STAR Physical & Occupational Therapy

Excellent staff who really know what they are doing and always teaching each other and furthering their professional knowledge. I have been to several PTs and STAR is the the most professional and knowledgeable.

Unfortunately, I’ve spent a lot of time in P.T. for herniated discs/​pinched nerves. I’ve been to a few places in the city and Star P.T. is by far the best. Their therapists really know what they’re doing and most importantly-they’re VERY attentive.
Too many P.T. places in the city are basically mills where you meet your therapist briefly and then they offload all the manual work to an assistant. Star is the only place I“ve been to where you get plenty of attention from and work exclusively with the therapist. Their facilities are top-​notch and everyone’s also really nice to boot!

Been w/​Danielle and the OT team @ STAR for many years now. Also worked with one of the owners and a top PT person there during my years of sports and injuries. Like all professional places and services business’s, there are issues, but they proactively look to work them out and continue to improve when they happen. They are caring, real and do try to make my experience a good one. I love the OT staff, Danielle and her team are top-​notch, and the current staff up-​front, is very personable and sweet and helpful. Sure, it’s busy, and its NYC, but this is and has been one of the top OT/​PT — rehab places to go in NYC for years now. I’ve been to a few and I always go back to STAR for expert — professional treatment. A little kindness goes a long-​way here, as well as engagement. Great team!

Star Physical Therapy has the best service in the entire city. I highly recommend it to anyone!

Very disorganized administratively and consistently overcharges without coordination with insurance companies.
The physical therapy service is superb in contrast to the poor financial record keeping.

It’s a big, impressive place but once I started therapy I realized it’s a high-​volume, low-​quality factory. My therapist often had three patients at the same time. There’s no way that leads to quality care and when you’re recovering from an injury, time-​spent and attention to detail is key. My therapist was nice enough but had too much to juggle. I’ll take a smaller, quieter place any day.

I have been going to Star PT since last winter and have Mike Mancuso as a therapist. Mike is very helpful and allows me to do as many exercises as I can endure in a session. I highly recommend both him and Irene, who has also helped me on occasion when Mike was out on surgery. Sometimes they are busy and there is definitely less time per patient spent on those days, however, overall the staff genuinely cares and is very well trained. I have been to several other therapy places and Star PT is by far the most professional and has the right equipment to do the exercises for whatever the injury. The desk staff is friendly and is very accommodating to sudden schedule changes. I highly recommend Star but I do suggest trying to be there in the least busy times so you can have more personal attention.

I have been a patient at STAR for over 7 years, but just recently, post-​knee replacement surgery and some unexpected struggles, I have learned just how lucky I am to be under their care! Ben and Brittany came up with a plan when I was faced with the potential of another procedure and supported me through countless hours, many tears and incredible pain. Their guidance and treatment allowed me to not need that procedure. They have been there every step of the way and have been so attentive, sensitive and caring to make my hard work so much easier! They allowed me to spend a ridiculous amount of time there trying to do everything I possibly could to achieve the flexibility I needed. The entire team there embraced me on this journey — from the therapists to the aids to the front desk, I started to feel part of the family there. It is a family on many levels, which is really important during difficult times! Brittany’s warmth, persistence and compassion are so appreciated — I wouldn’t be where I am today without her. Ben is one of the owners and didn’t treat me directly but stayed involved with some very important input so I am grateful to both Brittany and Ben and know that I will be a patient there for many years to come as I face other surgeries. The facility is well maintained and has very good equipment, but it is the people there that make the difference. Physical Therapy is so critical to recovery from joint replacement, which is why I recommend STAR to anyone needing PT whether it is to avoid surgery or post-​surgery! Since I have spent so much time there I have come to know many patients and it is actually fun to be there, despite the pain and hard work. THANK YOU STAR for all you have done and for what I know you will continue to do for me!

