The Oracle: How many years have you been in the business?

Maureen Lipa: Twenty eight years — took seven years to become a physical therapist however.

TO: What are the worst injuries or illnesses you’ve seen?

ML: The hardest cases for me were always young people with terminal disease. I remember in particular a 9-year-old boy with a spinal cord tumor who experienced a lot of pain after surgery. We worked together on a lot on relaxation techniques like guided imaging. That’s when you use word pictures and have someone follow your descriptions to relax.

TO: What do you enjoy the most about the job?

ML: The one-on-one interaction with the patient. Like all jobs, a lot of what I do is repetitive, but every individual is different so you have to recognize who they are and adapt your behavior to get the best outcomes and cooperate with the person.

TO: How satisfying is this job on a scale from 1 to 10?

ML: At least a seven or eight.