Reimagining Physical Therapy with Dr. Ray Waters

Reimagining Physical Therapy with Dr. Ray Waters

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All right, welcome back to the Daily Mastermind, George Wright III with your daily dose of inspiration, motivation, and education. And we're gonna get down into some peak performance today. I'm really excited to have Dr. Ray Waters in the house. How you doing Ray?

Doing great. Doing great. Really excited to be here.

George, can I call you Ray? You can, I would love for you to call me Ray.

You're an expert at what you do. I'm gonna give some background here, and you guys are gonna be pretty excited because we're gonna be covering everything from professional athletes and athletic training.

Let's give a little intro here. Dr. Ray Waters is a world-class orthopedic physical therapist, and I'm gonna talk about a lot of different things today. He's helping people move better, reduce pain, and specializes in treatment for both performance and rehab. He's had experience treating Division I athletes, weekend warriors, desk workers, and even post-surgical patients.

And he's got a lot of experience. He's very good at teaching, educating. He loves one-on-one care and works a lot with overhead athletes—especially baseball players and people who throw—but it extends to many different sports. So you have a really amazing background, and I was just amazed by how knowledgeable you are in everything.

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Dr. Ray Waters' Background and Inspiration

So maybe you could start by just giving everybody a little bit of a background. What inspired you to get into and start your business, Prevent Restore Physical Therapy? How did you get into that whole arena?

Thanks for such a glowing welcome. I've been very fortunate to know what I wanted to do for a living. From a young age, I’ve always been into health, wellness, performance training, and strength and conditioning. I was drawn to both science and healthcare, and that guided me.

But to give you the honest answer, physical therapy is powerful. It's really rewarding to be able to help someone and provide a different alternative to pain management.

To be vulnerable for a second, it hits close to home. My mother had several injuries, and since I was too young to stay home alone, she would take me to her physical therapy appointments. I saw this therapist running sessions out of a gym with bands and trampolines, and I thought, “Does this guy play for a living?” It looked incredible.

What I didn’t realize at the time was how much schooling went into becoming a physical therapist. But what struck me was how much PT helped my mother. She also had substance abuse struggles, and physical therapy became a way for her to reduce reliance on opioids, narcotics, and muscle relaxers. That was powerful to witness.

I saw PT as a hand reaching out to her, helping her take control of her life. That inspired me to dedicate myself to this career. I never wanted to prescribe medication—I wanted to prescribe movement, strength, and stability. That’s how I became a physical therapist.

Because if you think about it, those are vulnerable moments, right? You’ve got an injury, you’re post-surgery, or maybe you’re just dealing with pain that affects everything in your life. And this is why I wanted to really have this conversation with you today: you have a passion for it.

A lot of people go into it for prestige or money, but you came into it with a real-life story. You saw firsthand how powerful the results could be. And not only did you get passionate about it, you went deep—you have some amazing certifications.

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Certifications and Specializations

Maybe just real quick, help me to understand so that our listeners know your background, these certifications that you have. So I understand what it is that you’ve gone down and learned and trained and studied around.

Sure. Education-wise, I went through undergrad and PT school, but the certifications are what add the extra depth. For example, the CSCS certification—that’s the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. What that allows me to do is not just operate as a physical therapist, but also as a strength and conditioning coach.

Now, I don’t necessarily work as a traditional coach, but I do a lot of personal training with my clients. Having that knowledge allows me to treat patients from both a rehab and performance perspective. Traditional rehab focuses on basic exercises—three sets of 10 or 12, stability work, and getting you out of pain. But performance training goes beyond that.

That certification lets me push the envelope. Once I’ve helped you out of pain, I can help you work on explosiveness, strength development, and power—things that insurance doesn’t usually cover, but which make the biggest difference for athletes and high performers.

Unfortunately, in the traditional insurance model, you might go from being in pain to feeling “okay,” but once you’re out of enough pain, insurance stops covering your therapy. I’ve seen this happen so many times. Patients tell me: “I’m not in pain anymore, but I still can’t play tennis or baseball at full strength.” That’s why I left that system.

