How We Practice
Your therapist’s full attention
Whether you’re new to physical therapy or have been through it before, we start in the same place: figuring out why the problem developed. If you’ve already tried physical therapy and it didn’t work, you’re not alone. Sometimes the underlying problem wasn’t fully identified, or the treatment simply wasn’t the right fit for your particular case.
How this differs from what you may have tried
What patients tell us is remarkably consistent: their previous experience meant a few minutes with the therapist, then a set of exercises “under supervision” while the next patient arrived. Many leave feeling like a number in a crowded room, doing exercises they could have done alone.
That’s what happens when a practice is built around volume.
We built ours around the therapist.
Physical therapy is a skilled clinical craft: understanding why your problem is there, knowing what to do about it, and having the experience and manual skill to treat it. That is the work the therapist you booked does here, for the entire session, every visit, with no aides and no hand-offs.
“He focuses on my particular problem and won’t stop until he locates the source and fixes it.”
— Alice K., Yelp review
What we don’t lean on
We don’t lean on modalities. Electrical stimulation, ultrasound and shockwave each have their place, and when there’s a specific reason to use one, we do. But they’re an addition to hands-on care, never a substitute for it.
How your care unfolds
A full hour, and you’ll be heard. Your first visit is a real evaluation, not a screening. We listen closely to how the problem began, how it behaves and how you live with it, and we fold in your diagnostics and medical reports. Time is the one thing modern healthcare rarely gives you. We give you an hour. Follow-up visits are 30–45 minutes.
We look beyond the sore spot. The body works as a system. How you move, how you hold yourself, and how the areas around an injury are functioning can all contribute to the problem. We want to understand those connections before we start loading the body with exercise.
Then we assess the tissue itself. This is where experience matters. Touch is a skill, and it takes years of practice to develop the tactile sensitivity to feel what a scan or strength test might not reveal. We look for soft-tissue adhesions, thickened scar tissue, misalignments and joints that have stopped gliding the way they should, and we treat them manually, working to restore efficient movement. Manual therapy is the center of how we work. Each of us has spent more than thirty years refining that skill.
We build you back up. Strengthening is key to building resilience, but placing stress on faulty mechanics can sometimes prolong recovery, if not make things worse.
So we address the movement problem first, then build your baseline mobility and strength, with exercises chosen for your body and your life, not pulled from a generic program.
You won’t just know what we’re doing. You’ll know why we’re doing it. We don’t believe you should have to blindly trust your therapist. From the first visit, we explain what we find in plain language, and we welcome your questions.
Most people were never taught the basics: posture, body mechanics, ergonomics, how injuries happen and heal, and how everyday stresses affect the body. We teach you, so you know how to stay strong and mobile. When the next fitness trend comes along, you can tell whether it’s right for your body, and you know it isn’t a substitute for maintaining your baseline.
Maintaining that baseline is what Mary Chan’s Baseline Body classes are built for, and massage with Maria Santoro supports muscle health and mobility.
Your first visit
- What to wear. Shoulder or neck: a loose T-shirt or a sports bra. Knee or ankle: shorts. Back or hip: loose gym shorts (an elastic waist helps).
- What to bring. Your photo ID, and your Medicare card if you have Medicare. Please, no food or beverages.
- Paperwork. You can fill it out online before you come: Finish your paperwork.
- Getting here. We’re at 19 West 21st Street, Suite 404. Take the elevator to the 4th floor, and arrive 5–10 minutes before your appointment.
- By subway. The R W and F M trains are close by, and the 6 and 1 are about a 10-minute walk. From Union Square (4 5 6 L N Q R W) it’s a 10–15 minute walk.
- Parking. There are garages nearby: Ladies Lane Parking and 155 West 21st Street, and there is metered parking on 5th Avenue.
- If you need to cancel. Please give us 24 hours’ notice. Late cancellations are $75.
