Finish Line Physical Therapy

Amazing experience from my first phone call inquiring about PT for my sprained ankle, and related health insurance questions, to the actual treatment. Friendly and effective!
Physical therapists Rachel and Amanda rock!

Well, turns out I did need them again… I ended up signing up for the 2013 NYC Marathon and went back for more care and it was like being reunited with old family. They had doubled in size since my last time there, but still great service. Brynn helped me through all the pain and bad form. She basically became my running coach, helping me plan my mileage, diet etc. Totally came through again and helped me and I was able to complete my first marathon pain-​free! Continue to highly recommend.

If it wasn’t for Brynn and the rest of FLPT staff, I wouldn’t have gotten through an injury and completed 22 races in 2015, almost all of them after May including 2 half marathons in a 24 hour period.
Let me rewind first. I’m not new to PT, I’ve had previous injuries in the past which I’ve worked with the traditional sports medicine/​PT facilities which have taken me through exercises, I’ve gotten better, but then they seem to come back with a vengeance. In early 2015 while training for the NYC Half with NYRR’s Team For Kids, I started experiencing some not so normal pain when running and after an injury prevention clinic for TFK, I decided to call to set up an appointment.
When I met Brynn, we did a detailed walkthrough of my history, my current physical pain points, and my racing goals. We took a detailed walking assessment (I couldn’t run without pain at that point) and Brynn was able to set a plan for my treatment.
While I had to defer my NYC Half as my tendinitis wasn’t healed enough by then, I continued to work with Brynn and the team at FLPT to go from tissue work to strengthening exercises. She even gave me stretches and exercises to do at home which are now part of my daily routine. Brynn kept a very close eye over my progress and any potential issues (shin splints, etc.) that would impact my running were dealt with.
This year they introduced strength training sessions which were intense but great as they were focused on runners.
For any athlete’s both recreational or advanced that are looking for a staff that is knowledgeable, helpful, and caring to ensuring the best success for your race goals, I can’t recommend this practice enough!

Not much to say here. Micheal Conlon and co. are magic. Go here if you need PT. Just do it. On top of being literally full of magic, they will also SUPER work with you and your insurance… great guys and gals all around

If it wasn’t for the awesome team at Finish Line and especially Raechel B., I wouldn’t have been able to complete the 2015 NY marathon. Thank you all for saving my race!
Finish Line came highly recommended by running teammates after I had some severe piriformas and low back pain. Raechel got me rehabbed and ready to run pain-​free in just over a month. Amazing.
The FL approach to therapy is comprehensive, I got: an in-​depth filmed Gait Analysis (Raechel talks you through frame-​by-​frame the strengths and weaknesses of your form so you understand how to self-​correct), soft tissue massage at the start of each appointment, stretches /​exercises and ‘take-​home’ exercises, and could use the fancy high-​fangled compression sleeves on really tight days.
One thing I really love about Finish Line is that they actually teach you about your form and mechanics in each appointment. That way they troubleshoot and alleviate your pain, and you leave armed with the know-​how to self correct your form so you don’t repeat the same pain-​inducing habits. (For context I’ve tried one other PT shop before, but they did not include soft tissue work or quite as much info beyond the prescribed exercises.)
FL is outside my insurance plan so I had to shoulder the cost. Not fun. But it was worth it because I got the results I needed in a time crunch and have left a much wiser, attuned runner.
Like most things, you get what you put in. I wasn’t shy about asking questions, relaying where the pain was and what it felt like, whether I did anything (dumb) to cause more pain, and I came out with the best possible result. Definitely recommend FL.

I am a big fan of everyone at Finish Line. They are both very professional and communicative. I have had various mobility issues over the last couple of years and I have gone to see Jason — and he is a miracle worker. After a couple of visits with Jason I feel like a new — much younger — man. I can’t speak highly enough of Jason and the Finish Line crew.

