MEDICAL
SMS Physical Therapy is a physical therapy practice located inside the South Dade YMCA. We are proud partners of the YMCA, but we are a separate company.
Physical therapists are licensed healthcare professionals with a doctoral-level education. The goal of physical therapy is to enhance pain-free movement.
The physical therapist will conduct an examination at your first visit. She will review your health history, including prior surgeries and medications to make sure you are an appropriate candidate for outpatient physical therapy. At this visit, she will test and measure your pain, flexibility, range of motion, balance, strength, and more. Then, together, you will develop a treatment plan to help you reach your goals.
Follow-up sessions will usually start with a warm-up to prepare the body for movement.
This warm-up can be active, such as using the cardiovascular equipment in the YMCA fitness center, or it could be passive, such as using therapeutic hot packs and electrical stimulation. Sessions will include hands-on work performed by the DPT (commonly called “massage” or “stretching”) when indicated. Sessions can also include the Game Ready compression and cooling system, the Alter G treadmill, dry needling, cupping, the hypervolt massager, and more. However, the emphasis of all treatment sessions will be on education and movement. You will be instructed in exercises that match your current physical ability and medical diagnosis.
That is a good question, but no, you can not skip the physical therapy examination.
A physical therapy examination and diagnosis is different from a medical diagnosis. Physical therapists are required to complete an examination before starting treatment. This will help the therapist best determine what interventions to include in your plan of care. You and the therapist will also discuss the frequency of treatments that best suits your medical condition, physical therapy examination findings, availability, and finances.
Yes, Dr. Stephanie Svoboda, is our lead doctor of physical therapy and she is trained in a variety of treatment strategies. She is certified to use dry needling, blood flow restriction training, massage, joint mobilizations, and more. You can read her full biography on our website.
No, physical therapy is a comprehensive medical approach to improve pain-free movement. Although stretching and massage are sometimes included in physical therapy, they are not the emphasis of the treatment.
Physical therapists do teach safe exercise techniques and activities that are beneficial to manage your pain or medical condition. However, if you do not have pain and are just looking to improve your fitness, you may be better suited to work with our YMCA personal trainers.
SMS Physical Therapy is excited to begin offering aquatic physical therapy in Summer 2026!
At SMS Physical Therapy, we treat a variety of musculoskeletal and neurological conditions.
We treat individuals with
Yes, we work with individuals who have neurological conditions such as:
For safety reasons, we ask that patients with these conditions are able to stand and move independently, with or without the use of an assistive device such as a walker.
For individuals who require a higher level of mobility assistance, we want to ensure they receive the most appropriate care. In those cases, we will help connect them with trusted community partners who specialize in treating patients with more significant mobility needs.
Yes! Our team at SMS Physical Therapy has extensive experience in pediatrics. However, we treat patients of all ages at SMS Physical Therapy. We are here to service the whole family from school-aged children to 100+!
At SMS Physical Therapy, we believe every patient deserves the highest quality care from the therapist best suited to manage their condition. For that reason, there are certain specialized diagnoses that we refer to trusted community partners who focus specifically on those areas.
Conditions we typically refer out include:
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