My name is Jessi Hahn and I am a 13 year old dancer. As a dancer of 11 years, I have experienced all types of injuries. With every injury, I could tell when I was getting better or worse. With my scoliosis, there was no way of telling besides x-rays. The x-rays only came every few months and each time it felt like a hopeless countdown to surgery. Every doctors appointment felt like I had lost a battle. Every time I was told that the degrees of my curve went up, I felt less and less like myself. I felt like scoliosis was negatively taking over my life and swallowing me whole. For something that was such a big factor in my life, I had barely even understood it. At that point, I had not known very much about what the surgery was, and what scoliosis even was. My doctors explained that the only way to help scoliosis was bracing or surgery. Nothing else. For me, neither of those were satisfying. Neither of them felt like they were truly helping. That was until I decided to try Schroth. Schroth Physical therapy opened a whole new door of possibility. During my first pt appointment, Andrea made sure that I understood everything there was to know about my curves. She taught me that there were other factors of scoliosis besides the curve such as my posture, my happiness, my goals, and my pain level. All of those things were fitted for me rather than the textbooks. She gave me hope that no other professional was able to give me. She made me feel comfortable in my body by making scoliosis positive. When I first got my diagnosis, I couldn’t even hear the word “scoliosis” without wanting to break down into tears. It made me feel insecure, weak, and alone. I felt like a robot separated from society. Andrea took me under her wing and showed me that scoliosis doesn’t define me, and that it’s a unique aspect of my life. She proved to me that something I have hated about myself could be my favorite thing about myself. She made me feel important. I wanted to keep up with all of my physical therapy exercises because I knew that Andrea would be proud. Throughout every exercise she had my back. Every single time I completed another repetition, I could truly feel it working. My posture felt and looked straighter, I was pain free, and I was happy. Andrea gave me pure joy and happiness that I was able to carry with me throughout my scoliosis journey. For every doctors appointment, Andrea made sure that I was ready for any news with questions and self affirmations. She not only educated me on the physical aspect of scoliosis, she gave me hope by changing my outlook on it as well. Surgery and scoliosis weren’t scary anymore because I knew Andrea would be by my side through it all. She felt personal towards me and she gave me what I needed to get better emotionally and physically. Scoliosis was no longer a burden, but a perfection. Andrea taught me that the word “scoliosis” doesn’t have to be feared. Andrea gave me strength and made me fearless.