Ali Hakimi

About Ali

Most people find me after they've already tried a few things. A back that goes out every couple of months, a shoulder that only hurts when you reach for something, a knee that flares up whenever training picks back up. Usually someone has already told them it's nothing serious. That's true, and it's not much help when you can't bend down to put your shoes on.

My job is two things. Get you out of pain. Then work out why it keeps happening, so you're not back in six months with the same problem.

Sessions run from 45 to 90 minutes and combine hands-on work with acupuncture. Most people start with an hour and we adjust from there depending on how much ground there is to cover. The first thing I do is find the movement that's actually restricted. Not how bad the pain is out of ten, but what you can't do. Then before you leave I test it again, so you feel what changed instead of taking my word for it. I'd rather you walk out knowing whether this is going to work for you.

I'll also tell you in plain language what I think is going on. If you can't explain it to someone over dinner that night, I haven't done my job.

The part I find most interesting is the second question. A back that goes out twice a year is usually not just a back problem. Something above it or below it is doing work it shouldn't be, a hip that won't rotate or a shoulder blade that isn't moving, or a training load that went up faster than the tissue could adapt. That's what I'm looking at while I'm treating whatever actually hurts.

Sports medicine and orthopedics are what I do, and I've been in this field since 2013. The early years in busy community clinics meant seeing a very large number of people and a very wide range of problems, fast. What that leaves you with is pattern recognition. A shoulder that froze from overuse and a shoulder that froze from something else are not the same problem, and knowing which one is in front of me changes what I do about it.

I've worked with professional and amateur athletes, and through a collaboration with Barry's in the Castro, with their trainers. Their body is their job and they can't afford to be out for long.

Since 2019 I've also practiced at Center for Elders Independence, a PACE program, working hand in hand with physicians and physical therapists. That means co-managing cases with a medical team, treating around what the PT is already doing rather than cutting across it, and being accountable for outcomes in writing. It changed how I work. I assess the way an orthopedic clinician assesses, and if you're already seeing someone else for this, I'd rather coordinate with them than work around them.