Tyler Kenton

Kenton didn’t initially set out to become a physical therapist. His mother, a pharmacist, encouraged him to explore Ithaca College’s School of Health Sciences. There, it was an anatomy course that solidified his choice. “I was fascinated,” Kenton says. When he then encountered biomechanics, the study of how force applies to anatomy, the pieces clicked into place. “That was really when I saw how the human body works as a machine and how you can change movements to help heal them,” he says. “That’s still part of how I approach every patient.”

During his clinical training, Kenton treated patients across a wide range of settings, from long-term geriatric care in Seattle to the surgical, medical, and cardiothoracic intensive care units at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Gainesville, Florida. There, he watched a patient relearn to walk after a stroke, day by day, from lifting a hand to standing to taking his first steps. “The feeling is very special when you really do something that changes someone’s life,” Kenton says. “You can see how appreciative they are — it’s an incredible privilege.”

After graduating with his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Ithaca, Kenton became the Clinical Strategic Manager at Phlex NYC, a sports medicine clinic where he experienced the model of care that would come to define his career: extended, personalized sessions that let him build deep relationships with each patient. “When you have time with each person, you’re delivering such high-quality care and you feel good because you’re helping them get better more quickly than they expected,” Kenton says. He continued working for Phit Well NYC, a related physical therapy practice, and earned his first manual therapy certification from the North American Institute of Manual Therapy, sharpening his ability to assess how patients move and to identify the source of pain, not just its location.

That philosophy still guides Kenton’s practice today. He often treats issues involving the lower back, hip, and pelvis, which he says are so interconnected that you can’t evaluate one without evaluating the other. He takes a similar approach with the shoulder, which he examines alongside the neck and thoracic spine, relying on years of pattern recognition to trace how an issue in one part of the body frequently shows up as pain in other places too.

In 2019, Kenton opened his own practice, Real Physical Therapy, with locations in New York City and Palm Beach, treating orthopedic and post-surgical patients, from CrossFit athletes to people recovering from total joint replacements. He describes his patients as a community, and worked with some of them for years, getting to know their habits, styles, and goals as they move through different stages of health and life.

Kenton went on to earn his Certified Orthopedic Musculoskeletal Therapist (COMT) credential through the North American Institute of Manual Therapy. A marathon runner and former competitive swimmer, Kenton enjoys continuing to learn about new ways to improve patients’ movement and has a special passion for helping people enhance their physical performance. He holds a Level 1 certification from the Titleist Performance Institute, reflecting his interest in golf-specific movement and in strength training across the lifespan, including CrossFit, Olympic lifting, and powerlifting.

When Kenton meets a new patient, he begins by asking them about what brought them to him and what is important to them. “It all starts with listening and being present,” he says. “My job is to take in everything a patient tells me and make something realistic and attainable for them.” Rather than prescribing a rigid plan of care, he builds bite-sized, achievable goals and gives each person a realistic timeline for progress tailored to their particular circumstances.

At Atria, Kenton appreciates the team model, where he can review a patient’s medical records and collaborate with the rest of their care team in real time. “It’s really special to have an unfragmented health care model. We can get answers immediately, and those answers shape the advice I give patients,” he says. “The direct communication is invaluable.” This communication extends to how he uses technology such as wearable fitness trackers that can help patients stay engaged with their exercises between visits and notice patterns in their movement. People see major improvements when they take ownership of their health, he says, and by discussing what they see with him and other specialists, this allows everyone to work together to optimize the patient’s well-being and ensure they reach their goals.

Kenton lives in Palm Beach with his wife and their two dogs, Teddy and Riggins. Outside of work, he enjoys golf, exercising, woodworking, and home improvement projects.