Mary Nalls, MPT – Managing Director

Mary Nalls

Mary’s interest in physical therapy began at age 15 after being involved in a motor vehicle accident resulting in a month-long hospital stay of traction, a surgery to correct a misaligned femur, and over a year of physical therapy. Ever since she has been passionate about helping people of all ages recover from their conditions and guiding them in meeting and exceeding their personal goals.

Mary is the CEO and director of Back in Motion Physical Therapy, PLC. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in education and minor in athletic training and cardiovascular health from Northeastern University in Boston, MA. Three years later, she earned her Master of Physical Therapy degree at Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, PA.

Mary was first employed at NRH, rehabilitating patients with neurological conditions and amputations, and later worked for ten years at a few outpatient orthopedic clinics in northern Virginia. She has practiced and specialized in pelvic health therapy since 1991 and brought the specialty of women’s health physical therapy to Fairfax County. In 1994 she created Fairfax Hospital’s first women’s health physical therapy program.

She spent time there educating other physical therapists and doctors on treatment strategies and the benefits of this conservative approach to common problems childbearing women encounter.

The practices Mary was initially employed by required high patient volume productivity standards. This low quality of patient care model frustrated her; hence in 2002, she opened Back in Motion PT, PLLC, in the basement of her home. In doing so, she exclusively provided full-hour one on one personalized physical therapy. This full-hour one on one patient care model allowed her the time to connect with her patients and provide holistic, comprehensive rehabilitation. She now employs over 18 PTs in Lorton and Alexandria, VA, providing one-on-one patient care.

In 2010, Mary began training in vestibular rehabilitation to serve those patients suffering from vertigo, dizziness, and balance disorders. She took many post-graduate advanced classes in vestibular rehabilitation and received certification from Emory University’s competency-based course. Video Frenzel equipment is utilized at Back in Motion PT to videotape patients’ abnormal eye movements (nystagmus) to diagnose and treat these inner ear conditions properly. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), vestibular hypofunction, vestibular migraine, persistent postural perceptual dizziness (PPPD), anterior canal dehiscence, and acoustic neuroma are the most common vestibular diagnoses treated at Back in Motion PT.

Mary enjoys treating patients of all ages with acute and chronic conditions. She predominantly focuses on patients suffering from vestibular and pelvic health disorders, orthopedic and sports injuries, post-surgical conditions, headaches, and spine pain.

She utilizes a holistic approach to her treatments focusing on full-body movement analysis, corrective exercise prescriptions, nutrition, mindfulness training, stress management strategies, and helping everyone find a pain-free way to live an active and healthy lifestyle. Mary utilizes an array of manual therapy techniques such as fascia counter strain, muscle energy techniques, myofascial release, proprioceptive neuromuscular reeducation, visceral mobilization, IPA functional mobilization, and dry needling, to name a few; however, she believes that movement is medicine and focuses on patient-specific corrective exercises and practical strategies to help her patients return to the activities they enjoy.

Family is everything to Mary. She is thankful for her outstanding and involved husband of over 30 years and four phenomenal sons. She enjoys nature, playing golf and pickleball, sculling, cycling, walking, and playing with her two black labs in her free time. She credits the success of her practices to her team of talented, passionate, and kind physical therapists and office administrative staff that are like family to her. They all share the same passion for helping and serving others.