78 Photo Essay: Emma Crumpton, Physical Therapist, TherapySouth

Words by Suzie Walton | Image by Blakeney Clouse 

When things are not going well, people come to see Emma Crumpton. She listens to their stories, offering hope in the struggle, and she will emphatically tell you that God has her right where she is supposed to be. 

“This is not just a career; it is a calling on my life,” Emma says.

And when you walk into Therapy South, it’s easy to see Emma’s brilliant smile and warm personality immediately calm the anxiety of her patients. 

After finishing PT school, this Albertville native moved to Jasper in the spring of 2018, when her husband, Clint, accepted a teaching/coaching position at Jasper High School.

As a local physical therapist certified in dry needling and pelvic health dysfunctions, Emma has developed a reputation as a caregiver. Her patients trust her. Today as she works, her patient calmly shares her day’s adventures, pausing only to say, “That feels so much better.” 

“Every day is different, every patient is at a different stage in recovery so there is no monotony,” Emma says. “Almost always I’m seeing patients at one of their most vulnerable times and I have to earn their trust.” 

That trust is vital to her patient’s success and she knows it. After all, Emma’s been on the other side. She never considered herself a movement expert when she was contemplating college majors in the medical field. “I thought I might become a vet because I love animals or a nurse like my mom,” Emma explains—however, a competition in high school, albeit with a painful result, enlightened her.

“I was in show choir and dance in high school when I got a minor knee injury,” she recalls. 

During a dance competition Emma tore her meniscus in her left knee and was forced to take a six-week hiatus from dance to rehab the knee. While in the rehabbing stint, Emma fell in love with physical therapy and eventually chose Samford University for her undergraduate studies. “It was a lot of hard work to graduate from Samford, but it is my calling,” she says.

The motto for the Samford PT program is from 1 Peter 4:10. Emma lives that for her patients daily to “Use whatever gift you have received to serve others, faithful stewards of God’s grace.” 78