With a facility second to none, this is a premier spot to receive PT. Very supportive and incredibly knowledgable staff who bring a great energy to physical therapy. If you are a runner or an athlete, this is THE place to go if you need assistance with an injury. And with two locations in Manhattan, Finish Line makes it convenient to receive their high quality PT. Very convenient hours (open before and after typical work hours) and an on-​site shower as well. I highly recommend this place!

I can’t say enough about this place. It is amazing– I wish I could give them 7 stars. They have a great staff who pride themselves on customer service, your needs, and goals.
I am a runner who had ACL reconstruction surgery (skiing injury) on 2÷18÷15. I went to a Physical Therapy place by my apartment, and they were horrible. When visiting my doctor for a follow up, he informed me that I was terribly behind in rehab.
I quickly switch to Finish Line, and in half the time, they caught me up. When I started going to them about 4 weeks ago, I had about 80 degrees of flexion, I am now up to 125.
68 days post surgery, they had me on their Alter G treadmill. 30 minutes and 3.7 miles done with no issue.

This review is long overdue. I had just completed the 2014 NYC Half marathon, was continuing to train for the subsequent Brooklyn Half marathon and had decided to run the 2014 NYC Marathon when I started to develop mild pain in my right knee. I had encountered knee pain before that took me off the road for a couple of months so I decided to be proactive and address it right away. I came to Finish Line on the recommendation of my running coach and it was THE best decision! I had undergone PT before and always felt nervous about my sessions but there was something about the atmosphere at FL and the demeanor of my PT Brynn that put me at ease right away. She assured me that we would get my knee better, that I could continue to train AND that she would get me ready for the marathon and she delivered in every area. I even developed another overuse injury that threatened my ability to run the NYC Marathon and Brynn kept me calm, got me better and along with the Finish Line team came out to cheer me and other FL patients as we ran the marathon. They’re an awesome group and you can tell they love what they do!

I write this with reservations. I hate writing bad things about people, and when I brought my bad experience to Finish Line’s attention, one of the founders offered to see me for free and was excellent and helpful. I also don’t like whining. I just think the Finish Line founders and managers are pretty smart and can do better.
My main bad experience at Finish Line was with the physical therapist I was initially assigned. But I also had problems with the overall procedures, unhelpfulness and inattention of the staff in general.
I had two sessions with a PT here who didn’t seem to be paying close attention to the details of my condition. When I came in to the second session barely able to walk, he didn’t notice or ask me about it, and went right to work aggressively grinding at the most sensitive spot. At some point, after I repeatedly winced and gasped, he casually mentioned that he was surprised, since some other spot was the sensitive spot, right? He had forgotten where it was (of course, it had been a week) and hadn’t thought to refamiliarize himself before diving in.
He didn’t help me think through whether or not to run an upcoming marathon (!), and it was me who initiated the frank conversation about being realistic that I needed to recover and stop trying to train, while he just nodded. Then he walked away and left another PT whom I’d never met before to finish up, without any parting advice or instructions. I wasn’t even sure if the session was over until I saw him working with someone else.
I emailed Finish Line to describe this, and a founder or manager asked me to come in for a free make-​up session. She was excellent, and she frankly confirmed that the treatment the other PT had given me appeared to be irresponsible and damaging. For the record, because I see a similar name in another bad review and I feel it would be irresponsible of me not to warn people about medical damage, that initial PT’s name was Mike. Sorry, Mike, I’m sure you’re a decent person.
Additionally, it was a headache to get Finish Line to take responsibility for giving me one of those medical receipts reporting the work done that I could give to my insurance company. I realize I can be a pain about stuff like this, because I know that if some financial form gets backlogged, I can miss the chance to submit it properly and on time; that’s happened to me before. I think it happens to lots of people, but most people don’t really care. At any rate, it’s completely standard to produce these forms and provide them to patients. I’ve seen half a dozen PTs in my life and it’s never been an issue.
When they told me they wouldn’t give me one at the end of the session, I was fine with that, but asked them to send it to me when they were able to produce it. They said no. They insisted that I collect several of these across multiple sessions, and that I take responsibility for notifying them at some sufficiently future date (they refused to be more specific about when would be OK) that I wanted the forms, and that at that point, they would start to produce them and send them to me. Not awful, just kinda annoying to make the process have that extra step, and a bit of homework for me… I was worried I’d put it in my calendar and never do it, and never get reimbursed. I was also a little worried that if I wasn’t a patient anymore, they might not be in much of a rush to produce the forms when the future approved-​request dates came. (That sort of thing has also happened to me.) Later that day I emailed them to ask them to reconsider, and they agreed to reverse the policy just for me, and actually take responsibility for giving the forms to a patient. What an unnecessary pain! Life’s too short.
So in both situations, management’s intentions and customer service are good, but they’re not doing a good job instilling those values in their employees, and creating procedures that prevent stupid decisions, inattention, and damage.

