THE SPECIALIST BEHIND TRAINING DAY
YOUR PHYSICAL THERAPIST IN SANTA CLARITA
Built by a physical therapist and life long athlete with a mission to redefine how physical therapy can change your life and mind.
MEET YOUR PHYSICAL THERAPIST
DR. RYAN HAZLEHURST, PT, DPT
ELITE TRAINING
My career began in acute care — three years at Southern Nevada's largest hospital treating patients at their most medically fragile, followed by six years at the California Rehabilitation Institute in Century City, the largest inpatient rehab facility west of the Mississippi. There, I specialized in stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and complex orthopedic and cardiopulmonary recovery, and started a limb loss task force that's still active today.
I also completed extensive training in vestibular and balance disorder care, and spent two years at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital right here in Santa Clarita treating trauma and ICU patients. I earned my Doctor of Physical Therapy from Touro University Nevada and am a Board-Certified Doctor of Physical Therapy in California, with a clinical focus on orthopedic, cardiopulmonary, and neurological rehabilitation.
FROM ATHLETE TO RECOVERY
My path to physical therapy didn't start in a classroom. It started on the field.
I played high school sports year-round: football, ski team, baseball, golf, track. Team captain, student body president, honor roll student; headed to University of San Diego on a football scholarship. Positivity and intention seemed familiar.
During my senior year, I suffered a catastrophic knee injury on the field. Severe enough that orthopedic surgeons with decades of experience said they'd rarely seen anything like it.
FEELING LIMITED FROM LOSS
That knee injury required three surgeries at the time, and four more over my adult life, along with two additional surgeries on my other knee.
The scholarship disappeared, as did the identity I'd built around being an athlete. I was told I could never run again, and for a while, I wasn't sure if I'd ever walk without pain.
The physical recovery was hard. The emotional recovery was harder when my father's diagnosis with a malignant brain tumor coincided with my recovery. I went through a period of real depression, wondering if the life I'd planned for myself was simply gone.
What pushed me through those years: the surgeries, the fear, the grief, was physical therapy.
MENTAL & PHYSICAL IMPACT
PURPOSE IN THE STRUGGLE
I won't pretend every session was easy. Some of my clearest memories are of dreading appointments because of how much the hands-on work hurt in the moment.
I was about a year into my own recovery when I decided to stay home to help care for my father. Physical therapists often visited our house - strength training and mobility work, helping him relearn his own body, one session at a time.
Watching them fine-tune my best friend, year after year, I saw the bigger picture. You have to treat the body and the mind together, or you're not treating the whole person at all.
That's when this stopped being just about my recovery. Those experiences are exactly what led me to this profession.
I know what it feels like to be on the table, scared and in pain, wondering if there's a version of your life on the other side of it.
There is, and I'm confident I'm the person to help you find it.
CREDENTIALS
BOARD CERTIFIED Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)
Touro University nevada, 2014
CAPTE-accredited
B.A. Psychology
Minor in Spanish
California State University, Chico
12+ years of clinical experience
languages: english, spanish,~ portuguese
How I Found My Purpose
Beyong the Clinic
Partners in Your Recovery
THE FINANCIAL PHYSIO
Having seen firsthand how significantly healthcare costs impact patients and their families, as a physical therapist in Santa Clarita, I also became a Licensed Financial Advisor and Registered Representative. When appropriate, I’m happy and able to provide education and guidance around financial wellness, healthcare-related expenses, and long-term planning.
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The Training DayBlog
tip s & tools from your pt
“If you do it once, you may as well do it right. Then you won’t have to do it again.”
A lesson my dad taught me I now teach my clients.