“How do you feel?” Dr. Best Uduh asked me.
“Lighter,” I replied.
“That’s the word! Everybody says that. We might as well write it on the wall.”
So concluded my trial session at Myo in New York’s Flatiron District — home to what must be the densest concentration of health studios in the country. The nine-block neighborhood is a proving ground for high-intensity group workouts and buzzy social wellness clubs, but Myo, a “prehab center,” fits in with the ensemble surprisingly well.
An import from Toronto, with three locations now in Los Angeles, Myo’s rise reflects a surge of investment and interest in some not-so-sexy sides of fitness: injury prevention, pain awareness and body imbalance.
As Lincoln International’s 2025 report on the fitness market stated: “An increased focus on preventative health [and] performance longevity has expanded the industry’s relevance far beyond traditional gym offerings. As a result, the fitness industry is not only growing, but evolving.”
The appetite for this sort of treatment makes sense. Older adults — part of the “silver tsunami” — are chasing mobility that lasts. Twenty- and thirty-somethings are taking up marathons and HYROX like never before. Even kids who specialize early in a single sport need protection from repetitive-use injuries. Most adults remain desk-bound for a third of the day, and everyone knows someone who’s replaced a hip or a knee. Across the exercising generations, the goal remains the same: stay active without breaking down.
But what is “this sort of treatment,” exactly? What’s the difference between prehab and rehab, beyond the prefix? What’s a session look like at Myo? Last month, I took the train down to 14th Street to find out for myself.
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By nature, physical therapy studios are strange places, ripe for a workplace sitcom or a George Saunders short story. I spent a significant amount of time in one last year, rehabbing my shoulder and then my low back. Depending on your age, or the severity of your injury, PT can feel a bit like daycare; you go off in a corner and use some object in a certain way for a while, looking up now and again to see if you’re getting any attention/approval from the one adult in the room.
What else? The TV’s typically playing a show you forgot existed. Well-worn resistance bands dot the rubber floor tiles. Trainers still hand out homework: stapled sheets with diagrams of arm rotations or Cossack squats.
Not to take anything away from original or imaginative PT studios (because they certainly exist), but most don’t need to be so inspiring. At this point you’ve dealt with a lot of pain, maybe gotten surgery, and there’s only one way through. They know that you know that you have to be there.
Prehab facilities need a different angle. They have to first convince prospective clients that it’s worth coming in for an assessment — regardless of whether you’re currently experiencing pain. And they also have to convince you that spending time and money (Myo is an out-of-network provider) is worth it.
It helps that Myo looks good. Its studio is clean, well-lit and vaguely futuristic; it feels like a clinic on a Star Wars planet. I was unsurprised to see that Adidas Strength Club hosted a made-for-Instagram session at Myo recently. The company’s founders — Vinh Pham and Scott Marcaccio — have earned their way into the aspirational wellness algorithm. (Weeks after I first visited Myo, I biked past it and thought to myself: Wow! What’s that place — Oh.)
That said, I don’t think Myo’s primary attribute is aesthetic. It’s commitment to the bit. They truly do want to be the leaders in preventative care. They use fun words like “futureproofing.” And they love to evoke the world of dentistry. (More on that in a second.)
My Myo Report Card
Mere minutes into my initial Myo visit, Uduh had me take my shirt off and walk around. He instructed me to pick things up, or twist, or lean side to side. As he watched me move, he pointed out minor characteristics about my anatomy that I’d never known (or been told) before. For instance:
- My pelvis shows a slight rotation to the right
- My left hip sits higher than my right
- My left foot naturally turns outward more than my right
- My weight distribution tends toward my heels
- My left shoulder sits slightly higher than my right
The second he said each of these things, they rang true in my head. And sort of spooky: my body would react too — e.g. my left foot twitching inward — as if compensating in response to the critique.
But Uduh isn’t paid to critique patients. He observes them — then creates a gameplan. My body is set up a certain way, and I’ve done certain things over time (I’ve done certain things many times over time: like running miles or sitting at a desk), that have created misalignments, overcorrections and everyday pain. Myo’s pitch is that bi-annual interventions — whether I’m explicitly injured or not — can make a huge difference.
Dentistry?
Hence Myo’s frequent invocations of the dentistry industry, in which six-month checkups are a rite of passage. You can see how this would play extremely well at an investor’s meeting. But I buy it. Most of us are aware (and appropriately concerned) about our teeth moving around, growing brittle over time and even negatively impacting our heart health. So what of our spines?
Due to the imbalances in my body — what Uduh characterized as “pelvic asymmetry” — I have a compensatory side-bending in my low back. I also have limited rotation to the left compared to my right. Again…this tracks. Once you hear it, you can’t unhear it — or at the least, you start noticing how you move, or sit or get out of bed with a bit more focus than the day before.
At a Myo session there is immediate treatment in the form of tissue flossing. (More teeth stuff!) Myo experts have backgrounds in physical therapy, chiropractic and massage therapy, and this portion is basically an intense sports massage. I lay supine on a treatment table as Uduh pushed his elbow into trigger areas.
I realized his work is similar to that of a detective. He compiles clues, acts on hunches and eventually catches culprits red-handed. In my case: some rope muscles in the latissimus dorsi that were as tight as guitar strings. I always thought those “pops” you hear in Instagram videos were fake. But I felt (and heard) it, and however temporary, it brought the area some meaningful relief.
Moving Forward
If you stick with Myo for the long haul, its experts will help you foster better alignment, teach you how to move better, focus on building strength and optimize your movements for the life you want to live. Regardless of how committed you feel to that process, I think every single person on the planet could benefit from just one visit a year to a place like Myo.
I left Flatiron that day armed with some homework. Here’s what Uduh recommended I start doing:
- Shoulder Blade Squeezes: Keep shoulders down and back (not elevated) while gently squeezing your shoulder blades together. Hold for 5-10 seconds, repeat 10 times throughout the day, especially during periods of prolonged sitting.
- Postural Reset: Throughout your workday, take brief breaks to march in place for 30 seconds, then reset your stance with weight evenly distributed through your feet.
- Body Awareness: Pay attention to weight distribution in your feet during standing and walking, aiming for even pressure through the entire foot rather than primarily through the heels.
It’s a thoughtful, actionable prescription that I’ve tried to honor over the last month. Plus, the process has inspired me to pencil in a morning mobility routine (via the Pliability app). As you start to form your “new year, new you” resolutions, I recommend thinking less of waistline or glamour muscles and just reacquainting yourself with your body.
What’s working? What hurts? It can be intimidating to open yourself to an audit, but Myo can help. They see senior citizens dealing with surgery recovery, CEOs who roll Brazilian jiu-jitsu, moms who want to run marathons, teenagers in soccer academies, you name it.
Your bigger problem might be access to a prehab facility. As of now, Myo only has a presence in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. But it’s expanding — and inevitably, copycats will arrive as the prehab movement gains ground. Here’s hoping our future is full of futureproofing facilities.
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