I’ve never met friendlier people. It’s unsettling. The people there must love their jobs (I have no idea what that is like) or they drank some sort of kool-​aid (I say that with love) but they’re SO. DAMN. NICE. It’s like you’re not even in New York City anymore. This is what I imagine this type of facility in Vermont or Montana to be like. Nice people who smile and wave and know your name even though you’ve only been there once before.
Full disclosure — I’ve only used the Alter-​G treadmill here, unfortunately I got my PT done elsewhere (PT started before I found this place and the treadmill) but if I ever need PT again (and I hope that’s never) I’m coming here. I wasn’t even a current patient, just a treadmill user, and they still always offered up their help.
Yes — they specialize in runners. It makes no sense to me that they got a bad review because someone didn’t know they specialized in runners. Do your research.
«Taco Bell gets one star because they don’t have burgers…»
«Mark Twain’s books are terrible! Not a SINGLE sparkly vampire!»

The finish line facility is in a centralized location. You have to get buzzed I. To come in, but other than that no problems getting in. The place is spacious with some machines around and mirrors. The bathroom are located just outside the center which I found odd. The bathrooms were also dirty and it was early in the morning, which you would think they would be clean.
The receptionist was responsive and nice in person but short and not accommodating on the phone.
I was really looking forward to coming here since they are known to work with runners but to my surprise not once did anyone check my running form or did anything different than other PT’s I’ve been to before coming here. My PT, Michael, was very distracted the whole time I was with him, and seem to be more concerned with something going on the other side of the gym.
The way I was approached by the management at this gym felt like they were after the insurance money more than anything. I was very disappointed when this happened as I expected this place to be more concerned about the patients getting better than getting insurance money from them. I was extremely turned off by that. I can overlook other things as I understand we all have bad days, but if this is how the business is run I certainly don’t want to be part of it.
Also for anyone looking to schedule an appointment here, they will push you to book your next appointment, not because they want you to get better, but because they can charge you and your insurance if you are a no show. Be aware of their cancelation policies, so just book appointments you know you can keep. You have been warned.

Before I start, I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed the people at Finish Line. Everyone was super friendly and responsive. Employees knew my name and were extremely helpful if I needed something. The facility is clean and has a really warm feeling to it. They were also super considerate when it came to payment plans.
A friend referred me to Finish Line, but what she failed to mention was that this is a facility meant specifically for runners. To my own fault I didn’t put two and two together before signing up. Earlier this year I had a serious labrum/​SLAP tear in my shoulder that required surgery. My recovery, I’m sorry to say, has regressed simply because of the poor treatment I received at FL.
Since then, I’ve spoken with three other PT’s and my surgeon about my experience, and they all unanimously were in shock of the rehabilitation methods, physical aggressiveness and pace of my PT. The facility is not equipped to handle shoulder injuries. They lack equipment, experience and seemingly proper rehab techniques (stretching methods, mobility training, electro stim, etc.) for shoulders.
It hurts me to say all this because of how much I care for everyone there. But I developed severe tendonitis from the work I did and now have to start my training over in order to get back up to speed. If my shoulder doesn’t recover, I may need to get an MRI to see if it was re-​injured – a future I can’t even fathom thinking about.
Great for runners! But not so great for shoulders.

