Katy Ewalt had come highly recommended but little did we know how comprehensive her services and abilities would be. I wish we had come in much sooner! We had been to a (very good) Physical Therapist in the area when my daughter was having knee trouble from increasing her hours of dance training during a growth spurt. Although he was a dedicated practitioner and was able to provide some improvement, he did not have the in-depth experience in ballet that Katy does. Katy’s understanding of body mechanics and potential problems with a dancer’s body is invaluable. Her gentle approach, specific advice, personal communication about strengths and weaknesses and her vast array of therapies uniquely chosen for each person make Katy second to none. Katy’s ability to look at alignment, posture and body movement to discern areas of tension and tightness is so accurate! Now that I have seen firsthand what she can provide the dancer, I wouldn’t ever send my daughter anywhere else in San Diego County for any type of bodywork.
The improvement in my daughter’s strength and muscle coordination is visible in her dancing. The reduction of tension in her neck and shoulder regions allows her to move more fluidly. Her migraine headaches have resolved. The exercise program Katy prescribed continued to help when my daughter trained at San Francisco Ballet’s Summer Intensive and at her residential ballet program on the East Coast. Every one of her teachers told her how much she had progressed and improved. My daughter has experienced more relaxation in her hip flexors allowing her to increase extensions. Overall, she feels better and dances stronger than she did before.
I would call Katy before any other Physical or Massage Therapist and I would recommend that any dancer see Katy first with any physical problems. Thank you so much for the knowledge, expertise and care you have provided to my daughter.
Kim P.
A Dancer’s Health… My message today is of a mother’s desire to pass on information I wish I had sought out when my beautiful little dancer set out to set the stage on fire when she was just 3 years old. My daughter had a back injury that has consumed the last year of our family’s life. My goal today is to help prevent this type of injury or any injury related to dance by telling you what I discovered through this struggle to help her not lose dance forever in her life.
After months of wrong diagnosis’ and physical therapy without a dancer’s emphasizes we have found what we should have had a year ago… Katy Ewalt MS, ATC, BCTMB, HHP. She was able to assess my daughter and discover that in order for her to reenter the dance studio safely, she needed to address the reason she initially had the back injury. For my daughter it was a hyperextended back pushed to the brink when she had a growth spurt which caused her L4 vertebrae to break. Now Katy is helping her establish control in her pelvis and stretching and strengthening the muscles that could not adapt to the skeletal growth she had last year.
So, what do I want you as either a dancer or the mother of a dancer to get from this testimonial? To know that there is a specialized opportunity to prevent or help recover from an injury!!! Katy offers individual appointments and clinics on INJURY PREVENTION and SAFE DANCE PRACTICE! Please take the time and go see her. Katy Ewalt has 20+ years of experience in Dance Medicine and promotes prevention! So please be proactive with your body instead of reactive! I am convinced that if we would have had been able to have this program offered to us earlier, my daughter would not have faced the issues she experienced.
Tammie Coviello
Owner KC Dance Gear
I found Katy after the doctors thought my daughter’s rib injury was internal and subjected her to a battery of horrible tests. Katy honed in on my daughter’s injury, designed a therapy plan and got her back to dance class in no time. When my daughter had trouble with her shoulder, then her ankle (yes, dancers are often riddled with injury) we took her to Katy right away and again Katy got her back to dancing as soon as possible. I highly recommend Katy for treatment of dance and athletic injuries.
Jacqueline Vinaccia
While my son was playing competitive soccer and running cross country he suffered injuries to his foot and knee. I took him to see Katy because I knew she would do more than just tell him to rest and ice. She treated the injuries and also gave him great exercises to do at home to strengthen his muscles to prevent further injury. As he was improving she even took him to a grassy field to watch him dribble and kick his soccer ball so she could see how his entire body was moving. My son thought Katy was very cool and kind and was grateful she was able to get him running and playing sports again.
Claire Torres
PAARTS has been a blessing for our family. Our middle daughter, a competitive gymnast, began there when she needed rehab for her broken leg. The orthopedist expected out daughter to do full workouts 3 weeks after the bone healed, but seven weeks later she became worried and frustrated when she wasn’t yet at 50%… We learned later that the doctor didn’t understand what a gymnast’s workout entailed. With Katy’s knowledge of gymnastics, out daughter received realistic expectations about recovery time and was able to discuss particular skills and their impact on her injury and healing process. She’s now competing again and doing great!
We learned so much about how the body’s systems work together and affect each other that now all three of our daughters (2 gymnasts and a ballerina) have weekly preventative care that strengthens their performance and keeps minor injuries from turning into major ones.