Core Pilates & Physical Therapy

Amanda is amazing!!! I started coming to see her for individual Pilates instruction because of chronic and severe back pain I have been dealing with for some time. Of all the professionals I’ve seen, Amanda was the first to understand the mechanics of what was going on. Amanda has helped me with so much more than exercising– she has helped me begin to heal my body at a time when nobody else could. She’s also supported and inspired me to move forward during an extremely difficult time. If you have a chance, work with Amanda! I can’t emphasize enough how much she has done for me and how special she is! Oh– did I mention I have abs now for the first time in my life! Thank you Amanda :-) !!

Julie is an incredibly talented, professional, and overall kick-​ass physical therapist who deeply cares about her patients. She can be tough and will push you hard, but she is absolutely the best at what she does!
I came to see Julie following a low-​back surgery for a herniated disc. Due to the injury, my range of motion was pretty limited post-​surgery, and I was still having some periodic nerve pain. Julie worked with me over the course of three months to regain my muscle strength and flexibility and build strength in my core through a wide variety of exercises. Julie’s sessions were often challenging, but I was amazed at how quickly I started to see results. Within three months, I was able to bring my strength and flexibility back to almost where I was before my injury and my nerve pain is practically gone! Julie taught me all about safe ways to perform day-​to-​day activities that would protect my lower back from future injuries, as well as exercises that I can do on my own to keep my body strong and flexible. I cannot recommend her enough!
I also want to add that all of the staff at Core Pilates are wonderful to work with and have been incredibly helpful with managing appointments and dealing with insurance. Thank you so much!

I have been working with Julie Cox at Core Pilates for about a month. Julie is very good at what she does… specifically she understands soft tissue, muscle, bone structure and how it all connects, she seems to know when to push me and when I have reached my limit. Julie is no-​nonsense but yet kind and patient as the same time. But the thing she has done for me that makes me hold her in high esteem… Julie has given me hope even though I live with chronic back and knee pain. Her spirit is genuine… I feel like I have visited an old friend. I love Natalia who manages the front desk/​reception area… she is kind, thoughtful and just a pleasure to be around. She does her best to make sure you get the information you need and how wonderful to walk in a business and always be greeted with the Natalia smile. If you need help getting stronger, live with pain or need to rehab after surgery… Julie is the person you want as your physical therapist.

I just completed 4 months of sessions with Julie following ACL replacement surgery and wholeheartedly recommend her for anyone needing physical therapy. I enjoyed the rapport I developed with Julie over the course of our sessions — she is tough and demanding, but has a great sense of humor and spunk. This was an ideal formula which led to an accelerated recovery and zero sense of dread leading up to each appointment.

I am approaching my one-​year anniversary of attending Pilates classes at Core Pilates, and want to give them a shout-​out for providing a wonderful service. Last Spring, I decided to give Pilates a try, and chose this studio because of its location near my home and work in the Mission. I began with a private session with Amanda, moved on to their Intro Package for classes, and now purchase unlimited monthly pass for Reformer, Mixed Equipment, and Mat classes. I have practiced yoga and worked out in gyms, but nothing has been as effective as regular Pilates classes at this studio. After just a few months, my core strength and flexibility improved greatly, and I look better, as well! Amanda, Sarah, and Molly are all highly recommended instructors.

I have been coming to PT at Core Pilates and Physical Therapy for almost a year as part of my recovery from bilateral hip surgeries (debridgement and labrium repair). The PT team at Core Pilates is amazing, uplifting, extremely helpful and have pulled me through some rough days post surgery. This place almost feels like home!
I have seen all of the therapists at Core Pilates and would recommend each highly. They all have their own styles and strengths, which works really nicely when recovering from a major surgery. For instance, Julie has been able to incorporate a lot of pilates and core strength into my doctor’s plan which has been very helpful in improving my range of motion and strength. Jenn gave me yoga poses to improve my flexibility that I could do both while on crutches and then more advanced ones for when I got off. And Eric is great at some of the more manual therapy and soft tissue work that is so necessary.
I did PT at a different location prior to my surgeries and the difference in quality and attention since coming to Core Pilates is profound. Rather than giving you a rote list of excercises that you will quickly bore of and forget to do, the team at Core Pilates is much more integrative in their approach. They work with you to understand where you are with your strength and your injury and develop ever-​changing, challenging excercises to keep you progressing and engaged.
While hip surgery is a drag, I couldn’t be happier with my rehab expirence at Core Pilates. If you want to be stronger, more body-​aware and overall healthier after your injury than before Core Pilates is definately the place to go. I’m looking forward to being able to do some of their reformer classes :)

I couldn’t have received worst welcoming. I decided to call in advance to make sure I was taking the right class. I am an active individual that does yoga regularly as well and eats healthy. However I injured myself a bit carrying something heavy so I decide to give this place a shot. Like I said I called in advanced and the receptionist recommend I take a neutral spine reformer when I get there the manager was already angry don’t know why. And apologize in a very unapologetic way for the fact I wasn’t told that I needed to take a previous class if I wanted to take the neutral spine reformer. I wanted then to maybe take the mat class since I do exercise regularly and she proceeded to let it be known that I couldn’t handle it. I am sure this place is not meant for spine correction or people that want to be treated well.