At Prevent and Restore, I can give people the one-on-one attention they deserve and help them bridge the gap between rehab and high performance.

That’s huge on the certifications. Because what you’re saying—and this is a core element—is that you’re not just focused on rehab. I tore my right bicep a while back and had some shoulder injuries. Having someone like you who not only understands injury rehab but also the strength and conditioning side is critical. It’s not just “get out of pain,” but also “get back to full capacity.”

So let’s shift gears. When you started your business—and keep in mind a lot of our listeners are entrepreneurs—was it more than you thought it was going to be? You had this passion for physical therapy, but now you’ve got to run a business. What challenges did you face?

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Starting a Business in Physical Therapy

That’s a great question—and honestly one that keeps a lot of us up at night. There were times I wondered, “What am I doing?” I went from just being a PT to running a business, and the transition was overwhelming.

The biggest surprise was how much time and energy I spent on things that didn’t directly generate revenue. That can be discouraging if you’re not prepared for it. But it all comes down to perspective.

I love the book The E-Myth Revisited—I recommend it to anyone starting a business. It breaks down the reality that as a business owner, you wear three hats:

1. The Technician – doing the work itself (in my case, physical therapy).
2. The Manager – analyzing past results, figuring out what’s working, what’s not, and refining processes.
3. The Entrepreneur – forward-looking, creating, innovating, building relationships, and identifying opportunities.

I knew how to be the technician—that part was easy. But learning to step into the roles of manager and entrepreneur required a whole different mindset.

Exactly. And that’s the reason so many businesses fail. People go in for passion, but they underestimate the “heavy lifting” required in managing and growing the business. They get distracted or discouraged, and their passion alone isn’t enough.

So let me ask you this: One of the reasons I wanted to interview you is because you’ve adopted a one-on-one approach to patient care. That’s different from the high-volume, business-focused model many people choose. Why did you decide to go with the personalized route, even though it might not be as scalable?

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The Importance of One-on-One Patient Care

I could talk all day about this. The main reason I chose the one-on-one model is simple: patient care.

Physical therapy is meant to be delivered in a personal, focused way. But in the corporate setting, that wasn’t happening. I’ll never forget one of the worst days of my career before starting my own practice.

I was scheduled with three patients in a single hour:

• One had a reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (a complete shoulder replacement).
• Another had an anterior cervical fusion (vertebrae fused together in the neck).
• The third was a workers’ compensation case—a man with a broken ankle. He didn’t speak English, and no translator was provided.

Each one of these patients deserved my full, undivided attention. But instead, I was bouncing between all three, unable to properly treat them. I’ll never forget the frustration of that day. That was the turning point—the “entrepreneurial seizure” moment from The E-Myth Revisited.

I went to management afterward and told them: “I wasn’t set up for success. I couldn’t deliver what my patients needed.” That experience made it crystal clear: if I wanted to provide care I could be proud of, I had to create my own model.

What made you finally decide to make the leap? Was it that one experience, or had you been thinking about leaving for a while?

I’d been thinking about it for some time. Honestly, I never envisioned myself running a business when I was in PT school. I just wanted to treat patients. But after years in the corporate world, I hit a breaking point.

The constant pressure to do more with less, the lack of appreciation—it wore me down. I’ll give you an example: on my three-year anniversary at the corporate clinic, my manager gave me three bags of gas station almonds. One for each year. That was my “thank you” for never missing a day of work.

That was the final straw. I realized I wasn’t being rewarded, I wasn’t being allowed to do the job patients deserved, and I was burning out. Worse, I was afraid I would start to resent the profession I loved. That fear motivated me to make a change.

I was fortunate to receive mentorship in private practice, and I quickly saw that I could not only deliver better results but also make a sustainable living doing it. That’s when I knew—this is the way forward.

That’s such an important lesson. So many professionals know deep down they’re not being fulfilled, but they don’t make the leap. The best life you can create is always outside your comfort zone. By taking the leap, you gave yourself the chance to truly serve patients the way you knew you could.

