From lectures to the dance floor: How one WesternU CHS-Northwest professor incorporates her artistic style into health care
Recently, Western University of Health Sciences College of Health Sciences-Northwest Assistant Professor Leah Thomas, PT, DPT, CWS, traveled to Chicago, Ill. to participate in The Chicago Tribe 30th Anniversary Jam, a multi-day breaking and hip-hop event.
“I’ve always had some type of movement in my life,” shared Thomas.
From an early age, Thomas participated in a variety of different dance and gymnastics classes, sharing that she would walk on her hands down the school hallways as a kid. However, it wasn’t until she was in college that she discovered b-girling, also known as breakdancing.
“I remember I went to a battle. I saw the battle and I thought, ‘I want to do that.’ So that’s when I looked up the community. I met some of the b-girls there and we just started breaking together,” said Thomas. “I feel fortunate that we had this organic growth of our crew. This group of ladies and I had been breaking together for a while and one day we were like, ‘you know what? Why don’t we form a crew?’”
That was almost 15 years ago. The Zia Queens is an all-girls breaking crew, of which Thomas is a founding member. The New Mexico-based group regularly participates in jams both locally and around the country.
“I’ve grown up with these ladies. It’s been very neat to see how we’ve all grown over time. We have healthcare providers, a nurse, a respiratory therapist, educators who teach social justice to other educators at the collegiate level, and others who dance and teach dance in the schools. I’m really proud of everything that we’ve been able to do,” said Thomas.
Beyond dance, the group is focused on social outreach and supporting the community. The 12 members of Zia Queens, now with crew members dispersed throughout the country, are focused on empowering women and being a source of positive change both in the hip hop scene and in their communities. They regularly host benefit jams to support local causes and provide annual workshops to educate young people on the history and culture of breaking.
“It’s not just about dancing, it’s also about respect. It’s about having balance and giving back to the community,” said Thomas.
It was her passion for movement and a desire to help others that led Thomas to become a physical therapist. In her professional life, Thomas has been able to balance her artistic side with her academic interests by incorporating breaking into her lectures.
“Whenever the students need a stretch break, I will teach them a breaking move. Some students aren’t very interested, but others are really into it. They’ll come up and show me a move they learned a few weeks ago or how they’ve connected two different moves,” said Thomas. “It’s a way I can share a little bit of myself and that artistic love that I have and bring it into the academic world.”
For Thomas, incorporating real world interests into clinical practices is not isolated to just the classroom. She often encourages her students to explore their patients’ interests during their physical therapy sessions. She believes helping patients see the application of their exercises will improve their treatment and accelerate their progress.
“If you have a patient who doesn’t like riding a bicycle, don’t put them on a stationary bike! However, if they’re interested in gardening or getting back into a sport, you can find exercises specific to those interests,” said Thomas.
This humanistic approach to health care ensures each patient is treated as the unique individual they are. Thomas’s passion for breaking has brought a fresh perspective and renewed creativity to physical therapy.
“If we want buy-in from our patients that exercise and movement is important, then we need to demonstrate that to them and live it ourselves,” she said.