For almost exactly a year I’ve been a physical therapy patient at Core Pilates. I had PCL reconstruction and LCL repair in my knee, and needed a lot of physical therapy. For a while I came in daily, then several times per week, and now about once per week.
I’ve seen every physical therapist at Core Pilates. Each one has their approach to my problem, which is excellent because I’ve needed every type of treatment for my recovery. They’ve pushed me when I needed it, they’ve sympathized with me, and have been very understanding of the emotional and physical issues associated with my injury.
They’ve done an excellent job of working closely with my surgeon. Every single one has been knowledgeable, professional, and in short, everything I could hope for in a physical therapist.

I highly recommend Core Pilates and Physical Therapy (CPPT) for physical therapy. Being an athlete (board sports and mountaineering) over the years I have had numerous surgeries and chronic injuries that required physical therapy – at least ten times at ten different places. I have been to large hospital physical therapy centers (Kaiser, California Pacific Medical Center, and a few out east) and only two smaller privately owned places: Scarpelli & Kakehashi (in the Castro and no longer accepts my insurance) and CPPT (currently accepts my insurance). CPPT is an excellent example of a small physical therapist owned and operated center. Besides the excellent treatment and CPPT it is efficiently operated. Because of its location, right on 17^th street and Valencia, there is no reason not to go 2 or 3 times a week. In the past I have often stop treatment early because of the hassle of getting to and from the clinic. I believe I spent more time traveling from California Pacific Medical Center’s parking garage to the clinic, than it takes for me to walk the few blocks to CPPT. I would highly recommend CPPT for location and expertise.

I suffered from severe hunching and back pain due to L2, L3 /​spine issues. After seeing two doctors, two chiropractors, couple of therapists and acupuncturists and even took an epidural shot, my condition did not improve. One spine surgeon suggested that I might need a spine fusion, another physical therapist told me my condition is «beyond the realm of physical therapy» and I should see an neurologist.
Based on a friend’s referral, I decided to give Core Pilates and Physical Therapy a try before I took on any invasive procedure.
It turns to be a lifesaving experience for me, during those hellish two months, I was using a cane and I could hardly walk more than a block before I saw Julie at Core Pilates and Physical Therapy, on the very first day, she was able to diagnosis my back issues, she encouraged me to work on my core to strengthen out my back. I am so not in tune with my own body, but Julie shows great patience and her undivided attention during the PT sessions has helped me regained my mobility completely, now I actually feel stronger and more flexible than ever before.
The staff is also amazing, Natalia, the receptionist and Daisy, the doggie always made us feel welcome. Trina, the other PT also helped me and she is one of the kindest and most positive person I have ever met.
Words may never be enough to express my gratitude, but I do want to say –I am so thankful to you, Julie for helping to get my life back! I will keep stretching and doing the exercise you have taught me, bone by bone by bone by bone. :-)

I’ve been taking private and semi-​private lessons with Amanda Lewis for about a year and half. A physical therapist I was seeing about two years ago recommended that I switch from yoga to Pilates because I needed more core strength, not flexibility, to alleviate my pretty much constant back pain. My insurance cut off my PT (thanks CIGNA!) and so I switched to private lessons with Amanda. She is an excellent, patient, and attentive teacher. While not a physical therapist she is conscientious of my back problems and I always feel safe that I will not injure myself in our sessions, even while she pushes me to do my best and become stronger (it is an exercise class after all!) And I have noticed a difference! I feel less back pain and my body is well on it’s way to Beyonce-​land– I just got married and everyone told me I looked great. I also felt great so thank you Amanda!