Keith is a Rockstar! After an accident, most of my body was wrecked, but nothing surgery could really help me with. Thanks to him and this facility, I am now active and able to do much more. On the flip side, this somehow makes me think i’m invincible and I actively push myself harder. Couple that with being naturally clumsy (it was the parked car’s fault, I swear), I come back to visit Keith for his help. In general, the staff has always been helpful and easy to talk to, so you’ll be in good hands.

The owner followed up with me and resolved the issue. He was very nice and I appreciate the goodwill that was extended to me.
Thanks

My PT was one of the co-​owners. He was very good with ART and and scar tissue release. The rest of the PT was unexceptional, but I kept returning for the scar tissue release. However, I recently got my notes and was disappointed with the lack of information available. At past places I’ve had PT, I’ve been able to follow the technical aspects of the PT — subtalar maneuvers, etc. This has helped me to be knowledgeable about my own «condition» and be able to discuss with current or future treating physicians/​surgeons what manipulations/​procedures were done on particular aspects of my ankle/​foot and what a PT saw from his/​her time spent w/​me. So I was very disappointed at the lack of technical info available on my notes, especially since I was working with the co-​owner. But what was very upsetting was a comment in my notes that I stated that I felt my surgeon was «blowing me off». I felt it was extremely inappropriate for the the physical therapist to reference this, was a breach of implied confidentiality, and provided absolutely nothing toward helping me. I would not recommend this place as I do not think they put the patient first. They are more concerned about their relationship with referring doctors than putting a patient first. I really feel a trust was violated. If the co-​owner of the organization feels that it is appropriate for these remarks to be included in the patient’s notes — but not what particular areas of the ankle joint, etc are being manipulated — it’s a pretty low standard being set for everyone else who works there.

I’ve had my fair share of lower back issues and star was the second place I visited. I saw the reviews, looked at the equipment And the space and believed this was the place that was going to fix me up.
The problems I saw here are problems that seem to be commonplace. The practitioners have a program that they seem to implement with every patient. There isn’t a lot of flexibility. You end up doing a lot of the same exercises over and over with the assumption seemingly being «if we stick to the playbook you will get better.» As we all know our bodies rarely react to a playbook diagnosis.
More importantly — therapist are usually triple book every hour so you aren’t really getting any quality time — hence the playbook of exercises you go there to perform. While all the therapists seem nice, I think having 3 people at any one time severely hurts your ability to proper assess your clients.
Pro– great equipment (alter g running machine) con — seemingly feeling like cattle

Great place. Clean and well maintained equipment. Entire staff from front desk to physical therapists were upbeat and helpful. Had Alexandra as my PT. She rocked. Really knew her stuff. She was great at motivating me, and making sure I completely understood the importance of each exercise. I was able to come back from a chronic achilles injury to run NYC marathon, no doubt because of working with Ali and STAR.

Kevin and Ethan are superb!

STAR is great. I had ACL reconstruction surgery and the first PT place I went to spent very little time with me. Here I go for a full hour, not 20 – 30 minutes, and they are always helping me progress to try and build my strength. They are caring, personable people who want you to get better. I’m really glad I found them and I look forward to a full recovery.

I have done PT at three different places, so I have a little background for comparison. I took about 30ish sessions at STAR. Overall, I was left unimpressed with STAR for the following reasons:
–My therapist never kept good track of exactly what exercises I had done each week, and maintained continuity. When I called him on it, he would demur that he changed things for a reason, but frankly I’m not convinced. Often, a new routine was introduced one week and then completely forgotten and never mentioned from then on. On occasion, a «new» thing was introduced and I would have to explain that we had already done it, a couple of weeks ago. Very little was done to keep me informed and involved on *why* I was doing each exercise.
–Compared to my other 2 therapy places, there was relatively little hands-​on manipulation (e.g. stretching and massage).
–I got some «homework» sheets the first session, however, never again. My therapist never seemed concerned about what skills I was doing in my «off» days, even when I specifically asked him to help me plan a home régime.
–And the kicker: when my health insurance deemed that I had «plateaued» and was not making progress any more, I got an email from STAR’s «front desk» informing me that there would be no more sessions. There was no concern for my wellbeing, no final contact and good-​bye from the therapist I had worked with for 3 months, no printouts, suggestions, homework, best wishes, good luck… nothing. Just an abrupt note from the Front Desk: We Are Done. And that’s about how personal the experience was, in the end, like going to Starbucks.
No, actually, when you leave Starbucks they say thanks, and have a nice day.

