Liberty Physical Therapy is a state-of-the-art facility offering Orthopedic & Sports Physical Therapy services in downtown Jersey City. Chitra, the owner and physical therapist started her practice a few years ago from a tiny space and has now expanded and completely revamped her office along with her husband Deepak.
They recently invited me over for a visit, a tour and I also attended their opening party which was a blast! The office is so beautiful! There are many private rooms where the PT’s can focus on their patients, as well as a large gym where they can do their exercises. Why live with aches and pains when you can get treated by people like Chitra!
I loved getting to know Deepak and Chitra! they are such a cute couple and clearly are passionate about their job and providing the best care for their patients in Jersey City.
What are your names? Deepak Mittal.
And you? Chitra Mittal.
And what do you guys do?
Chitra: I’m a physical therapist and we both run this office together, he’s my husband and my partner in crime.
Oh you guys are couple?! And you guys have an office together?!
Chitra: I know!
How long has this been officially open?
Chitra: November 2011 was our first patient. I started in a 300 square feet space subleased from a doctor in this office and then business picked up, we expanded in about seven months, to 2400 square feet of space and took over the whole office. We were looking to open another location this year but an opportunity opened up where the next door office was available and we jumped on it! So this is our second expansion in three years.
Congratulations.
Chitra: Thank you.
Deepak: Thank you.
Can you describe what you guys do here?
Chitra: We provide Orthopedic & Sports Physical Therapy for all age groups, but it’s non-mainstream. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a PT (Physical Therapy) place before?
I have, I had a tendon that—
Chitra: Pulled or something? Okay.
I wore one of those moonboots for six months. It was awful, I hated it.
Chitra: Our approach is basically private treatment, one on one with the patient. It’s never two patients at the same time; it’s always 45 minutes with the physical therapist, no assistants, no aids! It’s not like an open gym setting that you find in most PT clinics. I was a traveling PT for six years, I would switch jobs every three months, so I’ve seen what’s out there and I know exactly what I want and don’t want. Most PT practices say, “We customize treatment,” but at the end of the day, it’s the same four exercises. Unless you spend the time with the patient, you can’t understand the real cause of their pain. So for us, every day is different, every session is different, you typically don’t do the same things from one session to the other, it really depends on where you are that day. So it’s truly individualized treatments.
Deepak: We also wanted to bring a different experience to Jersey City—
Chitra: Almost like a boutique; our top priority is providing exceptional customer experience and a calm and fun environment
Chitra: My first patient was my friend, my second patient was my friend and then somehow patients kept coming. I didn’t know any doctors, it was all word of mouth and then it was like, “Woah, I don’t have space anymore.”
Deepak: The response was great! I’m not a physical therapist; I had a corporate job when she started this. I saw the response and I was amazed. People were coming all the way from Newport, Hoboken, and some from Manhattan even though she just had a small room in the back of the office. The message was clear to me – patients valued the time and attention we gave to them. Slowly we expanded and started hiring.
Chitra: He joined me fulltime in 2013
It’s great leaving the corporate world isn’t it?
Deepak: It is. I didn’t know much about physical therapy before she started this practice. I was very moved when I saw patients come in with crutches and then in few weeks they were doing lunges and some even running marathons in few months.
How is the transition?
Deepak: Well now I’m fine, but when I started it was different because in my corporate job I had a big team and over here it was just me and her.
How is it working together though? Do you guys fight?
Chitra: Never!
Deepak: Haha. Well, initially it was challenging and it took me some time to adapt
Chitra: We have a different working style. But we figured out how to make it work.
Deepak: We bring different perspectives
Chitra: I was very hands-on, “I’d clean the office, put furniture together, collect copays too.” And he’s more like, “You need to have a structure, you need to delegate, we need to discuss and come up with a plan,” and I’m like, “Plan?!”
He has a business background, he got his MBA, graduated in 2014, he brought so much wealth of knowledge and structure and everything else to this place.
So let’s say I don’t know what a physical therapist does, like I have my little pains and aches and I’m like one of those people ignoring it, “I don’t need to see a doctor.” What is a physical therapist?
Chitra: People think it’s okay to be in pain and to me, most people are too young to be in pain. Somebody who is 35, they tell me, “Oh, I’ve had this neck pain forever,” and I’m like, “Okay? Why forever?” you should come next day. And you don’t need to see a medical doctor to see a physical therapist in New Jersey, there’s direct access.
We specialize in orthopedic issues, which mean pain and injuries in muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, joints and associated tissues of the whole body. We use Exercises, Electric modalities and Hands on treatment to relieve the root cause of pain and then strengthen the body to prevent pain and injuries in future. Treatment is most effective when it’s targeted to the real problem not just symptoms. For example, recently I worked with a patient with shoulder pain but the real reason was a pinched nerve in the neck! Or this patient that came in with knee pain but the cause was weak butt muscles causing the knees to turn inwards every time they ran and create strain in the knee caps. I can go on and on but you get the idea!
Do you guys live in Jersey City?
Chitra: Across the street.
Really? That’s easy.
Chitra: Yeah.
And how long have you been in Jersey City?
Chitra: Four and a half years.
How do you feel Jersey City has changed in the past couple of years?
Chitra: Oh my god. To me Grove Street used to be that dividing line, like, “Okay, after 10PM I’m not crossing it alone,” and now it’s like, “Oh, I can go all the way to Monmouth Street at midnight, it’s fine,” it’s so much fun, it’s changing. It’s amazing.
Do you guys have a favorite Jersey City hangout spot?
Chitra: So many.
Deepak: Since last few months, I think Porta because it’s across the street. It’s right in front of us, so we usually get a drink over there after work.
Chitra: There’s so many new places that are opening up. We like to try different places
Where did you guys live before Jersey City?
Chitra: Manhattan.
And why Jersey City?
Deepak: Mostly space.
Chitra: And we wanted to start this practice.
Deepak: Yeah, we thought of opening a practice in New York City, but it wasn’t making sense for us. We came here, we liked the neighborhood and we chose Grove Street on purpose because I could see some momentum.
It’s great that you’re able to come here and open a business. I think that’s beautiful.
Chitra: Yeah, Manhattan felt saturated to us.
Deepak: The difference between New York City and over here—people are much more laid back, much more friendly, and there’s a sense of community in the Grove Street area. That really kept us going and now we love it. We rarely go to Manhattan now. We have lot of friends here, we know local business and restaurant owners and it feels like we are a part of this community.
Chitra: I like to talk to people on the street or in the elevator and that wasn’t easy in Manhattan; it was like all “Work! GO! GO! GO! ” and Jersey’s like, “Okay, we’ve got people around.” It’s a community, it’s awesome. We love it. In fact, our biggest source of referrals is our patients!
Word of mouth is big, yeah. If you care for them, they’ll care for you. It’s not just about “Fix me and I’m out.”
Anything else you’d like people to know about you or what you do?
Chitra: With the love and support from the community we have quickly grown to become the largest outpatient Physical Therapy clinic in Downtown Jersey City. We are excited about the possibility to use this 5000 square feet facility to educate the Jersey City community about benefits of Physical Therapy and how they can prevent injuries and live a pain free life without medication and surgeries.
115 Christopher Columbus Drive, Suite 300, Jersey City, NJ 07302
201-366-1116 | 551-200-6975
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