This review is about private instruction I received at Core Pilates.
I am a man in my late ‘50s with an injury. I bought a package of three private lessons. My purpose was to get help recovering from injury.
I attended sessions after work. The instructor was very friendly. She verbally encouraged me to report whenever any exercise caused pain. But when I actually did so, she would grimace, get frustrated, show annoyance, sigh and generally provided the opposite of what I needed: encouragement, gentleness, understanding. When I called her on it, she said I had been imagining it. (If she had simply said, «Oops, yes, I’m sorry,» I would not be writing this negative review. I could tell she was frustrated that things weren’t working, and that’s understandable! But the apparent dishonesty of her response ticked me off.)
Of course, I could be imaging all this. Except that in my daily life I am generally regarded as being pretty spot on about such things.
During my private lessons a mat class would come in, and the leader of the class would bark orders like a drill sergeant. That was fine; the room is a shared space, and I had no trouble focusing. However, my own instructor was repeatedly and continually distracted, and kept looking toward them. I was paying for the time; I would have preferred she kept her attention on me.
I also ended up mildly injuring one shoulder and one knee during the sessions. The knee recovered in a week; the shoulder hurt for a couple of weeks.
I subsequently signed up for a session with a physical therapist there, but the therapist proceeded to diagnose me by email, and then added as a sales pitch that she had recently cured someone with the same problem and they were about to complete a triathlon. (Apparently, taking the time to figure out my problem by actually seeing me and listening to my story was superfluous; she just knew.) I canceled.
They are probably a very good place to go if you’re a young person (like all their other clientele I could see). But if you’re older and injured — I’d say, try to find somewhere else that is a bit more tuned in.

Sara Morrow is amazing. I have scoliosis and have had muscle pain all over that no one could figure out (ahem, Kaiser). Out of all the private PTs and pilates/​yoga I’ve tried, Sara is the only one that actually gets it. She has back problems herself so she can speak from personal and over 5 years of professional experience. I worked with her individually for about 15 weeks, during which we focused on strengthening tight, weak muscles, and relieving overworked ones to restore some structural balance. She wrote out a routine for me to do throughout the week as well. I just started the Spine Class she teaches on Mondays because private sessions were getting pricey. At $ 30/​class of 1 – 5 people, it’s a great alternative.
On top of all this, Sara is well-​trained and very professional. She makes sessions fun and is very encouraging. Couldn’t recommend her more!

This review is of Barbie’s Yoga for Low Back Care class, Saturdays at 9 AM. 11 years ago, I sustained a mild herniation in my low back. Ever since, yoga has been painful for me. I’ve many different classes over the years, and always finished them in more pain than I started them.
Until now. Barbie’s class is amazing. My back feels so good afterward (so does the rest of me). After she became a yoga instructor, she injured her back and had to modify her yoga practice. Now, she offers this class for us folks with back pain, using the modifications she learned to do. I think she also teaches other classes throughout the city, which focus on yoga for folks with back pain. She’s very knowledgeable and approachable. Come take her class!

I don’t go here anymore. I loved it for years, literally, and spent more money than I care to think. But then it changed hands and my favorite instructors left. The staff then didn’t honor the oral agreement I had with the prior owner about my package purchase lasting longer than the original date to enable me to buy multiple different kinds of session packages at once and be able to use them all. I talked to the new owner about it and she was like, I’ll review your account and get back to you. She never got back to me. I wrote follow up email asking to chat. She never got back to me. At all. Not like, «you’re wrong, I disagree, here’s why.» No. Nothing.
Honestly I kind of miss it and sometimes walk by and think: maybe I should try going here again. It was so great before and so convenient. And then I’m like, oh yeah. I remember why I stopped going. That happened today and then I thought: I wonder if my old 5-​star review is still posted? Uh oh. I guess I owe the Unilocalers a belated update on this one.

Julie and her staff is absolutely amazing! I had some weird knee injuries that nobody could figure out. I saw 3, very well-​known, physical therapists around the country and none of the could help me as much as Julie. She understood my body and listened to me so that we could discover the best possible plan for me to heal.
I also worked individually with pilates instructors to get better and they were unbelievable. They watched me like a hawk and made sure I was doing everything perfectly and without pain. I have never seen instructors so knowledgeable and dedicated.
I recommend Core for anyone with or without an injury. It will be well worth it, and this comes from a serious injury veteran!

