I’m a physician who came to Alvin Dike a month out of surgery for a torn labrum in my shoulder. I’d been getting PT at one of the more popular places in the city, but found that I was only getting 5-10 minutes with a therapist, and spent the rest of the time doing exercises on my own or with support staff, who weren’t able to manually work on increasing my range of motion. My surgeon told me that I was falling behind and that I was at risk of permanently losing mobility in my shoulder, so I started looking around. After telling Alvin my concerns (that I really needed hands-on mobilization while there and could do strength exercises on my own at home), he wasted no time and worked hard for the entirety of the sessions. This was a really painful process, but he was able to confidently distinguish between pain that was a necessary part of regaining mobility, and pain that would signify that damage was being done to the joint (which is what I was always worried about, as my surgeon colleagues don’t always spend much time educating patients on what to expect). He struck a good balance between knowing when to push me to work harder and knowing when to ease up, and after a few weeks, I was back on track (and eventually ahead of schedule). At this point, I can swim freestyle without limitations, and I can honestly say that this likely wouldn’t have been the case had I just stuck with the cheaper and more popular option. Overall, Alvin is hard-working, incredibly knowledgeable, and willing to adapt treatment plans to individual needs, and I would definitely recommend him to anyone who needs help recovering from an injury or surgery.
