knowledge, passion, and unique background to provide evidence-based care to her clients at LifeMotion Physical Therapy.
Hartley is a Tulsa native and is happy to be serving the community that she calls home. In her leisure time, you can find her spending time with her husband and dog, as well as reading, hiking, running, and hanging out with friends.
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.