I found Core Pilates because I had an injury from ballet that wasn’t going away. If you are a dancer and have any kind of injury, especially if it’s something that you’ve been having trouble with for a while and need a new approach then you owe it to yourself to see Kendall Alway at Core. She donates free 15 minute sessions at ODC dance commons and in that short amount of time had a better understanding of my body than any other doctor or physical therapist I had seen for the same injury. So I started sessions with her at Core Pilates (insurance paid for it, yay) and in a few months Kendall had helped me to break down my bad habits and rebuild my technique almost from scratch. It was hard, but SO worth it. It changed everything-​I no longer get injured, and my dancing keeps improving, it’s amazing. Kendall is a former professional dancer and has an insight into a dancer’s body mechanics that borders on the supernatural.
At this point I’ve taken almost every class that’s offered at Core — I feel like there’s something for everybody there. Some more challenging than others. Most of the teachers will alter the class according to who is taking it — so sometimes that means a less challenging class when a lot of beginners happen to show up. In that case I just modify things for myself and try to work harder to do the exercises correctly. Lately, though, I’ve noticed people coming more consistently to the classes I’ve been taking: Booty Barre and Andy’s Matt class.
Something that strikes me is that the vibe there is so friendly. There’s just a warm fuzzy atmosphere there, not sure how they do it. Oh, bonus — if you drive and take classes during the day the street parking is awesome. There’s also a lot around the corner (nice at night) and 16^th bart station 2 blocks away. Another bonus — the owner, Julie has one of the most diverse and advanced music collections I’ve ever heard. You never know what you’re going to hear while you’re taking class, here, it’s pretty cool.
I’m a little bummed to read that some people have had problems with the scheduling system at Core. I think it might be because it’s similar to taking ballet classes — you buy a pass which expires, if there are less than 5 people in some ballet classes I take, the class will be cancelled. So being a ballet dancer, this is normal for me. Also, some of the reviews are older and I just have to assume they’ve worked out these kinks because after more than year of going here, only once was a class cancelled on me and then they gave me a free extra class and were very apologetic about it. Also, I don’t find working out in socks to be weird, either, probably because I wear them in ballet class, too.
The website works great — I buy all my passes and schedule my classes online all at once so I know I’m getting them all in before my pass expires — it also keeps me motivated to be consistent and means I usually get the classes I want before they fill up.
How did this review get so long? It was hard to write this review because part of me would like to keep this place to myself!

I started going to Core Pilates at around the 4^th month of my pregnancy, as I wanted to add a regular, low-​impact workout to my schedule. I have nothing but great things to say about the studio and the instructors at Core Pilates.
I’ve taken Cardio pilates with Stephanie, Mat Level II with Melinda and Pre/​postnatal with Melinda. For Unilocalers complaining about classes not being difficult enough, I have two suggestions:
1. Take the cardio class, there is no way it won’t kick your ass
2. Do the Level II classes with the 3lb weights. You will want to die.
I’ve found the classes challenging, regardless of my stage in pregnancy and I think most women would get a lot out of attending any of these classes regularly. I would say that Mat Level II is appropriate for anyone who has done pilates even a handful of times– Melinda is really good at explaining positions and adjusting you, so you won’t have trouble catching on.
If you have any health problems, sensitive areas, or if you’re carrying a tiny person in your belly, the instructors here are really good about suggesting alternate positions.
I love that the classes are generally small– I have never been to a class here with more than 8 people. This means the instructor will know your name and your level and your history. I’ve never experienced personal attention that’s anything like this at other studios (in SF, I used to take the classes at the UCSF Mission Bay gym).
I’d definitely recommend Core Pilates to anyone who likes pilates or wants to find out if they like pilates. After I take a break to push this baby out, I will absolutely continue coming here.
Also, I have never had a problem with anyone at the front desk and buying packages/​registering for classes online is super easy. Not sure what others are complaining about…
And put on some socks for god’s sake, your feet are gross.

I’ve been a long-​time customer of Core Pilates & Physical therapy. I love the space, the convenience, and the philosophy of the studio. The instructors and the diverse schedule are an added bonus. I always leave feeling like I’ve had a good workout. The instructors are really great at gauging a class and making it challenging for everyone: the newbie and the long-​time pilates enthusist. Unfortunately, work and my cycling and running schedules have kept me from Core for the last month, but once the racing season comes to an end, I’ll be back to my regulare Core pilates & Physical therapy workouts!
Also, the website is really helpful. All the information you need about prices, class sizes, and studio policies are right there. Seriously, this place makes it easy… there are no surprises.

I seem to have exercise ADD, so I’m always happy to go to a different Pilates studiio and see what I can learn. I’ve been doing Burn for a year, and wanted to get back to classical Pilates.
Went to this place today to try it out. The positives: NIce space, friendly staff, clean.
Negatives: I went to a level 2 class and it was really easy, and there wasn’t much abdominal work. The biggest negative? You have to wear socks. I get that they are trying to keep their carpet clean, but Pilates doesn’t work in socks. And all their pictures on their website show people in bare feet, not socks.
I’m usually willing to give a place a second chance, but the easy workout and the socks makes it unlikely, which is too bad, because they seem nice.