Old Forum SF Bay Area - Physical Therapist Recommendation?

[jca17]

Hi,
I've made great progress with an SFG instructor Mike Sousa. Lately I've had to stop a few times with pain in my left shoulder area. It’s probably related to a near dislocation from 9 months ago (before I started kettlebell training). I saw a physical therapist back then and they had me to 3 sets of 10 isolation type exercises with elastic bands. I got my range of motion back, but still sometimes it doesn't feel quite right. Having studied a lot of stuff on my own out of interest, I’ve learned a lot from Gray Cook, and realize that stabilizers aren’t meant to be trained that way.

Basically I know enough from experience and from Gray’s stuff that not all PT’s are created equal. Does anyone have recommendations for a physical therapist in the San Francisco Bay Area that can help get my left shoulder functioning correctly? I’m thinking someone FMS and SFMS certified, and ideally someone really kettlebell/StrongFirst friendly like Gray himself is, since I have all the tools at home to work with kettlebell based rehab/correctional programs.

I’ve used the FMS site to see local FMS professionals, but it gives so many results and not a lot of detail about anyone. I've been screened before, and have 3's in both shoulder tests, and I've also been able to go long stretches without any problems following Mike Sousa's programming, but then a random daily tweak from moving something can stop me. I'm hoping once I can finally resolve this to get on S&S and build a fundamental base of strength and stability in that shoulder to learn more from Mike after.

Thank you to Mike if you're on these forums at all

Thanks!

 

[jkmahan14]

I would recommend Robert Gazso out of Diakadi in SF. He is not a physical therapist, but very skilled bodyworker. His is SFMA, ART, NKT, P-DTR and a few others.

http://www.diakadibody.com/-/bob-gazso-ms-nkt/

 

[crash123]

i believe Kelly Starrett is in San Fran

 

[jca17]

Thank you for the recommendations, jkmahan and Marchese.

I ended up finding SFG certified PT Ada Jauregui with SOL Physical Therapy in Oakland. She was able to fix my shoulder where many other PT's just left me with a bunch of seemingly useless exercises and continued pain. As a fan of Gray Cook, Pavel, Tim Anderson, Dan John, etc, it was very easy to relate to the exercises and instructions she gave. Definitely my top recommended PT, especially for those already familiar with the mindset of the community of health/fitness that appreciates movement patterns rather than isolation to regain function.

One of the gems that helped my shoulders was doing the halos extra slow and precisely in tall kneeling. Before, I was using a bit of momentum I think to jump over some muscles that weren't doing their job. I would feel and hear a "click" in the back of my neck each time. Going slowly with a lower weight really brought my shoulder back to life and would actually reduce the pain in my shoulder, rather than aggravate it, as exercise had been doing before.