Chris has been a physical therapist since 2016, specializing in orthopedic conditions and sports medicine. He is passionate about creating a unique personalized program specific to each patient, using a blended approach to physical therapy. Typical treatment often includes movement retraining via cutting edge motor control assessment and retraining techniques, targeted exercise prescription, advanced orthopedic manual therapy, patient education, and other tools such as dry needling to help patients meet their goals. He takes pride in helping his patients move beyond pain with a focus on movement health and efficiency allowing patients to reach their goals quickly and efficiently.

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Dr. Merchant received his Doctor of physical therapy from Boston University in 2016 and became board certified in orthopedics (OCS) in 2020. He has extensive advanced orthopedic manual therapy training, certification in advanced Dynamic Integrative Needling (Cert. DIN), Trigger Point Dry Needling, and holds a certification in Vestibular rehabilitation (Cert. VRS).

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He has a clinical interest in treatment of both non-surgical and post-surgical conditions of the extremities and spine, sports medicine conditions, complex orthopedic musculoskeletal pain, cervicogenic headaches, dizziness, and concussions.

 

Dr. Merchant has experience treating athletes from several different disciplines including rock climbing, rowing, and running. He has advanced training in video gait analysis and running form retraining working with both recreational and competitive runners. In addition, he has served as a team physical therapist for advanced and elite level climbing teams in the Boston area. During this time, he worked on not only rehabilitating climbing injuries but also working with coaches and athletes on injury prevention and optimizing movement and training for physical performance.

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In his free time he loves getting outdoors and enjoys rock climbing (bouldering/sport/trad), running, paddling, hiking, and camping. He volunteers with the Southeastern Climbers Coalition and is the Area Representative for the Leda climbing area and is also a member on the Fixed Hardware Committee replacing bad and worn bolts.