Founder of Return2Sport Physical Therapy
Matthew Gerdes, PT, DPT, SFMA, TPI, STMT-C, CEAS
Matthew has been helping patients and athletes for over 20 years get back to training, competing, and functioning at the highest level...without pain, rest, or multiple trips to the doctor's office. His vision is to provide athlete's and active individuals with the knowledge of why their injuries have or may occur and how to correct them. He wants his patients to move properly first and recognize their issues, so when they train....... they are addressing the problem......not avoiding it.
Matthew's patients have been told by health care professionals that "if you just stay out of the gym or stop running for a month you'll be fine" and, even worse, being told they were ready to be back in the gym only to get injured again...the real problem was never fixed. Once he had the opportunity, he knew he had to focus his private practice to serve the active patient who wants to return to their highest level.
Located inside of the The Landmark Athletic and Fitness Center, Matthew advises athletes and active adults at the Jersey Shore and along the East Coast how to get back to doing what they love.
As an athlete, Matthew was plagued with back to back knee (ACL, MCL and meniscus) injuries robbing him of a chance to play college basketball, so he set out to learn how to help his patients get back to their passion and teach them how to address their problems properly. It became his mission to educate his patients on how to reach their goals and avoid injury.
Matthew received his Bachelors in Science from the University of Delaware in 1994, continued his education at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where he received his Masters of Science in Physical Therapy in 2001 and later his Doctoral degree in Physical Therapy in 2009.
He has completed extensive post graduate course work in the areas of manual therapy, sports rehabilitation, motion analysis, exercise prescription, gait and running mechanics, instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization, taping, and cupping.
Matthew has had his state licensure since 2001 and is Certified Golf Fitness Instructor by the Titleist Performance Institute (Level 1) , He has SFMA (Selective Functional Movement Assessment) Level 1 Certification, Soft Tissue Manual Tool and Cupping Certification (STMT-C), and is a Certified Ergonomic Specialist (CES) by the Back School of Atlanta.
He also has extensive training with the Vicon, Ariel, Contemplas, and Optogait Motion Analysis Systems and currently uses Optogait and Contemplas to analyze athlete's running form, gait, and assess athlete's ability to return to their sport following their rehabilitation.
Matthew has special training in Kinematic Functional Capacity Evaluations, and has been hired to testify as an expert witness in court cases concerning workmen's compensation and disability.
He also has lectured for professional organizations and for the community on the topics of Running Injuries and Biomechanics, Functional Capacity Evaluations, and Gait/Prosthetic training.
For recreation, Matthew enjoys high intensity workouts, surfing, snowboarding, golfing, playing softball and triathlon training.
