Dr. Nicole Aho was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. She has played a variety of sports over the years, basketball, soccer, squash, and track and field. Although she has never had a serious injury of her own she witnessed countless injuries of teammates and family members alike, and became fascinated by the role a physical therapist plays in early on prevention and the road toward recovery. However, it was not until her grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s that she saw the vast scope of a physical therapist’s capabilities and the positive effects they have on enhancing a patient’s quality of life.
She earned her bachelor degree in Physiology from San Francisco State University in 2015. Throughout her undergrad, she worked as a physical therapy aide in a variety of inpatient and outpatient settings which included: orthopedic, oncology, cardiopulmonary, and sports medicine settings. She helped empower her patients by listening to their concerns and demonstrating an optimistic, compassionate, and friendly outgoing demeanor. She continued her passion for becoming a physical therapist and accepted an offer into the number one doctor of physical therapy program in the nation – University of Southern California (USC). She recently received her Doctor of Physical therapy in 2021. She was exposed to a vast amount of patients of all ages in her 3 years at USC working with patients in Surgical ICU/NICU/ICU, cardiopulmonary, orthopedic, and neurology combined with hippotherapy (physical therapy on horseback). While at USC Nicole enjoyed giving back to the Los Angeles community, by volunteering her time during the Special Olympics Southern California, Life Rolls On, and USC Fit Families program. She believes in the altruistic approach when treating all her patients and providing excellent patient centered care focused on evidence based practice. Her treatment approach utilizes movement analysis, neuromuscular reeducation, an inpidualized therapeutic exercise program, and manual therapy techniques including joint and soft tissue mobilizations and manipulations in order to provide her patients with the tools they need to succeed and reach their goals. During her free time, Nicole enjoys spending time with her family and friends, playing all types of sports, traveling to new places around the world, cooking and going on food adventures, and being outdoors hiking or on the beach.
