Natalie Black, MOT

This review is specifically for my experience with Natalie Black as an "EDS Specialist" OT. I have seen Natalie on and off for the last 4 years for hEDS (hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome). My hope is it will shed some light for other hEDS patients, especially those considering traveling from far away to see her, into seeing that her calling herself a subject matter expert in this field is not only false but dangerous. Starting off, I had a great experience with Natalie. However, as time went on, I was confused as to why all of the exercises she gave me were stretches in which my joints were purposefully put in positions of subluxation for "1.5 to 2 minutes minimum" per her instructions. My EDS physician (who is world renown) and the other physical therapist I started seeing as I stopped trusting Natalie both told me these were terrible choices for an EDS patient and were actively making my issues worse. I threw out my upper back quite badly after holding a particular stretch she told me to do and was out for about a month after. It got to the point where she wasn't only not helping, but actively hurting me. The last time I saw her, I presented with horrible hip pain. She did some testing on me and told me that a ligament around my hip was likely tight, and that I didn't have any signs of physical impingement within the hip itself. I specifically asked her if I needed to get an MRI and she said "absolutely not, this will go away on its own". Thankfully, by this point I didn't trust her so went to another PT (who doesn't claim to be an EDS specialist but actually knows basic anatomy) who told me I did likely have a physical impingement and to get an MRI. Thank god I got a second opinion - I have 2 FAI CAM deformaties and need 2 total hip reconstruction surgeries. Had a listened to Natalie's "expertise", I'd be not only sitting in undiagnosed pain for no reason, but would likely have to get a total hip replacement at a very young age due to the osteoarthritis I already have at such a young age. My summary here is that my EDS specialist MD, along with all other therapists I've seen in the EDS world have agreed that she is not an adequate therapist to see if you have EDS; in fact she can make things a lot worse. It's so bad that my clinic no longer refers out to her and actively tells patients to get a new provider. She also doesn't spend a lot of time with you as a patient, and her assistants don't actually watch you do exercises (which is extremely necessary for EDS bodies with our lack of proprioception). If you are considering seeing her for hEDS, I highly advise against it - unless you want even more issues!