History of PAPT
After a back injury in 1980 when Mr. Gallagher was dancing as a modern dancer in Philadelphia, he was unable to find a therapist or a facility to treat him that understood his specific needs as a performer. Developed in the 1980s by Sean P. Gallagher, BFA, PT, Performing Arts Physical Therapy was the first physical therapy center devoted entirely to treating the performing artist. Dancers, musicians, singers, actors, circus performers, puppeteers and other performers finally had a place to rehabilitate where their injuries were treated with experience and understanding of the demands of their art. PAPT pioneered physical therapy for the Broadway community, providing the first ever on-site care starting with the Broadway production of Jerome Robbins' Broadway.
Imagine a rehabilitation program that specializes in treating the performing artist
Since 1987, When Mr. Gallagher became the first Physical Therapist to work on Broadway we have worked on over 170 Broadway productions as the
in-house provider of rehabilitation services. Our current list of
On and Off Broadway productions includes Oklahoma, The Wrong Man, Scotland, PA, The Play That Goes Wrong, Phantom, Dear Evan Hanson and Come From Away.
Mr. Gallagher is also providing his Vocal Wellness method Vocalwerks™ to one of the leads of Moulin Rouge
Furthermore, PAPT was the first physical therapy clinic to provide on-site care to modern dance companies, including The Paul Taylor Dance Company, The David Parsons Dance Company and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Mr. Gallagher also created the first physical therapy program for onsite care at a dance conservatory/university, including The Julliard School and SUNY Purchase.
By 1991 Mr. Gallagher realized the need to unite physical therapists around the country so he worked to start a specialty practice in performing arts physical therapy within the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and develop standards of practice for this new specialization. Mr. Gallagher is the founder and first president of the Performing Arts Special Interest Group which is a sub section of the Orthopedic Section of the APTA. Mr Gallagher and the staff at PAPT remain committed to furthering physical therapy for the performing artist as a specialty, through one-on-one performer specific patient care, continuing education, inservices and research.
Since 1995 Mr. Gallagher has been teaching physical therapists
around the country in the sub specialty of performing arts physical
therapy and has lectured for the Touro College masters degree program,
the Montana state physical therapy chapter, the APTA's national
convention, as well as providing numerous continuing education courses. He has also been the dirctor Of the New York Pilates Studio® Teacher Training program and has traveled the world teaching Joseph Pilates original work.
If you would like Mr. Gallagher to teach one of his cont education workshops for you or your facility, College/University or organization please contact him at spgpt@performingartspt.com