Physical Therapy · Knoxville, TN

Get back to Moving.

You’ve rearranged your life around it: the shorter runs, the careful mornings, the ‘maybe next year.’ One thorough evaluation with a Doctor of Physical Therapy is how you start taking it all back.

★ 5 553 Google Reviews
Next openings this week
Doctors of Physical Therapy Insurance Benefits Verified Board-Certified Specialists No Referral Needed One-on-One, Every Visit 5 on Google Thorough Evaluation Medicare, Tricare & BCBS In-Network 553+ 5-Star Reviews Same-Week Appointments Locally Owned in Knoxville

The Hardware

Award-winning care. Officially.

We don’t just say we’re good. The community keeps putting it in writing.

Over 500 5-star reviews badge

Over 500 5-Star Reviews

We’re proud to have offered five-star service to so many of our neighbors, and we keep raising the bar.

Google 5-star rating badge

Google 5-Star Rating

Rated 5 by our patients on Google. Not curated, not filtered: earned one visit at a time.

Best of 2023 Knoxville award badge

Best of 2023 Knoxville

Voted Best of Knoxville in 2023. We’re honored to be recognized for our commitment to exceptional care.

Facebook 5-star rating badge

Facebook 5-Star Rating

Our Facebook rating reflects the same commitment to care and customer satisfaction, visit after visit.

What We Treat

Sound familiar?

Point to where it hurts. We’ll show you how we fix it.

Front-facing body model highlighting eight common areas we treat
1

TMJ/TMD

Clicking, locking, or aching every time you chew: TMJ/TMD, jaw tension, and the headaches that ride along with it.

Learn More about TMJ/TMD
3

Shoulder Pain

Reaching for the top shelf and stopping halfway: rotator cuff pain, frozen shoulder, that catch every time you lift overhead.

Learn More about Shoulder Pain
5

Low Back Pain

Standing up off the couch like you’re eighty: sciatica, herniated discs, mornings that take ten minutes to loosen up.

Learn More about Low Back Pain
6

Hip Pain

That pinch when you cross your legs to tie your shoes: hip bursitis, labral tears, flexors too tight to trust.

Learn More about Hip Pain

Areas of Advanced Expertise

Some conditions need a more specialized approach.

We treat a wide range of conditions, with specialized expertise in jaw and facial pain and EDS & hypermobility.

Physical therapist performing hands-on jaw and neck treatment on a patient lying on a treatment table

Advanced Expertise

TMJ/TMD

Temporomandibular joint disorders

The jaw that clicks, locks, or aches every time you chew, and the headaches that ride along with it. We treat the joint, the muscles around it, and the habits driving it, so you can eat, talk, and sleep without thinking about your jaw.

  • Jaw clicking & locking
  • Teeth grinding
  • Tension headaches
Explore TMJ/TMD Care
Physical therapist guiding a patient through a supported strength and stability exercise on a mat

Advanced Expertise

EDS & Hypermobility

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and hypermobility spectrum disorders

Joints that slip out of place doing something ordinary, and the exhaustion of explaining it to one more provider. We build the stability your connective tissue can’t provide on its own, at a pace your body can actually handle.

  • Subluxations
  • Unstable joints
  • Flare-ups
Explore EDS & Hypermobility Care

The 30-Second Pain Check

Not sure where to start?

Three taps. No forms. Most pain like yours is fixable. See for yourself.

Where does it hurt?

The Recovery Journey

A plan you can see. Progress you can feel.

You’ll never wonder if it’s working. Four phases, each with a job, a timeline, and a way to know you’ve earned the next one.

Phase 1 of 4

Weeks 1–2

Pain

Calm the pain down.

  • Hands-on treatment starting your very first visit
  • Pain education so you understand what’s really going on
  • Quick wins early so you trust the plan
Physical therapist providing hands-on treatment to calm acute pain

Weeks 2–6

Prime

Get your motion back.

