June 16th, 2023 will mark 20 years to the day when we first opened the doors to our clinic, Taylor & Thornburg Physical Therapy. What a journey it has been! We reflect with gratitude on our history, on what we have accomplished, and what we look forward to in the future. 

The 2 founders and physical therapist co-owners of our practice are Caroline Taylor and Kathy Thornburg. Caroline and Kathy met through their faculty involvement with the Kaiser Northern California Manual Physical Therapy Fellowship program. They were looking to create a flexible work environment where they could focus on quality of care and ongoing learning. They have remained 50% co-owners since the business opening. Caroline is the 5th of 7 children, and Kathy is the 6th of 6 children. They like to joke (but are half serious about this) that part of the reason their working partnership has been such a success is that they have had plenty of practice at compromise and learning to “play nicely with others”! This is a photo of Caroline and Kathy when they first opened the business. Since then, the business has helped over 18,000 clients on their road to recovery in physical therapy!

There have been several shifts and changes over the years, mostly related to changes in insurance rules and insurance reimbursement for physical therapy services, and in the need to embrace technology for our daily business’ operation. It’s hard to remember a time when having a website was not essential, but it took a year or 2 for the business to set one up. The first website was designed and created by one of our earliest clients who had just started working for Pixar. Fun fact – this individual worked her way up from Administrative Assistant to Producer and went on to win an Academy Award! Here is an image of the home page of our first website.

Another big technology shift occurred for us in 2013 when we moved from paper to electronic records. Along with that has come the integration of many other office functions within software that manages scheduling, documentation, and payment. We worked hard over several years to optimize the wifi service and access in our space to allow these processes to function efficiently. It would have been difficult for us to imagine 20 years ago that in the space of a morning we could see multiple patients both in the office and via telehealth, without skipping a beat. 

Our team has gradually grown from 2 to 14 members. We still occupy our original space.  As the practice has grown, the business has been able to occupy more space within the building. This has meant several rounds of remodeling, and many hours pondering different possible layouts that could work within the confines of our space. Our last round of expansion and remodeling occurred about 6 years ago, when we took on space downstairs. It is not unusual for any individual team member to do 10-20 flights of stairs on a regular day! While we do have a parking lot out back and a relatively level entrance from the lot  to our 2nd floor space, the addition of 1st floor space has given our mobility impaired clients better access options to our clinic. 

Taylor & Thornburg Physical therapy became a franchise location of Fyzical Therapy and Balance Centers in 2019. This shift provided for more background operational support and led to the addition of vestibular and balance rehabilitation to the already well-established orthopedic and pelvic health services offered. Since then, several of our physical therapists have become trained in this specialty area. We had an overhead rail system installed at the end of 2021. Our overhead rail system is a unique feature of our practice. Through attached ropes and harnesses, our clients can learn and practice different balance related exercises and skills without the fear of falling. Here you can see Ryan working with a client on our unstable balance platform, while harnessed and attached to our overhead rail system. The other photo is of Isis, Michele and Steven. We received Fyzical swag on the day they all happened to wear black pants and shoes. It was a spontaneous and fun moment!

We will all remember the COVID pandemic that rolled around in 2020. We had just begun the process of rebranding the clinic to the Fyzical name when we all but ground to a halt in March of 2020 with the start of the COVID pandemic of that year. The future was uncertain. It was a stressful time to be in business, where the only certainty was change upon change. Our top priority at that time was to maintain and support our team. Per Alameda County Health Guidelines, we maintained a few staff in the clinic to see urgent patients. Everyone else took various forms of leave or worked from home on special projects and professional development projects. We are so proud of how our team worked together to support each other and to make sure those who had to work and preserve full income were able to do so. We are very grateful for government-related assistance at that time. By August of that year, we were largely back in the clinic with 2 therapists working via telehealth. Along with adversity or change, comes the opportunity for growth. During this time our team developed several different online classes to support our clients in different ways – Better Balance classes, Stretch and Breath classes, a Core exercise class, and a chronic pain management class series called Mindful Over Matter. We finally retired our classes at the end of 2022, when life seemed poised to return to “normal”. 

It brings us great pleasure to see how our staff have grown and developed over the years, both while working on our team and what they have done after leaving our employment. Typically, the clinical staff that choose to work with us are particularly motivated to learn, are looking for a sensible and sustainable pace of care, and/or are seeking the flexible work schedule that we can provide. Over the past 20 years:

• 8 PTs are in process or have completed rigorous Orthopedic Manual Therapy Fellowship training
• 8 PTs have certified or recertified as Orthopedic Certified Specialists through the APTA
• 5 PTs trained in vestibular and balance rehabilitation
• 1 PT has a PhD, another is a PhD candidate
• 1 PT is a veterinarian
• 5 PTs opened their own businesses

Here is an image of the postcard we sent out after the first of our team members, Meg, completed Orthopedic Manual Therapy Fellowship training. 

We have celebrated many occasions and life events over the past 20 years. These range from weddings and babies, to graduation, retirement and farewell parties. Children have seemed to grow up astonishingly quickly! As with life, some team members move on to their next adventure from time to time. We have been happy to be part of their journey and sad to see them go. This photo is of the most of the team celebrating Andrew as he planned to move out of state. 

We are grateful for many things, in particular, our referring physicians who have trusted us to take great care of their patients, our community of clients, many of whom who have chosen to come back to us for subsequent physical therapy services, and our administrative team who work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. And, of course, our respective life partners who have supported us and gave us the freedom to embark upon this adventure 20 years ago!

As we look to the future, we know that we will continue to need to navigate the tides of change in the healthcare system. It is challenging to compete with lucrative hospital systems for staff when insurance reimbursement for outpatient physical therapy services has flatlined over the past decade. We remain committed to the quality of service we provide, our staff, and the community which we serve. We are a top choice for referring physicians and a community favorite for quality physical therapy services and look forward to maintaining and building on this over the years to come.

Post Blog Note: As of November 2024, we are no longer DBA Fyzical, and return to Taylor & Thornburg Physical Therapy. Over now 21 plus years, same great people, same great place. 

Author: Kathryn Thornburg, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT