Welcome to Doctors For Dancers!

Marilyn Miller is a retired professional ballet and modern dancer, with experience in all forms of those two mediums. She is a Certified Pilates Instructor through the Pilates Method Alliance, a fully certified Stott Pilates Instructor, an American Council on Exercise Certified Personal Trainer, a P.A.I. Instructor Trainer, and a Level 2 Neurokinetic Therapist. She is also a member and presenter for the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science.

Marilyn began her dance career at the Dallas Metropolitan Ballet and the Dallas Opera, and continued her training at the University of Utah with Bene Arnold and Li Cho Cheung. She has danced professionally with Ballet West, the Eugene Ballet, the State Ballet of Oregon, Peninsula Ballet Theater, the Santa Clara Ballet, Underworld Opera, and the San Francisco Opera, and honed her performing skills under the guidance of Alonzo King, directror of  Lines Ballet in SF.  Although initially introduced to pilates as a form of conditioning at University of Utah, it was at the Center for Dance Medicine in San Francisco that she saw the true benefit of the technique.

Plagued by constant injuries throughout her career, she turned to Elizabeth Larkham, then director of the Pilates program at CDM, and Dr. James Garrick, founder of IADMS, for guidance and direction using pilates as the main form of post-rehabilitation. Chronic back and feet injuries ended her career, and after moving to NY she retrained as a pilates instructor and personal trainer. Over time she realized there was still something missing, as her long term injuries weren’t resolving no matter how much she did pilates, and no one could tell her why she was still in pain. She stumbled across David Weinstock’s Neurokinetic Therapy website, and her life was forever changed.

Neurokinetic Therapy (NKT)  looks at the underlying causation for an issue, rather than just treating a symptom. Her original complaint, chronic pain resulting from FHL tenosynovitis (the No. 1 dancer’s foot injury) lead to a years long process of discovery and unraveling of multiple layered dysfunctions using NKT. Most treatments just look at the current complaint.  In NKT, we take history into account, and look at how an injury from several years ago, even decades ago, may be contributing to mal-adaptive muscle firing patterns that are driving current dysfunctional movement.

Marilyn is known for her exceptionally keen eye in biomechanics, movement analysis, anatomy and kinesiology. Whether it’s a young competition dancer, a college semi-professional, or someone long retired, her unique way of looking at the body provides answers to questions so many others aren’t able to resolve. She specializes in working with dancers who haven’t found relief from traditional therapies. She combines NKT, PNF stretching, Stott Pilates, myofascial release and customized home exercises to create an optimal program for each unique individual that comes her way. She is available for skype consultations as well as in person appointments, and depending on location may be able to come to you.

With over 4 decades of experience in dance and movement, Marilyn is an expert at observing dysfunctional movement patterns that may lead to injury and correcting them before they start, in addition to providing relief to dancers who have numerous overriding and complex injury patterns.  She offers a free consultation to all who are interested.

Conditions attended to include: SI joint dysfunction, Achilles' tendonitis, Osteo-Arthritis, FHL tenosynovitis, plantar fasciitis, chondromalacia patella, chronic back pain,  contralateral gait dysfunction, snapping hip syndrome, rotator cuff injuries,

* Doctors For Dancers makes no representation and assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information contained on or available through this website, and such information is subject to change without notice. You are encouraged to confirm any information obtained from or through this website with other sources and review all information.

CREDENTIALS RECEIVED BY DFD 
ACE CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER 
STOTT PILATES INSTRUCTOR 
NATIONALLY CERTIFIED PILATES TEACHER - CERT # 14260 
STANDARD CPR/AED - CERT # 1BCE14FA 
NEUROKINETIC THERAPY LEVEL 3 
BACHELOR OF ARTS DIPLOMA - SUNY PURCHASE 
LIABILITY INSURANCE 
All documents are on file.