For this week’s blog, we’re featuring Charlie King, our steadfast leader and skipper of the ship that is Beacon Physical Therapy. Today, April 14 ^th is Charlie’s birthday – please join us in celebrating him!

Charlie earned his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Hunter College in New York City and began his PT career at a clinic specific to the treatment and rehabilitation of world-famous Broadway performers. Throughout and following his graduate education, Charlie studied Functional Manual Therapy under the direct tutelage of Gregg and Vicky Johnson, the founders of the Institute of Physical Art (IPA). In 2010 he earned his Functional Manual Therapy Certification with honors, completing this IPA milestone quicker than any other learner in recent history.

In 2011, Charlie moved with his family to India where he spent two years as the Clinical Director of the Vardan Physiotherapy Center, teaching and supporting the local PTs in their practice of Functional Manual Therapy. After returning to the States, he completed his Fellowship with the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists at the prestigious IPA Manhattan center. In 2014, Charlie and his family moved to the Bay Area with the start of Charles King Physical Therapy, Inc. It wasn’t long before the city of San Francisco realized Charlie’s PT skills were unmatched and his word-of-mouth demand grew to the point where he needed help. By mid-2015 Charlie hired his first employee, and by the end of 2016 Beacon Physical Therapy was born. The rest as they say… is history in the making!  Cheers Charlie: hope your next trip around the sun is a fantastic one!

1. Hometown – I was born and spent my early childhood in a suburb of Chicago called Wheaton.  Around age 12 my family moved to a small town in the middle of New York State near Saratoga.

2. Cat or dog person – Cat, although I love dogs too.  I literally had cats sleeping in my crib with me as an infant and since then have largely always had cats in my life.

3. Favorite meal (feel free to include where, and with whom) – I love eating, so narrowing it down to a single meal is difficult.  The truly memorable meals that I enjoy most are based on the company kept.  Holiday meals with family, the dinner reception at my wedding, even pizza parties for my children’s birthdays.  Great meals are only partially about the food!  One funny thing about me is I love to order at restaurants based on how challenging it is for me to pronounce the dish – the more complicated the better!

4. What are three things you like to do when you have downtime – In my early 20s I started sailing every once in a while.  Since moving to the Bay Area, I have been doing this as often as possible.  I feel so lucky now that I have a great group of friends that I race with – go Inconceivable!  I also love hiking.  If I have a free morning or afternoon, I try to wrangle my family into a hike in our neighborhood.  Lastly, if I have a solid chunk of time without other commitments I get a lot of pleasure out of volunteering in our community.  Spending a Saturday morning helping out at the SF/Marin Food Pantry or doing a house build with Habitat for Humanity don’t seem like they should be that much fun, but I really look forward to those opportunities!

5. Favorite lesser-known spot/activity in the Bay Area – My family lives on the coast south of San Francisco, and close to where I live is the Half Moon Bay Yacht Club in Princeton Harbor.  I can literally hit all my favorite activities in one day.  I hike or bike ride over the bluffs at Pillar Point, go out sailing or kayaking and since it is a small volunteer run organization there is always work to be done.  I just spent a Saturday rebuilding the dock that was blown away in all these storms!

6. Book, music, movie rec Perhaps a little silly, but I’m going to list a children’s book here.  The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charles Mackesy.  It is so simple yet full of hope and love. Even if you don’t have little ones to read to, the message is great, and the illustrations are very sweet. 

7. Fun fact – I owe my whole current career and the life I’ve built up around it to my father-in-law.  Back when Erin and I were still just dating, I was explaining to him how I loved the feeling of helping my personal training clients overcome injuries.  Looking back, it is so obvious, but at the time it never occurred to me that I could return to graduate school for PT until he said it.  It was as if he turned on the light bulb over my head and within a few weeks I was heading down this path.  Thanks Dad!

8. Favorite part of your job – Unfair question – there are too many things to love about this job to narrow it down to one.  What a privilege and a blessing it is to be a PT.  If I have to pick just one single thing it is learning.  I love to attend courses and seminars to learn new skills or new ways of thinking.  These full-on courses are sometimes hard to fit into a busy life.  Fortunately for me, I get to do this in a small way weekly learning from/with my amazing colleagues and daily from my patients.  We learn and grow together.

At Beacon Physical Therapy, we support our patients in leading a happy and healthy life and establishing a happy and healthy lifestyle. That includes coming in to see any of our amazing therapists, including Charlie! He’d love to meet you and get you back to doing what you love!