Business Spotlight: Physio-Rehab
Welcome to Chinatown spoke with Patrick Chang, a physical therapist who runs his private practice, Physio-Rehab. Physio-Rehab is a grant recipient of The Longevity Fund, and an example of how Chinatown is more than just its restaurants. Chinatown’s residents depend on neighborhood businesses like Physio-Rehab for their everyday needs. To support other businesses like Physio-Rehab, donate to The Longevity Fund here.
Tell us who you are!
My name is Patrick Chang, and I’m a physical therapist in private practice. I’m originally from Hong Kong. I settled in New Jersey, and went to two years of high school there, and then Rutgers in Newark to study physical therapy. My first job was in NYC, at Lenox Hill Hospital. After that I worked in New Jersey, then went into private practice in New York City. I opened this practice part-time in 1995, went full-time around 1997, and I’ve been in practice since.
The name of our practice is “Physio-Rehab.” I like the word “Physio” because in England physical therapy is called “physiotherapy.” I came from Hong Kong, and it was “physiotherapy” there too. I practice mostly outpatient physical therapy. We see pediatric patients, sometimes with cerebral or erb’s palsy, and some with birth defects. I’ve seen many patients who are older adults too. It can range from someone as young as a week old, to a patient who was 103 years old.
We specialize in hands, and also do orthotics and prosthetics. For younger people, mostly sports medicine for injuries or trauma, post-op and fracture cases. Also pain and aches, sprains, and some burns.
Why did you decide to become a physical therapist?
I couldn't sit still. I needed a job that allows me not to sit at a desk. I’m able to help people - that’s very important. It allows me to get involved with a lot of people from different age groups and backgrounds. It’s not a boring job, and it’s interesting.
Pictured: Dr. Chang, standing at the front desk
Why did you decide to open a private practice in Chinatown?
I’m able to speak Cantonese, and I learned to speak Mandarin from practicing here because the population has switched a little bit. Private practice was always my goal. I can spend as much time as I want with my patients, instead of having to see three or four patients in an hour in an employed setting. And I have more freedom to use whatever technique I want to use that I deem safe. So is my associate. We don’t usually give them a time limit. We treat our patients so they feel that you’re taking care of them - that they aren’t just a number.
What’s your favorite part of the job?
My favorite part is when the patient gets better and they come back and thank you. In this community sometimes you see your patients again on the street, or having lunch. There are certain restaurants that I’m afraid to go in because I know the owner, or waiter or waitress, and they’ll try to insist that I don’t have to pay, so I have to get takeout from them!
Good positive outcomes and reports from patients have created a lot of word of mouth in this community. You produce a good result, people will remember you, and that’s how we’ve kept going for the past 25 years.
Any memorable patients?
Always! There was the 103-year old, who fell at an adult day care center. He was having lunch. I remember he was an honorary chairman of a community association. After lunch, he fell, was injured, and we saw him. He was able to return to the day care center and have lunch so he was happy. He had to switch to a cane then, instead of walking without a device, but he was able to get out of the house to socialize.
There was a Broadway performer, dancer, and choreographer. He performed around the country at 40 shows, and every time he finished a show, he would move his arms very violently. At his last two shows he injured his rotator cuff pretty bad. He came back from Florida, and we saw him for a month to a month and a half. He was a very tall man, six foot seven. His legs were dangling at the end of the exam table! He recovered, and went on to do more performances.
What’s the hardest part of the job?
It’s very physically involved. At the end of the day, you tend to get tired. There are ways you don’t have to be too physically involved, just telling the patient to do exercises, but you can’t really do that. They need the manual, hands on stuff to get better.
I’m getting a little older, and I do feel the pain at the end of the day. On my days off, I lift some weights to get stronger so I’m able to do the work. We don’t sit at a desk most of the time, we’re up and going. There might be someone as small as a preemie baby, or someone who is as big as a 300-pound patient, or someone as old and fragile as a 103 year-old. We have to take care in lifting them and in certain procedures to get them going.
How has the pandemic affected your business?
People are afraid to come out, and are postponing getting treatment. I even have some post-fracture patients that are trying to limit how often I see them in person. The rest might be done virtually, but they miss the manual mobilization part that gets them going. I try to teach them, or a family member to take care of them. Also, because you have to wear a mask, people are limited in their respiration. Sometimes people can’t do some of these exercises safely with respiration limited by the mask. And my referrals, who may be surgeons, orthopedists, neurosurgeons, hand surgeons - they’re not able, some patients are delaying their elective procedures, like joint replacement. If they can go around with a walker or a cane, they want to delay it. The problem for my business is, when you have a procedure done, let’s say I have a rotator cuff repair, that’s 6 months recovery, that might be 2-3 months of therapy.
There’s less trauma now since everyone is staying at home. In general, it’s good that there are fewer accidents. Unfortunately for our practice model, about half of our patients were trauma related, and that is way down, so the pandemic hit us pretty hard.
How’d you hear about the Longevity Fund, and how will it help your business?
We were looking for grants, and it showed up on the internet that it was based in Chinatown. It will help a lot with our overhead, covering equipment maintenance, office overhead, and insurance. It keeps us going, so we don’t have to fold.
What would you like Chinatown to be like after the pandemic?
I want to see everyone on the street, enjoying themselves without fear. People are scared to come out, for the pandemic and other reasons. You’ve got to have some volume on the street. People kind of check on each other when it’s safe. If you’ve got only three or four people walking past each other, you might think that space is more cushiony, but it’s not, it actually drives people further and further apart.
The economy needs to get better, too. When people lose their jobs, people become unstable, whether it’s psychologically, emotionally, or physically.
I’d like for things to get back to normal with a vaccine, and hopefully it’ll be better. Tomorrow will always be better. It may not actually be tomorrow tomorrow, but things will get better. We’ve seen hard times before, and we’ll get through them again.
If you’d like to book an appointment with Dr. Chang, give his office a call at (212) 625-2528. He has offices in Chinatown, in Elizabeth Center at 17 Elizabeth Street, Suite 303, and in Midtown, at 408 West 57th Street, #1L (between 9th and 10th Avenues).
Dr. Chang’s office is in Unit 303 of Elizabeth Center
Chinatown establishments like Physio-Rehab are what makes the spirit of our neighborhood. We need your support now more than ever before to keep that spirit alive. Please consider making a donation to our small business relief fund, The Longevity Fund, or help us spread the word of what’s at stake. Together, we can preserve Chinatown businesses and help say Chinatown will always be open for business.
