Assess
Range, strength, tendon tolerance and the movement that actually hurts. Both sides measured, nothing eyeballed.
Exit: baseline on record
Midtown · 8 W 36th St · 5th floor
Cleared to play is a number, not a feeling
Diamond & Schultz is a sports physical therapy practice above West 36th Street. We measure what your knee, shoulder or hamstring can actually produce, then add load in stages until the readings agree that you are ready.
45 minintake session
4phases per return
1:1therapist on the floor
test single-leg step-down
limb symmetry 94%
phase reload
Readiness protocol
Load follows readiness, in that order
Every plan runs through the same four phases, and each one has an exit condition written down before you start it. You always know which phase you are in and what has to happen to leave it.
Rebuild
Tissue capacity first. Slow, heavy, boring work plus hands-on treatment for the joint or tendon that is limiting you.
Exit: pain quiet under loadReload
Speed, landing and change of direction re-enter the programme in controlled doses, retested every second week.
Exit: symmetry above 90%Return
Sport-specific clearance testing, then a written re-entry plan for practice volume, minutes and monitoring.
Exit: clearance signed
On the floor
What happens on the fifth floor
Four things fill most of our week. All of them are one therapist with one athlete, in a room with the testing gear already switched on.
01
Athlete screening and testing
Force plate readings, hop symmetry, gait and a look at the way you load a single leg. You leave with the numbers, not with an opinion.
02
Post-operative rehabilitation
ACL, meniscus, shoulder labrum, Achilles. We work to the surgeon's protocol and keep them updated at each phase change.
03
Hands-on treatment for stubborn pain
Manual therapy, dry needling and load management for tendon and joint pain that has stopped responding to rest.
04
Return-to-play clearance
The last gate before competition: retest, compare against your own baseline, then a written re-entry plan for your coach.
8measures per screen
4phases, written gates
2clinicians, no rotation
0double-booked hours
Case files
Case files from West 36th
Anonymised files from the practice. Numbers describe those individual athletes and their own baselines, not a promise about your timeline.
ACL reconstruction, week 9 to week 24
Started with 71% hop symmetry on the operated leg and a hard stop on cutting. Sixteen weeks of loading brought the gap to 4% before the field re-entry plan was signed.
“The chart made it obvious when I was ready, and more useful than that, when I was not.”
Achilles tendinopathy, 11 weeks
Pain at mile three, worse the morning after. Heavy calf loading twice a week, running volume rebuilt from four short runs, then a taper into a spring race.
“Nobody told me to stop running. They told me exactly how much running I had earned that week.”
Throwing shoulder, back to the mound
Rotation loss and dead-arm innings by the fourth. External rotation strength rebuilt first, then a throwing progression counted in throws rather than in days.
“The throwing count was on the wall. I stopped guessing and my velocity came back on its own.”
floor 5th
rooms private
Clinic note
Two clinicians, one intake standard
Peter and Alan built the practice around a simple rule: whoever you see, the intake is the same. Same measures, same phase gates, same notes in your file. That is why we stayed small instead of adding chairs.
- Peter Schultz, PT Owner. Treats the post-operative knee and Achilles caseload and handles return-to-play testing.
- Alan Diamond, PT, DPT, OCS Co-founder and clinical director. Sets the testing battery and covers overhead athletes and running mechanics.
Intake
Start with the screen, not the guess
Bring the injury, the imaging if you have it and the date you want to be back. We will tell you which phase you are actually in before you commit to a plan.