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Specializing in Athletic Performance

I want to pivot now into specialization. You decided to stay focused on one-on-one, personalized treatment—even though it might not be scalable in the short term. And then you took it one step further, diving into specialization with athletes. In particular, overhead athletes like baseball players. Can you talk about why you chose that path and why you’re so passionate about it?

My passion for athletes goes back to my teenage years. I couldn’t put a ball down—I was always dribbling a basketball, swinging a baseball bat, hitting a tennis ball, or playing golf. I just love sports.

When I became a physical therapist, I found I connected deeply with athletic patients. They’re motivated, disciplined, and laser-focused on recovery. They take what I say seriously because they have real skin in the game—they want to get back to competing.

Baseball in particular has always been close to my heart. Growing up in Marietta, Georgia—one of the biggest hotbeds for youth baseball in the country—I was surrounded by it. Shoulder rehab quickly became one of my favorite specialties.

Treating rotational and overhead athletes is very different from treating someone with, say, low back pain. Their demands are unique, and their injuries are highly specific. That challenge excites me, and I love helping them get back to the sport they love.

That’s fascinating. And I was surprised to learn how common shoulder injuries are in baseball and similar sports. Why do you think there’s such a high prevalence of shoulder injuries in overhead athletes?

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Why Shoulder Injuries Are So Common in Overhead Athletes

If I had to give one main reason, it’s this: the shoulder isn’t designed for heavy overhead loading.

The shoulder joint has the greatest range of motion in the body, but it wasn’t built to repeatedly throw or load overhead at high intensity. That constant stress causes breakdown.

I’ve had conversations with colleagues like Dr. Will Bird, physical therapist for the Colorado Rockies, and Dr. Steli at WellStar, and we all agree—the overhead throwing motion is the core issue. For example, softball pitchers don’t get injured nearly as often. Why? Because they throw underhand, which is a far safer motion for the shoulder.

In baseball, it’s the opposite. Players throw overhead exclusively, and that motion is tough on the joint. Add in year-round play, no rest periods, and underdeveloped joint strength in young athletes, and it’s a recipe for injury.

Another factor is mechanics. Many young pitchers lack proper shoulder blade control and endurance. Combine that with excessive pitch counts and overuse—like when the best pitcher is also asked to play catcher—and their shoulders simply can’t keep up with the demand.

That makes sense. And this ties into your comprehensive approach. You’ve mentioned before that you don’t just focus on post-injury treatment—you look at prevention, rehab, and peak performance. Do you really take all of that into account when working with athletes?

Absolutely. That’s why I named my practice Prevent and Restore.

• Prevent: Pre-injury strategies like strength programs, functional movement screenings, and mechanics training.
• Restore: Post-injury rehab—getting athletes back to full strength and performance.

I work with athletes across all stages. For example, I design custom strength and conditioning programs for high school teams, write return-to-throwing protocols for pitchers, and lead functional movement screenings in gyms and yoga studios.

In an ideal world, my time is split evenly between prevention and rehab. But realistically, I spend most of my time in the restorative phase because that’s when patients finally seek help. Still, I push prevention as much as possible—it saves athletes time, pain, and money in the long run.

And that’s such an important lesson for everyone listening. We live in a treatment-focused culture, but prevention is the smarter play. Prevention is cheaper, more effective, and it extends your longevity in sports—and in life.

But let’s shift gears a little. Most of our listeners aren’t athletes; they’re professionals, executives, entrepreneurs. They may not realize it, but their desk jobs are creating just as many physical problems as sports injuries. Can you talk about your passion for helping “desk athletes”?

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The Impact of Poor Ergonomics After COVID

Absolutely. My interest in working with desk professionals really grew after COVID.

During lockdown, people were suddenly working from home without proper ergonomic setups. I heard horror stories—people sitting on barstools at kitchen counters, or hunched over laptops on their couches for 8–10 hours a day.

