Dr. Steven Dobson: My Story

This is an introductory blog about.. why I’m writing a blog and why I do what I do!

I grew up wanting to be a writer. I LOVED reading (I still enjoy it) and was a voracious reader. I remember sitting in my 4th grade class, getting yelled at for reading “The Hardy Boys” every single class. At that time, I thought about how cool it would be to be an author and create these incredible stories. However, life took me down a slightly different path and the world has changed a lot since then. 

The purpose of this introductory blog isn’t to tell you my entire life story… but just to introduce how excited I am to start writing and a bit of why I do what I do. In this case, I’ll be focusing on non fiction. Yes, I’ll be writing about data, scientific evidence and of course some of my own experience. The goal of this blog is to have a longer form of content to go deeper into topics I am passionate about. Topics that I’ve dedicated a lot of time to understanding and applying for myself and my clients (and of course I’ll be learning along the way as well). 

The primary goal is to spread high quality information that weeds out the BS you can find literally everywhere on the internet. I’m not going to be selling you a quick fix or a product I don’t believe in. I want to invoke true, lasting change to people’s lives. As a physical therapist that means I’ll often be breaking down ideas related to overcoming pain and becoming resilient. However, I’m also a strength coach and helping develop strong people (mentally and physically) is even a greater passion of mine. I believe these two things go hand in hand. I’m fortunate enough to be able to have an impact on someone’s life when they are often at their lowest or in a state of frustration due to pain or injury. I don’t take that responsibility lightly. 

Before I mention the logistics and actually start delivering you actionable, non-BS, information… I’d like to share a bit of my story so you can better understand who I am and why this is so important to me (I’ll try to keep it moving along, no promises). 

I wasn’t the most athletic kid (not quite the least either) and always struggled with my own body image. I played baseball, soccer, downhill skied (if that counts on hills in WI) and dabbled in football. However, throughout these sports the weight room was not something I ever got into. There was some semblance of a program for it.. But that wasn’t something that I was pushed to do. We’d go through the yearly abuse of “conditioning” as the coaches called it, where half the team had a nagging injury by the end of the first few weeks as they tried to figure out who was “serious” about playing that year. Seems smart, right? It still happens to this day. I won’t get on that soap box for now. 

Every Summer a friend and I would decide “this is the year we get abs” which we thought would be a god-send for our issues. (Spoiler alert - it’s not). Finally, my good friend Sean and I actually did it. This also was about the 5th attempt.. As it happened, this was the Summer between my Freshman and Sophomore year of undergrad. At that time I became obsessed with bodybuilding; I was reading forums, watching YouTube videos, etc. It was also during this time that I decided the route I was going for school, wasn’t it. I was a business major and what drove it home for me was… falling asleep in business class. Which I've never done before. It was time to think about other options. 

I had become so interested in the human body and lifting, I decided maybe I should try that out. I took an anatomy class and fell in love with just how incredible the human body is. I changed my major and joined the Kinesiology program. At first I was primarily interested in understanding everything I could to optimize my own training. Then I started to experience nagging injuries of my own and realized that physical therapy could be an option. This felt like the perfect balance of affecting change on a bigger level (helping someone out of pain) and then subsequently helping them become a healthier, stronger, more confident individual. This is essentially exactly what finding fitness did for me and it changed my life. 

So there it was, becoming a physical therapist was going to allow me to do all of the things I wanted. I got accepted into the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN. I completed my Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. I was READY (or so I thought). Side note: during this time I transitioned from a bodybuilding focus (more constant attention to aesthetics) to a powerlifting focus (setting more strength-based goals) for a multitude of reasons. 

When you’re a new grad physical therapist you are somewhat unsure of what you got yourself into. I spent the first few years as a PT in a traditional outpatient practice and I learned a lot. I completed A LOT of courses and an orthopedic residency with some great mentors. I came out the other end with certifications in manual therapy, attended a lot of seminars and ultimately obtained my Orthopedic Specialist Certification (OCS). Oh and also a fun little thing known as “burnout” or was it “compassion fatigue”?. The insurance-based system is one that is hyper-focused on productivity and seeing as many people as possible per day to make the company as much money as possible. Yes, I was helping people, but not as well as I knew I could. Being hindered by 30-minute time slots and insurance deciding that 12-visits was “enough”, it was frustrating. This certainly wasn’t what I wanted to do with my career, but now that I am removed from it a bit…I recognize what it taught me and how I was fortunate to have excellent mentors along the way. 

I knew I needed a change. I always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I always wanted to own my own business and affect change in a different way. After spending the years growing as a physical therapist and continuing to learn more about strength training and health/wellness… I was finally ready to get started. I started Dobson Strength Rehab & Performance in January of 2024. 

I realized there was a better way to affect true change. I could blend my love of strength training with rehab. Healthcare CAN be done differently. My mission has been to educate and change the lives of anyone who is struggling with pain, and especially those who feel they need to give up on their goals because of something they were told in a healthcare setting, what someone said on the internet, or from a google search of their symptoms. My love for lifting weights & what that can do for you… led me to focus on working with people who also love being in the gym. 

I truly enjoy the entire process. Whether it’s helping someone discover strength training for the first time, overcome a pain point to keep lifting (and living), improve their performance in the gym, or use strength training as an asset for resilience and performance in whatever athletic endeavor they are passionate about. It’s all just incredibly fun and rewarding.

If you’ve made it this far.. Thanks so much for taking the time to read about my story and I hope you have a deeper understanding of why I do what I do. Stay tuned for a variety of content.