The staff here are super friendly and welcoming. They have been great at helping me combat both a plantar fasciitis and knee issues.

I came to Finish Line because I’ve had some minor lingering aches and pains since training for an Ironman over a year ago. Now training for another, I was motivated to work some of the kinks out because of an offer for a free Peak Performance Assessment.
Every ache, every pain, every concern I had, all of it was identified accurately based on one look at my treadmill run. Without paying a dime that day, Brynn sent me home with a series of stretches and exercises to start working on the issues immediately.
I decided to return for more sessions. They take my insurance, and the hour-​long sessions are well worth the money. This isn’t a «come in and do some rows on this machine» sort of physical therapy place; each visit comes with a series of questions about progress on each concern, and then hands on body work — something that is lacking in many other places I’ve been to in the past. With a combination of deep tissue massage, trigger point therapy, and active release therapy, I can feel the difference in a matter of minutes of being on the table.
There’s exercises too — don’t get me wrong — but the difference here is the attention to form and explanations of why we’re doing certain things. I will say there is a big difference between getting to do the exercises with my therapist versus having to do them with one of the assistants. The therapist was much more attentive to my form and helpful in making body corrections. The assistant just showed me the exercise to do and then helped someone else.
It’s a great facility as well. There’s an Alter-​G treadmill (I have not used but it looks cool! and expensive!!) in addition to every piece of equipment you may need.
I truly believe these people know what they’re talking about! There’s no judgment in talking about your mileage or pace. From serious athletes to weekend warriors, you can get fixed at Finish Line!

I did my research in Unilocal and found this wonderful place. I was 4 months post-​op of my tibial plateau fracture surgery, and needed some place close to my office. So glad I found here. Caroline is so patient and professional at listening to my problems and she is genuinely concerned about my recovery.
I love how you could use email to communicate with Andre, which is really helpful and efficient, unlike many other offices in the city that you have to call about everything. Also the owner has a dog Miles that comes here once in a while, super chill.

I came to FinishLine as a professional martial artist with minor knee pain and a knee issue that was really affecting my maximum performance. The issue was ongoing for longer than a year. I had been to orthopedists before to try and resolve the issue, but because my X-​rays were coming back clean and I could still exercise fairly normally, I felt I wasn’t being taken very seriously.
FinishLine was recommended and I went for an assessment. I really liked that they were willing to work with athletes to improve function — not just get them back on their feet and moderately pain free.
It was clear early on that the problem was atypical, so it took us a while to figure out what was going on and how to help it. My physical therapist was very patient and accommodating over the course of a couple months. He asked good questions and tried a lot things to get the right feedback and was willing to change his approach over and over again as we figured out what was and wasn’t working. I don’t think it was a lack of experience, just a weird issue that was difficult to assess because there wasn’t anything in particular that «hurt to do». I have to admit there was a little frustration on both sides at some points.
After a while, we arrived at a set of exercises that really improved my issue and I still incorporate the movements into my regular workout. I’d say the issue is 90% better after 2 months of PT and 2 months of work on my own, and I got the gains I wanted — sweet relief after more than a year of struggling with the problem. They offered maintenance visits if I ever feel I needed them.
I like the environment too; it feels more like a gym than the sterile environments I’m used to seeing at standard clinics. Everyone around the place is in a general good mood — none of that grumpy New York customer service crap. They all seem to be athletes too. They worked with my insurance as well to get the price reasonable.
The sessions are on the short side, but I actually got a really great workout in that time and they didn’t waste any time getting to work. Scheduling was pretty easy. I feel like there was a big emphasis on getting things figured out and teaching me the exercises so that I could then continue to work on my own at home. There was no drawing out the length of treatment, but I could schedule as many visits as I wanted.
Overall, great experience. I’d definitely go back for major and minor problems. Good to know they have no problem working with nagging issues rather than major injuries.