  • Targeted mobility work for the joints and tissue holding you back
  • Exercise dosed to your body, not a generic sheet
  • Movement retraining so old habits stop reloading the problem
Physical therapist providing hands-on hip mobilization to a patient

Weeks 6–10

Perform

Make it strong enough to trust.

  • Progressive loading that builds real capacity, not just tolerance
  • Strength standards you have to hit before moving on
  • Confidence under load, so you stop bracing for pain
Patient performing progressive strength training under supervision

Weeks 10+

Prevent

Make sure it never comes back.

  • Sport- and life-specific testing before you’re cleared
  • A simple keep-it-gone program built for your real schedule
  • Clear graduation criteria: you’ll know exactly when you’re done
Athlete completing return-to-sport performance testing

Not sure which phase you’re in? That’s exactly what the evaluation is for.

Get My Plan

Real Comebacks

A sore, tired back and periodic sciatica, the remnants of lingering lymphedema

Standing tall, walking with comfort, back to Tai Chi twice a week

Joanna B. · Low back pain 9 sessions

A TMJ problem that didn’t make sense and hadn’t improved on its own

Understands the problem, has exercises that keep it from coming back

Tom J. · TMJ 10 sessions

Situational vertigo, unpredictable and unsettling

No more vertigo, period

Judy B. · Vertigo 1 treatment

Knee pain from racquet sports, plus a hip issue nobody had connected to it

Issues largely resolved, back to his regular workouts at 65

Frank S. · Knee & hip pain A couple months

Jaw pain so bad it interfered with eating, sleeping, even talking

Function back to normal, and she knows how to keep it that way

Patricia G. · TMJ A couple months

Knee pain that needed a real diagnosis, not another guess

Noticed a positive change within days

Seth S. · Knee pain Days, not months

The Numbers

Proof, in numbers.

20+

Years Experience

0+

5-Star Reviews

0+

Conditions Treated


5 on Google 553+ verified reviews No referral needed Medicare, Tricare & BCBS in-network

Why Simply Physio

You’ve maybe done PT before. Not like this.

Half our patients came from somewhere that handed them a printout and a heat pack. Here’s what’s different when a Doctor of PT owns your whole visit.

Physical therapist guiding a patient through a one-on-one session
Doctor of Physical Therapy reviewing a treatment plan with a patient
One-on-one Every visit
01

One-on-one, every visit

You’ll never be handed off to a tech or share your therapist with three other patients.

02

A Doctor of PT, every time

Every session is with a licensed Doctor of Physical Therapy, not an aide.

03

No referral needed

In TN, you can start PT without seeing your physician first. We handle the paperwork if your insurance needs it.

04

We handle the insurance maze

In-network with Medicare, many Medicare Advantage plans, Tricare, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. We verify your benefits before your first visit, so there are no surprise bills.

Your First Visit

Know exactly what to expect.

No mystery, no surprises: here’s your first hour with us, minute by minute.

0:00

You’re greeted by name.

Paperwork’s already done: you did it at home. Straight back, no waiting room purgatory.

0:05

We watch how you move.

A full movement assessment, not just where it hurts, but why it hurts.

0:25

Treatment starts today.

Hands-on work in the very first visit. You’ll feel the difference before you leave.

0:55

You leave with the plan.

What’s going on, how long it’ll take, and exactly what happens next.

One hour. You walk out knowing what’s wrong, how long it takes, and what happens next.

Book My First Visit

Meet the Team

The people behind your recovery.

Doctors of Physical Therapy who treat you like a person, not a protocol.

Portrait of Dr. John-Mark Chesney, Founder and Owner of Simply Physio

Dr. John-Mark Chesney

Founder & Owner, Physical Therapist

  • DPT
  • OCS
  • CDNT

Hosts the “Stay Healthy Knoxville” podcast.

Ask me about

Road and mountain biking, his last trip to Costa Rica

Book with Dr. Chesney Full Bio
Portrait of Dr. Tommy Lane, Clinic Director and Physical Therapist at Simply Physio

Dr. Tommy Lane

Clinic Director, Physical Therapist

  • DPT
  • CNPT

Certified nutritional PT, DPT from South College.

