Photo by Erin Nelson.
Katie Dougherty, PT/DPT and founder of PhysioBaby, works on the head and neck of a 3-month-old as Samantha Newcomb, PT/DPT, works on the baby’s hips and lower spine during an appointment at PhysioBaby on Sept. 15.
Dr. Katie Dougherty said she thinks of PhysioBaby as her third child.
For starters, it was “born” at the same time as her second son. But it has also been a labor of love for the Greystone resident because she’s passionate about assisting families who feel like they’re not thriving, only surviving.
That’s the mission of her practice, which offers therapeutic services to support physical, mental and emotional development for babies and children. The goal is to meet a family right where they are, at a “delicate time where there can be many unknowns,” said Dougherty, who is the chief pediatric physical therapist and founder of PhysioBaby.
Those “unknowns” can take a wide variety of forms, she said.
“It could mean an infant who’s colicky or dealing with reflux, or a baby who has issues with eating or head shape or motor delays, who’s getting a ‘wait and see’ from other providers,’” she said. “We’re the people you can go to and say, ‘What can I do in this stage for this little person in my life?’”
The idea for PhysioBaby started when Dougherty, who was born and raised in Inverness, moved to Houston after finishing her doctorate in pediatric physical therapy.
“I worked at Texas Children’s Hospital for 10 years and had two babies, and after I was on maternity leave with my second, I had a desire to open a practice,” she said.
Dougherty began to ask herself what she would want that practice to look like if her own children were the patients. Not too long after, in 2019, she opened PhysioBaby in Houston.
“I call this practice my son’s twin, because they were born together,” she said. “It was born out of wanting to serve families in a better way.”
At first, Dougherty thought she would be a one-woman show, but she kept getting referrals and began bringing on more specialized staff. Then, when she and her husband decided to move their family back to the Birmingham area a couple of years ago, she started a second PhysioBaby in her hometown.
It started as a concierge service offering home visits. Earlier this year, PhysioBaby opened a brick-and-mortar clinic at 201 Cahaba Park Circle, Suite 400.
“We want to make people feel empowered to take on things that aren’t quite right in their children’s little lives,” said Dougherty. “We spend 45 minutes to an hour with each patient weekly, so our patients know us, our parents know us and we develop a relationship of trust and get to watch them grow.”
In addition to treating babies, PhysioBaby also provides support with situations such as mothers who struggle with breastfeeding or an issue like back pain or neck pain.
“We partner with a lot of different providers in the community like chiropractors, dentists, pediatricians and lactation consultants,” said Dougherty, noting that PhysioBaby aims to assemble a highly specialized team that can serve families holistically. “Our number one goal is to let them know, ‘You can do this, and I’m in your corner to help you do it better.’”
For more information about PhysioBaby, visit physiobabypt.com.