Simply put, this place is wonderful. The space/​facilities are beautiful and the services are top-​notch. Andre is a super helpful scheduler (front desk/​behind-​the-​scenes type) and Brynn is a FANTASTIC physical therapist. She’s really nice and knowledgeable. When she talks about the inner-​workings of your back or your knee, you can just tell she has a 3D understanding of all your bones, muscles, and tendons. I went in with knee problems from running, and now the pain is entirely gone. I have additional lower back pain, so I’m thinking about going back to Finish Line. Overall, I couldn’t recommend this place more highly.
PS. I am not an athlete at all. I’m just a person who wants to be able to work out. The staff was ever snotty about me being unathletic, even though they work with some serious runners.

I really wanted to love Finish Line — on the outside they had everything — AlterG so I could continue running while I rehab, a ton of great reviews from runners on Unilocal and running blogs, a running analysis system and so on. Finally, I thought, a physical therapy place geared to runners! I’d been to 4 other places in the city with no luck — no one knew how to treat my completely healed but still bothersome hip stress fractures.
Wow, was I wrong. At nearly $ 100 a session because they didn’t take my insurance, I worked with two different PTs, neither of whom ever assessed my running form. They spent a total of 3 – 5 minutes working on soft tissue issues with me when my effed up hip needed a lot more attention. Then gave me exercises that actually hurt more than helped my condition. I spent a max of 25 – 30 minutes at each session.
I gave it a fair try, but every time I went in they seemed far more interested in portraying their «brand» and in pleasing the running bloggers than actually helping someone heal from a serious injury. My poor therapist even expressed frustration that she could not spend more time with me due to the scheduling. I never received the «return to run» help I desperately needed. After 3 months of trying, I stopped going and continued my search for help, which I finally found at a chiropractors office who actually does real ART and soft tissue work for more than a few minutes.
I am now unable to heal in time for Boston in the spring. I wasted my money and time at Finish Line.

I’ve never had to go to a physical therapist before I injured my knee playing a casual game of football with friends, so I didn’t really know what to expect. My doctor gave me a really long list of recommendations — how was I supposed to figure out which ones were good? Even though Unilocal doesn’t have as many reviews of health care providers than I would like, I figured it would be better than nothing.
I found Finish Line Physical Therapy on Unilocal and decided to give it a shot since they seemed to specialize in treating runners. Sure I didn’t get my injury running and I’m only just getting into running but I figured while I’m in PT, I might be able to learn something about improving my form or learning other helping things. Also, it made Finish Line PT unique among your 100+ other generic physical therapy practices in NYC.
I was assigned to Danielle and throughout my physical therapy, she was extremely helpful and also flexible with her schedule. I feel like I’ve learned so much about my body and how it works!
While the actual physical therapist obviously plays a large part in whether you like your PT experience or not, having a great person to work through all the insurance/​admin stuff is also key. Andre was so easy to work with and was so flexible with handling my particular insurance situation. He’s not some old lady who doesn’t know how to use computers so I felt comfortable emailing him with any questions or schedule change requests, which was nice. Even if Finish Line PT doesn’t technically take your insurance, Andre will try to find a way to make it work, so try giving them a call anyways.
Finally, Finish Line PT gets a 5 star review from me because of their dog Miles. I think it’s cool that they have the dog hang out at the office — not all the time, so if you’re allergic or something, don’t be afraid that his hair is all over the place. Their facilities are spotless. But it’s a nice surprise when I do see him there.
If you’re looking for a PT and especially if you’re a runner, I strongly recommend you try out Finish Line PT.