Jamie saw both sides of physical therapy before she ever had a license.
During undergrad at UCLA, her first exposure came as a PT tech, working under a mentor who showed her what attentive, patient-centered care actually looks like. Then she learned how other clinics operated: a rotating cast of therapists in crowded gyms, handing out template exercises and treating patients like a production line. She knew immediately that that was not the type of care she wanted to offer her patients.
By the time Jamie acquired her BS in Physiological Science, graduated from Marymount University with her Masters of Science in Physical Therapy (MSPT), and received her doctorate in physical therapy (DPT), the opportunity immediately presented itself to take a different path with her PT career. Turning away from the traditional path for PTs, she opened her own practice straight out of school, to deliver the care patients truly deserve.
At Manual Therapy Effects, people can expect one clear path: one clinician, one patient, one hour at a time. In contrast to the mainstream PT model, all treatment plans are tailored to the individual patient, once Jamie has developed a real understanding of their history and goals. Insurance companies don't decide how to bring a patient to the outcomes that they want — a PT with trusted candor and clinical expertise does.
Jamie's sessions are different from what most patients are used to, if they've experienced big box PT.
She takes the time to understand your full history: your job, your stressors, your prior injuries, what you've already tried, what you were told to stop doing. Most importantly, Jamie learns what your goals are. Whether you're trying to get back to marathon training after an injury, or staying fit to support your aging parents or growing family, Jamie helps get you where you want to go, and keeps you moving freely.
From there, she builds treatment around two things working together:
Manual therapy to address problems hands-on
Individualized exercise programming so the results hold long after you leave the clinic
Nearly 30 years of clinical experience means she's seen the patterns. She knows which shoulder pain is actually a thoracic mobility problem. She knows when a runner's knee is really a hip issue. She knows where most treatment plans go wrong — and how to keep her patients moving forward.
Jamie doesn't just treat active people — she is one.
She's been racing long-course triathlon since the early 2000s, at half-Ironman and full Ironman distances.
That background and rigor shows up in the clinic as well. When a patient comes in trying to figure out whether they should push through a training block or back off, Jamie has been in that decision countless times herself during her own training and racing. When someone wants to talk about cleat position, reach to the aero bars, or how to load a hip flexor without lighting it up on the run, she speaks the language.
She's not asking her patients to do anything she doesn't ask of herself.