McKenna Gross
PT, DPT
McKenna Gross is a physical therapist who loves helping active people, especially pregnant and postpartum moms, get back to the movement and activities they love, pain free. She holds a degree in Psychology and earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy from the University of Iowa.
Running is what led McKenna to physical therapy. As a college track and cross country athlete, she dealt with several injuries and did her own rehab with a physical therapist right here in Dubuque.
Getting back on the course showed her how powerful movement can be for healing, and she knew she wanted to help others do the same. McKenna started her career in orthopedics, spending two years at an outpatient clinic in Cedar Rapids treating everything from general aches and pains to vertigo to post‒surgical recovery. After the birth of her son, she rehabbed her own diastasis recti, and that experience gave her a new passion for pelvic health. Today she loves teaching moms, before and after birth, what “normal” should really feel like. At Nurtiva, McKenna is especially passionate about return to activity, postpartum pelvic pain and diastasis recti, and helping moms return to running after baby. She is SFMA (Selective Functional Movement Assessment) certified and is continuing her training in pelvic health and dry needling. Her treatment style is fun and challenging: she makes every session welcoming, but expect to break a sweat! Above all, she wants every patient to feel heard and to leave with answers, not more questions. McKenna was drawn to Nurtiva by its culture. From the moment she walked in, it felt like home: a place to heal, and a team that pushes her to grow as a clinician every day. Outside of work, McKenna is an avid runner who completed ultramarathons before her son was born, the longest being 63 miles! She is now healing her own pelvic floor and working her way back into running. When she’s not at the clinic, her son is usually on her hip.
Getting back on the course showed her how powerful movement can be for healing, and she knew she wanted to help others do the same. McKenna started her career in orthopedics, spending two years at an outpatient clinic in Cedar Rapids treating everything from general aches and pains to vertigo to post‒surgical recovery. After the birth of her son, she rehabbed her own diastasis recti, and that experience gave her a new passion for pelvic health. Today she loves teaching moms, before and after birth, what “normal” should really feel like. At Nurtiva, McKenna is especially passionate about return to activity, postpartum pelvic pain and diastasis recti, and helping moms return to running after baby. She is SFMA (Selective Functional Movement Assessment) certified and is continuing her training in pelvic health and dry needling. Her treatment style is fun and challenging: she makes every session welcoming, but expect to break a sweat! Above all, she wants every patient to feel heard and to leave with answers, not more questions. McKenna was drawn to Nurtiva by its culture. From the moment she walked in, it felt like home: a place to heal, and a team that pushes her to grow as a clinician every day. Outside of work, McKenna is an avid runner who completed ultramarathons before her son was born, the longest being 63 miles! She is now healing her own pelvic floor and working her way back into running. When she’s not at the clinic, her son is usually on her hip.