The result? A huge spike in neck pain, back pain, and headaches. I can’t overstate the increase I saw in my clinic after COVID—it was dramatic. And it wasn’t because of the virus, it was because people’s bodies weren’t designed to sit that way for so long.

If you look at a skeleton, you can clearly see it’s made to move. Sitting for hours strains the spine, loads the neck, and pulls the shoulders forward. It’s no wonder people started breaking down.

That’s when I began running corporate workshops, teaching preventative strategies for desk workers—things like micro-breaks, posture resets, and mobility drills. These small adjustments can make a massive difference in long-term health.

That’s a key point. Most professionals don’t realize their body is their vehicle for performance—both in business and life. They invest in their business, they invest in their wealth, but they don’t invest in their health. And the long-term cost of ignoring prevention is far greater.

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Strategies for Maintaining Health at the Desk

Let’s talk about that for a second. A lot of people think, “It’s just my job, I sit at a desk all day. It’s what I have to do.” What can they actually do to maintain their health, even if sitting is unavoidable?

There are three main areas I always address with desk workers:

1. Thoracic Spine Mobility – The middle of your back is crucial. If it’s stiff, the neck and lower back end up absorbing the stress. Foam rolling and extension drills can make a huge difference.
2. Deep Neck Flexors – These muscles hold your head up. Without endurance here, your neck collapses forward and strains everything else.
3. Shoulder Blade & Girdle Strength – Strong shoulders stabilize the upper body and reduce the load on the neck.

Here’s the scary part: for every inch your head moves forward past your shoulders, you add 10–12 pounds of pressure to your neck. So a head that should weigh around 12 pounds can effectively become 50 or 60 pounds just from bad posture.

To demonstrate this, I sometimes have patients hold a dumbbell at their side, then extend it straight out. It’s the same five pounds, but the farther away it gets, the heavier it feels. That’s exactly what’s happening to your neck and spine when you slouch forward over a desk.

So my suggestions are:

• Use a foam roller daily for thoracic spine mobility.
• Take micro-breaks every 30–60 minutes to reset posture and move.
• Build endurance in the neck and upper back with simple strengthening exercises (ideally taught by a professional).

It doesn’t have to be complicated. Small, consistent habits go a long way toward protecting your spine.

That’s such a powerful point. Most people think their headaches, neck tension, or back pain are just stress-related. But in reality, they’re literally loading their body with bad posture and movement patterns. And by the time they notice the pain, it’s already too late.

Exactly. That’s the danger. Most people wait until the pain is unbearable before seeking help. But by then, the tissue is already strained or damaged.

For example, I had a patient who came in with calf pain. She’d been feeling tightness for six weeks, ignored it, and eventually ended up with a significant calf strain. Her body had been signaling her for weeks that something was off, but she didn’t act until it became a full injury.

That’s why I encourage people to seek professional evaluations early. Even movement experts like myself still see other PTs and chiropractors quarterly. Why? Because none of us truly know how we move without outside feedback. A professional can catch issues long before they turn into injuries.

And that’s such a critical reminder for entrepreneurs and executives. We’ll hire coaches for business or mentors for wealth building, but we rarely invest in coaches for our health. Yet our health is the foundation of everything else.

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The Role of Thoracic Spine Mobility

Thoracic spine mobility is one of the biggest keys to preventing injury—whether you’re an athlete or a desk worker.

Think of it this way: your body distributes stress like money. If one area of the body can’t “pay its share” of the load, that stress gets transferred elsewhere. The problem is, the other area often isn’t built to handle it, so it breaks down.

If the middle of your back isn’t moving, your neck or lower back will pick up the slack—and that’s when pain and injuries happen. That’s why I focus on thoracic mobility with every single patient. It’s the easiest and safest area to train, and it pays huge dividends in overall movement and performance.

I love that. And this is exactly why I wanted you on the podcast. At The Daily Mastermind, we talk a lot about mindset, money, and business—but your body underpins all of that. If you don’t have your health, you don’t have your wealth.