Ask me about

Neck and TMJ treatment, runner’s gait modification, nutrition consultation

Book with Dr. Lane Full Bio
Portrait of Dr. Maddy Cline, Physical Therapist at Simply Physio

Dr. Maddy Cline

Physical Therapist

  • DPT

A licensed PTA for 7 years before becoming a PT.

Ask me about

Hypermobility, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), pelvic health

Book with Dr. Cline Full Bio

Live From Google

Don’t take our word for it.

Every review below is pulled live from Google. We can’t edit them. That’s the point.

Live Google reviews are loading. If they don’t appear, read them directly on Google.

The Honest Truth

Pain rarely waits with you.

Here’s what actually happens in the next 90 days, on both paths.

If you keep waiting

  • Your body compensates: other joints quietly pick up the slack
  • Simple problems layer into complicated ones
  • The workouts, walks, and weekends keep shrinking
  • Painkillers manage the noise, not the cause

If you start this week

  • A Doctor of PT finds the actual cause: visit one
  • Hands-on treatment starts the same day
  • A phase-by-phase plan with an endpoint, not endless visits
  • Most patients feel meaningful change in 4–6 visits

Nobody regrets starting too early. Every week, someone in our clinic says they regret waiting.

Start My Comeback

The Boring Stuff, Handled

Insurance and paperwork, without the headache.

In-network with Medicare, Tricare & BCBS

We’re in-network with Medicare, many Medicare Advantage plans, Tricare, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. We verify your benefits before your first visit: you’ll know your cost up front. No surprise bills.

Verification Assistance
Speak With Our Experts
We Handle the Paperwork
No Surprise Costs

On a different commercial plan? We’re out-of-network with a number of major commercial plans, and we’ll check your out-of-network benefits for you: (865) 351-0615

Free benefits check

Send us your insurance details and we’ll verify your exact coverage and cost, then call you with the answer. No guessing at the front desk.

Your details are used only to verify your coverage. We’ll call within one business day with your exact cost.

Questions, Answered

Everything you’re wondering before you book.

Straight answers: no medical jargon, no runaround.

No, most states, including TN, allow direct access to physical therapy, so you can start without a doctor’s referral. If your insurance requires paperwork from a physician, we’ll handle tracking it down so it doesn’t hold up your care.

We’re in-network with Medicare, many Medicare Advantage plans, Tricare, and Blue Cross Blue Shield, and we verify your benefits before your first visit, so you’ll know your exact copay before you ever walk in: no surprise bills later. On an out-of-network plan, without insurance, or prefer to skip it? We also offer self-pay rates.

Wear something comfortable you can actually move in. Shorts are best if we’re treating a knee or hip, and a tank top or loose tee helps if we’re working on a shoulder or neck.

Your first visit, the evaluation, runs about 60 minutes. Afterward you’ll leave with a phase-based plan with an endpoint, not a guess, and not an open-ended string of visits. Most patients feel meaningful change within 4–6 visits.

It’s brief and localized: most people feel a quick twitch, then a wave of relief in that muscle. And it’s always optional; we’ll never spring it on you without explaining it first.

No. Every visit is one-on-one, hands-on care with a Doctor of Physical Therapy, never a tech handing you a printout. Your exercises are dosed specifically for you and progressed live as you improve.

That’s a fair question, and it’s usually the model, not you. A lot of clinics rotate you through techs and hand you generic sheets. Here, you get one-on-one time with a Doctor of PT every single visit, a thorough evaluation instead of a cookie-cutter protocol, and a phase-based plan with clear graduation criteria, so you always know why you’re doing what you’re doing, and when you’re done.

Book Your Visit

Ready when you are.

Request a time and a real person calls you back, usually within two business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.

  • (865) 351-0615 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
  • Same-week appointments available

5 · 553+ Google reviews

Typical response: under 2 business hours

Step 1 of 5

So we know who to look for when you walk in.