Helping visionary performing artists & athletes get physical precision for their movement artistry

Move forward to more time with your teammates, taking care of yourself, and getting your best performance.

Performing Arts Physical Therapist,  Dr. Alisa Dangsupa

Every performer who has pushed their bodies past exhaustion knows this feeling when their bodies rebel- and say we can't do this anymore.   I'm Alisa Dangsupa, and I was the kind of performer who pushed every cell in my body until it stopped working. 

In 2014, I was hospitalized for 5 days for gastrointestinal failure at age 38.  I woke up one morning with severe abdominal pain.  I was shocked to see that my abdomen had distended as though I were 7 months pregnant.  Intense pressure across my pelvic floor compressed the nerves running to my lower body.  I  had to be transported to the hospital by ambulance because I had lost sensation in my feet. 

When I returned home from the hospital, I was very weak and could not move my body to do simple movements. I had lost a lot of muscle after being bedridden. I had to start moving by crawling and would fatigue after 5 feet before beginning to move again.   I was having to learn how to move again like a baby. 

It took me 6 months to restore my digestive system to health.   Since my digestive system was still weak and not optimally working, my muscular system was slow in receiving the nutrients needed to strengthen.

I realized that my body could not return to the intensive 80-hour work schedule I was used to carrying.  I saw how my non-stop work style gave me ulcers, cramps, and spasms, and eventually led to my digestion system shutting down and landing me in the hospital.  I saw this as a sign to push me to take better care of my mind, body, and spirit.

My diet before my hospitalization did not help my situation.  It consisted of red meat, poultry, dairy, seafood, vegetables, protein bars, shakes, and gas station snacks.  I also had long periods where I had to work through my meals, eat in the car, and wait until very late until my work was done before I had time to eat.  After listening to my dietician, and my gastroenterologist,  and educating myself on what I was eating, over 3 years, I graduated to eating regularly 5 meals a day.  This significantly changed my energy and quickened my recovery periods in between my physical rehab. 

Along with the changes in my diet, I also moved my lifestyle to one with less stress.  I was working as a physical therapist in a clinic while driving back and forth across Florida for work with professional athletic teams, and sometimes flying internationally with medical teams.  The time spent traveling and working took a toll on my mental and physical health.  I eventually started focusing my work here in Fort Myers, Florida, and I loved being close to home.

I took the lessons I learned from caring for professional athletes and performing artists, and put them towards my own movement company in 2019, Axis Movement.  I wanted to teach my clients how to get rid of their injuries.  I believe that often, we get the cream, the brace, the athletic tape, injections, adjustments, and surgery, with the hope that it will help keep us moving.

Until we find out what is causing us to get to this point in the first place, the posture we are sitting in, or the movement pattern we keep doing,  we end up covering up the symptoms.  We stop short of getting to the root of the problem, and it is only a matter of time before we feel the symptoms again.

I aim to get to the root of the movement or posture pattern that is causing the spasming, tightening, throbbing, grabbing, aching, slowing down, altering, and breakdown in our bodies.  Resetting, reinforcing, and reloading our movement patterns changes how we move. When we can change how we move, we can move well and can move the way we are being asked to move for several more rounds.

Movement is a process made from scratch like cooking in that there are no shortcuts for getting the timing and combination to produce fluidity, consistency, and texture.  Axis Movement takes you back to the movement level your injury stopped you at and builds you from non-weight bearing to standing progressions following the neuro-developmental order of how the movement was originally programmed into your body.

During my recovery, I developed stronger every year with the functional movement training and conditioning I was learning and doing with cross-fitters, dancers, yoga students, and martial artists.  I stopped the use of my medications and found that I was less sore and stiff from the way I used to train with fewer injury days.

I made it over 45 years old, and I still challenge myself with dance performances, WODs, and Ashtanga.  In my times backstage, onstage, on the field, and on the turf,  I have come back wiser, stronger, and healthier learning how to rehab performers as well as my injuries that I sustained from trying out new moves, landing on my joints hard, maxing out my muscles, breaking bones in my wrist and toes, putting incredible stress to my ligaments in my shoulder. hips, knees, and toes doing turns, jumps, partnering work, and more. 

One of the tough lessons for me to accept was how we advance our bodies in our 20's and 30's has to evolve into a healthier way going into our 40's, and 50's and a more mindful way if we are still wanting to go at it in our 60's and 70's.

My passion is combining physically challenging movements and artistry like other visionary artists like you.  Together we can build your body, grace, and confidence.