Awareness is the first step, prevention is the next, and then of course rehab and peak performance come into play. But it all starts with being conscious of how your body is moving.

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Final Thoughts and Professional Advice

So before we wrap up, are there any last tips or strategies you’d like to leave our audience with—whether they’re struggling with an injury or just dealing with pain?

Go get help. Seriously—your body is trying to tell you something long before the pain gets unbearable. By the time your hamstring cramps from sitting all day, you’ve already been seated too long. By the time you feel neck tension, headaches, or calf tightness, the imbalance has already been there for weeks.

That’s why I always say: don’t wait. Physical therapy isn’t just about rehab, it’s about identifying movement issues early so they don’t snowball into injuries. Even I, as a movement expert, still see a PT regularly and occasionally a chiropractor. We all need objective feedback—because no one truly knows how they move until a professional evaluates them.

Investing in expert eyes now saves you from months of pain, lost productivity, or worse.

I love that you said that. As entrepreneurs, executives, and high performers, we’re so quick to invest in business mentors and financial coaches. But when it comes to health—the very thing that fuels everything else—we hesitate. Yet having a coach for your health is just as important as having a coach for your wealth.

Exactly. And it doesn’t matter if you’re an athlete looking to return to sport, or a professional trying to eliminate desk pain. Preventing injuries, restoring movement, and pushing performance are all connected.

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Connect with Dr. Ray Waters

What’s the best way for people to connect with you if they want to learn more or work with you?

The easiest way is through my website: www.preventandrestorept.com. You’ll find landing pages there where you can submit your information. I’ll personally reach out within 24 hours.

I also run ads on Google and Facebook—so if you see them, give them a like or share. But the best place to start is my site.

Perfect. I’ll make sure your website and social handles are in the show notes. And I just want to emphasize—whether you’re in Georgia or anywhere else—connect with Dr. Ray Waters. His expertise in shoulder rehab, athletic performance, and preventative physical therapy can benefit anyone—athlete or executive alike.

Thank you again for joining us today, Ray. I wish we had more time, but I know we’ll have to bring you back for some deep-dive episodes. For everyone listening, remember this: it’s never too late to start creating the life you’re meant to live. But you have to take action.

Thanks for being here with us today. This is George Wright III with Dr. Ray Waters, and we’ll talk to you again soon.

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About George Wright III:

George Wright is a Proven, Successful Entrepreneur- and he knows how to inspire entrepreneurs, companies, and individuals to achieve Massive Results. With more than 20 years of Executive Management experience and 25 years of Direct Marketing and Sales experience, George is responsible for starting and building several successful multimillion-dollar companies. He started at a very young age to network and build his experience and knowledge of what it takes to become a driven and well-known entrepreneur. George built a multi-million-dollar seminar business, promoting some of the biggest stars and brands in the world. He has accelerated the success and cash flow in each of his ventures through his network of resources and results driven strategies. George is now dedicated to teaching and sharing his Prosperity Principles and Strategies to every Driven and Passionate Entrepreneur he meets. His mission is to Empower Entrepreneurs Globally to create Massive Change and LIVE their Ultimate Destiny.

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About the Guest: Dr. Ray Waters

Dr. Ray Waters is highly credentialed, holding certifications in Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), Functional Movement Screening (FMS), and Certified Ergonomic Assessment Specialist (CEAS). His CSCS certification uniquely equips him to design Advanced strength and performance programs, allowing patients to progress beyond traditional physical therapy and achieve their highest potential. He has also trained in advanced manual techniques, including the Stecco Fascial Manipulation method, and is certified in dry needling to further optimize recovery and reduce pain. With extensive experience treating Division I athletes, weekend warriors, desk workers, and post-surgical patients, Dr. Ray has developed a particular expertise in working with overhead athletes, especially baseball players and throwers. He is dedicated to providing one-on-one, personalized treatment plans that restore movement, improve performance, and keep athletes competing at their best.

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Guest Resources

Website: www.preventandrestorept.com

Location: Marietta, GA

Phone: 404-907-2734

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