STAR has decent physical therapists and they give you papers with photos and descriptions of exercises to help you with «homework.»
However there are a few issues with the facility and the staff. First of all the facility is not always very clean and sanitary. They use clean bath towels to cover pillows they put on the massage tables but otherwise, I have never seen someone wipe down a table after one patient, before the next patient. I also don’t see a lot of hand sanitizer being used. They use tubs of massage cream in which each therapist dips their fingers in multiple times in the course of massaging a patient.
Furthermore, the equipment also often looks filthy. For example, there is a balance board and they put rubbery pads about the size of a small dinner plate on the board, to prevent your feet from sliding off. The pads were bright colored (green, blue, etc) but were absolutely filthy and had black soot all over, covered in dirt. There was also a foam sheet used for balance exercises as well, again very dirty Neither the pads or foam was wiped down before or after I used it. I usually prefer to do exercises without shoes on as I am pursuing therapy for a foot injury, but the dirt on their equipment that touches feet seemed really unsanitary.
Also, the front desk staff seems slightly incompetent.
I was scheduled with a particular therapist with a background relevant to my injury. I show up and am told I will be working with another because the scheduled therapist «has too many people at once»?
My therapist confirmed that sometimes the front desk overbooks and each therapist will usually have 2 or even 3 patients at a time.
On my first appointment, I gave the front desk detailed information about my injury and the recommended therapy from my doctor (including MRI results and a detailed list of therapy needs from my doctor). The front desk copied these documents. When I was finally called to see the therapist, the first question she asks me was: «So what are you here for?» I look at her, puzzled: did she not get the documents and MRI results from the front desk? No. I had to pull out my copies and give them to her.
Finally, they do not do their own billing — they outsource to another firm– so they cannot tell you what you are being charged until after several sessions. I am surprised that despite how many receptionists /​desk staff they have (it appeared to be 7 or more!) that they cannot give you this important information and that they outsource the billing.

I was able to get over a major hip labral tear without surgery and get back to running pain free because of my time here. I’ve come back 3x for my various injuries, and feel very much at home here due to the friendliness. My PTs, Abby and Amanda, were wonderful — professional, smart, but also personable and encouraging. Star now has showers on the premises, which is a plus!:)

I’ve been fortunate to work with the rock star duo of Cathy and Abby at STAR.
Last year, after trying to BQ the NYC marathon, my body checked itself for the year and I wound up with chronic IT Band syndrome in my knee that lasted 11 months, a labral tear in my left hip, and a labral tear in my left shoulder to top it off.
I began working with Cathy last summer in order to build up my hip/​core strength in preparation for arthroscopic surgery to repair my torn hip labrum. However, at the last minute I decided to have my IT Band surgically released since it was the cause of my primary pain and a much faster recovery.
Long story short, I worked diligently with Cathy and her colleague Abby to rehab my knee and was back to biking within three weeks, and able to run modestly 8 weeks post op. If you aren’t lazy about doing PT, you will see improvement.
It’s now 12 weeks post op and I have zero knee pain, the strength in my left leg is almost back to normal, and my hip rarely, if ever, bothers me. Two thumbs up.

Great PT’s, I’ve been very happy with the service I have received in particular from my Primary Physical Therapist Cathy. She and her colleague Abby have taken great care of me through both a Car Accident and a Skiing Injury. Professional, hardworking, tough love (when you need it… «you can stretch further») The only people that complain about this place are lazy ones. I’ve witnessed professional athletes, Olympians, College Athletes, and yes, old people. :) They do a caring job with all.
Word of warning — messages don’t always get passed from calling reception, I often email my PT directly.
They just moved to ground floor so the photos depicted here are not up to date. It’s a beautiful facility now.