It is with sincere gratitude that I join the chorus of praise in this review section for Cindy Liang, Director, and master physical therapist of Evolution Therapy at 925 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica. Sometimes life can bring a medical misfortune which seems insurmountable and demoralizing and then a healer shows up who will patiently and tirelessly restore you and guide you back to health. This is my story with Cindy.
Two years ago, when I was 73, I had a nasty fall on a staircase and tore the rotator cuff in my right shoulder. The pain and limited range of motion was very bad. I couldn't do simple everyday activities, couldn't even raise my arm above my head. The Orthopedic surgeon I went to proposed surgery, but I wanted to try physical therapy first, so she wrote a prescription and gave me a sheet with a list of PT facilities. I went to Yelp to see the reviews for the various places on the list. The many wonderful reviews about Cindy caught my attention so I made an appointment.
I am a complimentary health care professional and I have certain standards of performance that I hold myself and others to which are quite high. As such, from the very beginning I knew I was in the right place with the right person. The facility was very pleasant, very well organized and all staff members were very friendly and welcoming. This was not surprising to me in retrospect when I learned that Cindy was the Director.
As a practitioner myself, I always provide the people I treat a thorough overview of their condition and what the regimen will be moving forward. Accordingly, when I am the patient I ask a lot of questions, sometimes more than what a physician or provider is normally used to. Cindy took all of my inquiries in stride. Right off the bat she demonstrated that her expertise was comprehensive.
Cindy was extremely understanding of my desire to avoid surgery and said she would give it her best shot. She analyzed the image reports I presented to her and then showed me physiological diagrams of shoulders from all different perspectives so that I could understand exactly what the nature of the injury was. She explained the progression of the physical therapy healing process and outlined a positive course of action we would be following which would include hands on manual release of trigger points and then a series of exercises for me to do on my own. Baby step after baby step. This was the knowledge base I was looking for. I was home.
But the real revelation came when Cindy began working on my body. I have been around quite a while and over the years my body has been manipulated by all kinds of chiropractors, osteopaths, massage therapists, etc. I could feel in Cindy's touch that rare healing quality that a few practitioners have. I call it the gift. It's that intangible sense of relief when someone who really knows what they are doing carefully goes into the most painful area of the injury and then your whole body just begins to release, relax, and let go. It's an intuitive feeling, it's something... I don't know... it's the gift.
I began working with Cindy twice a week. I followed the exercise regimen faithfully - and slowly but surely I improved. After three or four months I was improving very much. So much so that I asked her if she could work on some painful conditions I had developed in my old age in my knees, low back, and neck. She said she could if my doctor diagnosed the issues and wrote prescriptions. I went back to my orthopedic surgeon who was so impressed with the results for my shoulder that she did so. Cindy then organized a methodical plan to address all of these issues one by one so that I could have an integrated approach to remedy them all.
I worked with Cindy for a year and a half, and the results have been amazing. I regained 95% of the range of motion in my shoulder without surgery. She has brought her gift to all of the chronic areas of discomforting limitations in my body and created a comprehensive physical therapy exercise regimen that I follow daily to mitigate and hold those issues in check. Across the board I emphatically give her the highest marks possible.
Apart from her professional expertise, Cindy is also a delightful person who has a wonderful sense of humor. She just radiates warmth, competence, and confidence. I see the way she interacts with her staff, and it is obvious that they all love her. As a bonus Cindy is also a pizza aficionado and will gleefully direct you where to get the best slices around. I am a New York Italian, and I must say she gets high marks in this arena, too. read more
