Lara Ring MPT Aq.
Master of Physical Therapy
Owner
Lara Ring established Propel Pediatric Therapy in 2009 and, since then, has been delighted to participate in the development of children and therapists. After a knee injury in high school, she started working as a physical therapy aide, where she worked all through her collegiate career, falling in love with the profession and especially the patients realizing she belonged in the world of rehabilitation. After graduating from Idaho State University with a Master's degree in Physical Therapy, she moved to Washington state to work at Seattle Children’s Hospital acute inpatient rehabilitation. From there, she transitioned to the beautiful Oregon coast, working in acute care and the school system.
Needing a change of scenery, she moved across the country to North Carolina, which she is proud to call home. Initially, she worked for a private pediatric practice facilitating the opening of an outpatient clinic, serving as PT/OT manager, and serving children in the home, early intervention program, and school system. She then became a staff member of Wake Forest Baptist Health gaining experience in the burn center, pediatric intensive care, and Level IV neonatal intensive care unit. Her love for those babies and medically fragile children led her to establish Propel Pediatric Therapy as an independent provider for those wee little ones as they transitioned home and those kids that needed the extra love and attention that a home-based provider can provide.
She worked independently for approximately two years in the home environment before adding therapists to her staff. As the team grew, she decided to open an outpatient facility in Kernersville, North Carolina. Professionally, it has been a great journey for Lara, and she has a passion and commitment to providing the highest quality care to the children she serves. Aside from her professional life, Lara Ring is proud mother of 5 spectacular children Tristan, Kaia, Savannah, Aidan, and Cyrus.
Together they live in Walnut Cove on a farm. The youngest, Cyrus, was born prematurely. Lara was given the opportunity to experience a fraction of what it feels like to be a mother of a premature infant. This has led her to further commit her professional life to treating and specializing in the treatment of infants. She feels that her strong base of skills in multiple treatment areas of acute care, school system, outpatient, and home of all ages of children has given her the knowledge and experience to help parents and caregivers learn how to prepare an infant with a foundation of developmental skills that they will be able to utilize to reach their greatest potential in life as they grow and develop.
Lara has participated in over 30 professional continuing education courses to further develop her skills as a pediatric physical therapist. Many of these are geared toward the treatment of the infant. She also has taken several courses on the use and fitting of orthotics. She currently works one day a week assessing children in an orthotic clinic alongside an Orthotist to determine the best orthotic intervention based on the child’s abilities and functional limitations. She believes that children can perform better physically when they have orthotics that work with them rather than against them and that orthotic intervention early on in life will prevent many orthopedic issues that could develop without their assistance.
Lara also enjoys equipment clinics where, alongside equipment specialists, she can help the families choose adaptive equipment that will assist the child in accessing their environments and be better able to interact with their peers while developing functional skills. Lara has learned techniques in Kinesiotaping to facilitate muscle recruitment and myofascial release in pediatrics. Lara is a Level I and Level II Certified Theratog Fitter. Lara also is credentialed as an aquatic therapist through Aquatic Therapy University and teaches aquatic therapy courses.