Alina Fish, PTClinical Director
Alina is the co-founder of Action Physical Therapy with over 20 years of clinical experience specializing in orthopaedics, manual therapy, and pelvic floor rehabilitation. She has completed advanced coursework in Maitland manual physical therapy techniques for the spine and extremities along with many other manual therapy courses. She has received specialized training in the treatment of bladder dysfunction and pelvic pain issues from Herman and Wallace pelvic rehabilitation Institute. Always passionate about her work, she goes above and beyond to see her patients succeed.
Alina is in charge of community education programs, and teaching classes on various topics including women’s health and musculoskeletal issues. She is also a member of the American Physical Therapy Association.
In her spare time Alina enjoys photography and interior design.
Why I became a PT:
I was raised by my great grandma Dina who lived with us. Both of my parents worked and Dina was the one who gave me all her love and attention and was the closest person to me during my childhood years. In essence she was like a mother to me.
Her whole life was dedicated to our family. Dina only had a high school education but loved to read anything she could get her hands on. She read stories to me before bedtime and I loved them as much as the sound of her voice.
Always very active and generally healthy, when Dina turned 84, all her joints got affected by arthritis and she became bedridden. She could no longer walk or even get up by herself. There were no walkers, wheelchairs or commodes back then. I remember how my mom and I were trying to get her to the bathroom… My mom would hold Dina and I would move her legs. She would scream with every step because it was so painful!
She went to see a doctor. After carefully examining her he said: “I am sorry, but unfortunately, you will never walk again”.
He was probably not a bad doctor, but he did not know my great grandmother, her will power and her determination. She did not have a college degree, but she was a reader. Dina read an article in the newspaper on the benefits of an exercise program for people of all ages and decided to do it on her own. She made up a list of exercises for each joint and went to work.
First lying in bed, 10 times each exercise, then 20, then 30… all the way up to 100 times each joint. Then she did them sitting, then standing. Soon Dina was able to walk again!
Not only that, she was doing all the house chores and more. Dina was back! She lived to be 99 years old and she continued doing those exercises every single day. No canes, no walkers.
That got me thinking. I was very athletic and did all kinds of sports including fencing, gymnastics and track and field. I also loved medicine. I somehow knew that medicine would be my path from the time I was in the middle school. I just combined the three, my love for sports, my love for medicine and my grandmother’s story. The rest is history.
That is why I do what I do and love doing it every single day!
Areas of Expertise:
- Manual Therapy
- Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation
- Back pain/ Sciatica
- SIJ dysfunctions
- Pelvic Pain/Interstitial Cystitis
- Pregnancy and Post- Partum Rehab, Diastasis Recti
- Incontinence
