Physical therapy may be a second career for Elaine Houska, but at its core, it’s just like her first.

“I was a high school science teacher for 11 years,” Elaine said. “I found that becoming a physical therapist…allow(ed) me to continue in a career that centers around interaction with people.”

Elaine earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy from the University of Iowa in December 2010. She joined Tidewater Physical Therapy and currently practices in the Gloucester Courthouse Clinic.

Iowa? It’s where Elaine calls home. Hometown? She has several.

“I grew up on a farm in Iowa near the west entrance of Backbone State Park. Our mailing address was Dundee. The towns making up the Starmont school district where I graduated from in 1986 are Strawberry Point, Arlington and Lamont. The town we bought groceries in and did our doctoring in is Manchester. For big shopping days – like for Christmas – we either went to Waterloo or Cedar Rapids. So…I am a product of northeastern Iowa.”

Elaine found her way to Tidewater Physical Therapy while visiting friends in Virginia Beach.

“I was…driving down to Sandbridge beach when I saw the Tidewater Physical Therapy clinic at Redmill. I made a mental note to myself that when I finished physical therapy school I would apply for a job there because I wanted to live in Virginia and…be close to the beach.”

Four years and a job offer with another company later and Elaine did just that – she searched for Tidewater Physical Therapy online and applied to join the team.

“The rest is history, as they say.”

Elaine is making history each day and with each patient she treats. If you know her, you’ve become familiar with her smile and soft, comforting tone.

“It is amazing how much better people feel when they see an attentive smiling face. When I am finishing up with a patient…I tell them that they ‘are ready, I am sending you back out into the world.’”

Elaine remembers many patients sent back into the world, but one in particular sticks with her. The patients was a woman diagnosed with air on the brain.

“When I evaluated her, she could only move her eyes and blink to respond yes or no to questions. She was completely dependent for transfers and could not even hold herself in a sitting position if placed there.”

By the time that patient finished her physical therapy, she “was able to stand with assistance, talk your ear off, propel herself in a wheelchair and feed herself. It was amazing for me to think back to that first day with her not know what her recovering was going to be like to videotaping her walking with assistance on my last day working with her.”

When Elaine isn’t in the clinic, she enjoys running, and recently, developed a love for exploring local waters with her kayak.