Palo Alto Medical Foundation

Many physical therapists here. Bad experience with Ruby. Good experience with Cherie and Matt is great. I’m forced to use them because of my insurance hmo, otherwise I would not go here.
I was in last year for a bad shoulder. I had Ruby-​she was rude, didn’t answer my questions with any helpful information and gave me exercises that made my shoulder worse. I then rescheduled with a different therapist (can’t remember her name). She didn’t even touch my body for the first 2 appointments! 7 months later my shoulder is still not healed, but I stopped going because I wasn’t getting better, and I felt like I was wasting my time.
Also, if you want to schedule an appointment, you have to wait 2 weeks minimum to get in to see someone, then it’s hard to get follow-​up appointments.

There seem to be many PTs at this clinic and I can only rate my experience with one of them. Given what I now know about my condition, frozen shoulder, my appointment with him was of poor quality and not up to the standards I experience generally with PAMF. He basically said nothing would help my condition and nothing would make it worse — it would simply take a year or so. When I asked his opinion on using heat or ice, his response, with a smirk, literally was «Well, it’s frozen shoulder, so ice wouldn’t make much sense, would it?» He seemed not to even understand how laughable that was, since the word «frozen» is but a metaphor for «stuck.» In fact, prevailing wisdom is indeed to use ice, and there are much better PT protocols than the four exercises he somewhat tepidly offered me (one of which quickly moved me out of the most painful phase of the condition). He said to come back in a week so he could check that I was doing them properly. Of course, he never made a case for why I should do them in the first place. I didn’t return.

Some people over there are really awful. One was extremely rude to me. She made some comment about me being so disabled, how can anyone stand to be with me (referring to my spouse)? Totally inappropriate.
I don’t volunteer information about my personal life or talk much at appointments and the nasty comment came out of the blue. Sure, I need a lot of help. That’s because I’m disabled, it doesn’t mean I’m unlovable. The physical therapist had a downright nasty attitude for someone in the «helping» profession.
There was another person over there who seemed like she was just phoning it in and very checked out.
I also got chewed out because I was 2 minutes late for an appointment because I was in the bathroom. WTF???
These bad experiences were with older, crabby ladies who had been there a long time and just seemed to not care anymore.
The best person over there is Charlie. See him if he’s still there. He’s very patient and knowledgeable.
There were some very helpful, younger people who were there and one older lady who was very patient with teaching some exercises, so they aren’t all bad. This older lady who was nice wasn’t a main physical therapist though, seemed more like a helper.

I’ve had back pain for months. I finally realized physical therapy might help. I’m sure it will, and PAMF seems competent and friendly, but my visit was not so great. The PT and a student were throwing diagnostic terms at each other over my head without ever bothering to explain to me.
The low point came when I asked about the pain in my tailbone, and the PT said, literally, «Eat a sandwich.»
WTF. First, I am in pain. It hurts. It distracts me from work. Way to acknowledge that. Second, I’m not even that skinny. I laughed at the time, but really, I think I’ll find another PT provider next time.

Just be aware of cost. They charge $ 269 for every new patient as an «evaluation» fee, which really consisted of me standing there while the guy looked at my knee for 30 seconds. Then he told me to do wall squats and calf stretches and that cost me $ 106. I was there for 25 mins (including time in the waiting room) and I left with a bill of $ 375. I would price shop and find another place. I got nothing out of this except a large bill.

I was appalled when I found out I was charged $ 427 for my first visit at physical therapy at PAMF for a physical therapy evaluation — $ 269.00 (which I NEVER got), a 15 minute foot massage -$ 99.00, and $ 59.00 to stick my foot in an ice device. While it felt good, I CAN’T BELIEVE that I was charged this much for absolutely NO EVALUATION WHATSOEVER, and a half-​assed massage and ice pack. I returned again thinking I needed this, only to realize I could have my fiancé massage my foot and ice it for FREE. Even my podiatrist said he’s had a lot of problems with these people and that they are a «joke.» AVOID AT ALL COSTS! Its been 3 months and I still can’t walk, after a simple ankle sprain because these jokers totally didn’t care about me or my healing. Everyone was really *nice* but nice doesn’t mean diddley when you can’t walk. I love PAMF and have had great experiences with them, so this totally took me by surprise.

$ 227 to be told «I don’t know». If you don’t have insurance this place will rip you off. $ 227 for no tests, no treatment and about 5 minutes of time to be told «I don’t know, you should come back».
Not only that, they wouldn’t give me a price beforehand so I could make a decision.

I have only the highest praise to give about the physical therapist I saw here, Karen. I haven’t had physical therapy in the past, so I don’t have anything to compare to, but the gist of it is that I hurt my back and I could barely move when I walked in. And now I can move again. So, I guess the proof is in the pudding, and this pudding is one happy camper.

I have nothing but good things to say about the Palo Alto Physical Medicine facility on Seabright, and about everyone I’ve encountered that works there (although I do have my special favorites among them… more on this below)!
I was entirely new to physical therapy when I started at Palo Alto Physical Medicine, having never broken anything, or had any major health issue up to that point, and I was referred there to assist in my recovery from a surgery to treat for breast cancer. I had undergone a mastectomy, sub-​muscular reconstruction – an ongoing process with an expander implant that was filled more each week (ouch!) – and, an invasive process called sentinel node biopsy (which involves the careful removal of lymph nodes from between the muscles under the arm pit to check for cancer). Needless to say I was in a fragile state, my muscles were very tight and often pained me, and my range of motion was very restricted.
Enter Jan Hill, Physical Therapist, and Jean Anne Taormina, Physical Therapy Assistant.
These two women have guided me through the several months of my recovery with intelligence, professionalism, and warmth. (Truly, I hate to think what my life would have been like these last three months without their assistance!)
By seeing one or the other of them once or twice a week I have been able to: 1) immediately address any pain I was having, getting amazing relief, 2) learn about what to watch out for post surgery (there are some very special considerations after lymph node removal in particular) and 3) get ongoing instruction for how to safely ramp up my physical therapy exercises on my own to get my strength back (which, since I am a relatively young and very physically active person was very important to me!).
Already I have gained a great degree of my strength and most of mobility in my arm back, which is truly remarkable. (To give you an idea just how much of an improvement I experienced and how fast, I went from not being able to raise my arm above my head or directly out to my side, to swimming a smooth stroke for 1K several times a week, and doing regular Yoga, levels 2 – 3 without pain, just two months after my surgery!
Jan is the one new patients need to see first (her, or another PAMPF Physical Therapist) to be evaluated. Particularly if you are being treated for breast cancer she is a great person to go to: she is exceptionally knowledgeable about b-​cancer treatments and their physical affects, and does lymphedema counseling that is quite thorough.
Jean Anne has magic hands: she is trained in Craniosacral Therapy and Myofascial Release, and the subtlety of her work on my traumatized tendons and muscles belied its amazing effectiveness (I once even fell asleep during a treatment). I always felt greatly improved afterwords – and felt that my progress was greatly aided by both her advice, and her hands-​on help.
Both women offered very specific and what I have found to be very sound advice from the beginning our relationship. Both consistently gave more than what the job required, and treated me with care and compassion.
The Physical Medicine Center is a clean, well-​lighted, well-​equipped, open and friendly space, and all their employees seem very efficient. I highly recommend Palo Alto Physical Medicine, and these two employees especially, to anyone, but particularly to women who are undergoing treatment for breast cancer – they make a truly awful experience a lot better.