Today we’d like to introduce you to Sneha Gazi.
Hi Sneha, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey to get where I am as a physical therapist really started at a very young age. My mother is an Indian Classical dance teacher and the studio was always our home’s basement. I started learning basically when I could walk. We would do national/international dance tours and huge productions all throughout my childhood. I was always enrolled in a bunch of dance competitions every year starting when I was five years old. Dance was and is a huge part of my life being the daughter of a renowned dancer. Also, since the studio was in the basement, I had 24-hour access to it and our home was always filled with students, guest artists, musicians, and more on a daily and weekly basis. Summers were full of summer camps in our home. It was everything I knew.
When I was starting to make decisions on my career, dance seemed obvious but I wasn’t too sure only because I felt like I wasn’t making a direct impact in someone’s life the way that I wanted to. I shifted gears to a few other professions, starting majors in Journalism and Psychology at NYU. I came across dance therapy, and then eventually across physical therapy. And that’s what stuck!
Something about helping people through movement made me feel more connected to the world. I knew I always wanted to have dance and media be a part of my life, but more important to me was the need to help people on a daily basis. I studied at Columbia University and worked at a few clinics around NY and in New Zealand to gain a wide range of experience. I started my physical therapy private practice (Sneha Physical Therapy) soon after graduating. During my time in PT school, I also started a nonprofit organization called Physical Therapy International Service Foundation where we offer free healthcare education and programs to underserved communities all over the world. A year later, I started a podcast called Fit As A Fiddle that currently has over 120 episodes of free health and wellness education from leading guest experts globally.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I will say that it takes a LOT of work to be a business owner and a physical therapist. The biggest challenges were always in doing the work when no one is watching. I have to constantly be my own boss and my own employee and there is a sort of discipline and prioritization (and PASSION!) that I need to keep fueling. Some people look at my life and say, “Oh you can make your own schedule and do what you want with your time”. But that’s not actually how it always works. To run a successful business less than a year out of school took 80-hour work weeks with weekends that were never free. It doesn’t look like that always today, but people tend to underestimate how much time and energy a business takes. I can’t clock out when my last patient leaves and my notes are done…
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m currently the owner of Sneha Physical Therapy where I provide office, in-home and telehealth sessions. My office is right by Grand Central. I am licensed to treat anyone from the states of NY, NJ, and MD. I treat anything within orthopedics: performing artists, athletes, prenatal/postpartum populations, pediatrics, geriatrics, and more. My day could start with a 2-week-old baby who has just come out of the neonatal ICU and end with a 60-year-old with a frozen shoulder. I love how eclectic my days look and wouldn’t trade it for anything!
My specialty is within Pelvic Health physical therapy which is a field under-recognized in medicine. A lot of people I treat experience problems like pain with urination, a leaky bladder or bowel, pain after giving birth, C-section scar issues, pain with intercourse and intimacy, and constipation. I even co-produced a Youtube series called “A Girl’s Gotta Know” with Talking Back Pictures to highlight some of the pelvic health problems I see daily to the general public.
I host & produce a podcast called Fit As A Fiddle where I interview guests from all over the health and wellness space. I’ve had people from basically every profession you can imagine: strength & conditioning coaches from major athletic teams, acupuncturists, yoga/meditation experts, orthodontists, orthopedic surgeons, obstetricians, and so much more! The podcast is a way for me to continue my passion for journalism, production, and interviewing.
Apart from this, my passion for service that my parents instilled in me continues through my nonprofit organization Physical Therapy International Service Foundation (PTIS), which I founded over 5 years ago. PTIS, in a pre-COVID era, was intended to offer service trips worldwide to underserved communities and provide free physical therapy and educational workshops. Since March of 2020, we have created an even broader network of connections with various community organizations and offer all of our programs digitally. We work with homeless shelters, senior centers, children in underserved neighborhoods, pregnant people on Medicaid, and more. We provide health education workshops, professional advocacy workshops, free telehealth PT, and movement classes catered to various audiences.
How do you think about happiness?
1. Getting my patients to move and live better and seeing them reach their goals week after week. There’s is nothing more satisfying to me than when a patient comes in after just a few sessions, doing their home program consistently, and telling me how everything is changing and they are feeling so much better. Especially when they have been told by other healthcare professionals to live with their issues or to just get an expensive surgery, it continues to amaze me the power of physical therapy!
2. Dancing with my husband!
My husband is my best friend and both of us connected because we’re dancers. It’s our life’s passion and if we had it any other way we’d be dancing in our basement every night!
3. Cleaning and organizing my house with a glass of wine (or 3!)
I mean why not!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.snehaphysicaltherapy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snehaphysicaltherapy/
https://www.instagram.com/ptis_foundation/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/snehaphysicaltherapy/
https://www.facebook.com/PTISFoundation/ - Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzZh9Js812CeSJPMEJ4GG_Q
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sneha-physical-therapy-new-york
- Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fit-as-a-fiddle/id1499838463
https://www.ptisfoundation.org/
Image Credits
Aaron Rahman (ImagesByAaron)
