DR. ORIT HICKMAN

Dr. Orit Hickman earned her Masters in Physical Therapy from Temple University in 2000. She stayed at Temple University to receive her Clinical Doctorate degree in 2003.

She has been an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (2009-2019) and is a Certified Therapeutic Pain Specialist. From 2008 to 2020, she was an adjunct professor in the University of Washington physical therapy program. She has also been a kinesiology instructor at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland.

Dr. Hickman has been a member of the APTA since she was in physical therapy school 20 years ago. She belongs to the PPSIG and PPSAPTA.

Dr. Hickman, her husband Matthew, and their son Emerson moved to the Seattle area in 2007. Her friends and family describe her as “enthusiastic, outgoing, and stubborn.” Outside of work, she loves to sail with her family on their sailboat. She was even the Commodore for the Roche Harbor Yacht Club! On dry land, she enjoys creating art-mixed media and acrylic paintings. She loves spending time with her family. Also, she has recently started baking just like everyone else has during the pandemic! One of her favorite family traditions is having breakfast at her in-laws house 1-2 weeks before Christmas. Her mother-in-law typically makes Christmas cookies and orange rolls which are cinnamon rolls with orange glaze instead of cinnamon. Her father-in-law makes baked eggs which are eggs cooked in muffin tins that are lined with bacon or turkey bacon. After breakfast, they bring out all the ornaments that her in-laws have collected. Many of them are from Orit herself as their Jewish daughter-in-law. She has given them an ornament every year for the past 21 years. Then, they decorate their fresh Christmas tree. On Thanksgiving, her family always watches the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the National Dog Show. She makes her homemade cranberry sauce before her family goes to her in-laws for dinner. This year, they zoomed with them instead after Orit dropped off some cranberry sauce and homemade pumpkin pie at their house.

Dr. Hickman is a physical therapist because she loves treating patients. One of her specialties and something she believes she does really well is treating patients with complex pain conditions. Opening her own practice (PSPT) helped her discover that she really enjoys leading a team and seeing the business grow. Something she has had to learn to be the successful physical therapist and business owner she is today is to not believe her thought that she is not a natural leader. As a physical therapist, her natural instinct is to solve a problem herself hands-on. It is much easier for her to do a task rather than delegate it. As a business owner, she has had to work hard to be patient and learn to delegate.

Dr. Hickman created Pain Science Physical Therapy and is the clinical director/owner. She opened the clinic because she wanted to treat patients in one on one sessions which she could not do at other clinics. Her responsibilities include treating patients, marketing, HR, and managing the finances. One of her favorite things about PSPT is getting to work with her staff and patients. The clinic is like a second home for her. Her days at work fly by and never drag like they used to when she was working at other practices. She believes that patients come back to PSPT for personalized care. They know that the PSPT team knows them and cares about them as patients and as people. In the next five years, she would love to see PSPT continue to grow! She wants to open 3-4 more clinics in and around the Puget Sound area. She wants to provide even more people with the quality of care that PSPT has to offer. She says, “There are so many patients who would benefit from our model of treatment and so many people who would enjoy working in this type of clinical setting.”