Biography
Stephanie Goggin, M.D., D.P.T., is a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist and a member of MyMichigan Health’s comprehensive musculoskeletal team.
Dr. Goggin began her medical career as a physical therapist, with a focus on inpatient rehabilitation. In this role she enjoyed helping patients return to their most independent, functional and meaningful lives. “While I had a great passion for therapy, I wanted to expand my education and have ‘more tools in my toolbox’ to help my patients,” she said. “Physical medicine and rehabilitation is the perfect specialty to allow me to utilize my physical therapy background while being able to impact my patients’ medical care as well.”
Philosophy of Care
“My philosophy in medicine is to excel at what you do the most, know when you need to ask for help, and never stop learning,” said Dr. Goggin. “I also firmly believe that more testing/more medication is not always better in medicine. I aim to find the right treatments and course of care for each individual patient – sometimes less is more.”
She works hard to build relationships with her patients based on trust and comfort. “I want my patients to know that I have their best, long-term interests at heart,” she added. “Undoubtedly, the best part of my job is helping critically ill patients get home and get healthy after their acute hospital stay. Every patient our team can help get directly home from the hospital is a victory.”
Dr. Goggin’s previous work in physical therapy gives her a unique background that broadens her perspective and helps her truly fine tune the care she provides to each of her patients. “My broad experience with different phases of the rehabilitation process has left me exceptionally passionate for this particular type of medicine,” she said. “This translates directly to my dedication to forging personalized relationships with my patients and health care team to deliver extraordinary patient care.”
Special Interests and Procedures
As a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician, Dr. Goggin treats a wide variety of medical conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord, nerves, bones, joints, ligaments, muscles and tendons. Her special interests include electromyography (EMG), ultrasound-guided joint injections, and botox/ spasticity management. “I am particularly interested in EMG as it gives objective evidence related to nerve and muscle health,” she added. “I specifically find it exciting when I can use the findings of EMG to save a patient from an unnecessary surgery, or recommend a surgical opinion when it is appropriate and can prevent long term consequences.”
Dr. Goggin was born and raised in Alma and is eager to return to the town and community that supported her so much over the years. In her free-time, she enjoys traveling and has been fortunate to visit more than 30 countries, many with her mom. She also loves fitness, including running and Crossfit, and plans to teach Zumba locally. “Combine all of this with my lifelong love of Disney and you can find me and my brother doing at least one runDisney event per year,” she added. “The rest of my free-time goes to my two golden retrievers, Skelli and Zimmi.”
