Dr. Joseph Westlake, PT
“My passions at the time were simple: staying active, working towards successful returns to competition, and making connections with people. Being confined to a desk didn’t cut it for me.”
Bienvenido - Mi Historia
Physical therapy found me long before I knew the name for it. My family pushed me into sports, which meant plenty of time in the trainer’s room. My dad went through multiple joint replacements, yet always bounced back to hiking, coaching baseball, and shooting hoops at Rowland Park. My godfather gave me my first job making cast moldings for the kids he treated in the clinic attached to his home — and the PTs he worked with seemed like absolute angels.
Watching people recover, especially my dad, lit something in me. Afternoons working with my high school athletic trainer, Cindy, I fell in love with the grind of rehab and the feeling of getting back to sport. At SUNY Buffalo, mentors helped me see PT as a real career. I knew early: I wanted to stay active, work with people, and help them get better — not sit behind a desk.
Once I started practicing, I ran into the same frustration again and again: insurance companies limiting care for people who desperately needed it. Decisions made by strangers who never met my patients. Denials for care that could change lives. That frustration is what pushed me toward advanced training and my fellowship in orthopedic manual physical therapy.
After working across more than a dozen clinics, gyms, hospitals, and medical centers, a few things became clear:
My best work happens with true one-on-one time.
The fewer patients I see in a day, the faster they get better.
Hands-on, individualized care helps people get off pain medications sooner.
Patients thrive when I can guide them, treat them, and truly know their story.
And honestly? I’m tired of insurance companies telling you that you need to jump through hoops — seeing a doctor, waiting for hours, getting limited to one body part — just to get the care you already know you need. I joke about it, but that’s the reality of our healthcare system. Enough is enough. Jay West Physical Therapy exists to cut through the nonsense, get you what you need when you need it, and move on with our day.
Because what are the alternatives?
Getting trapped in the cycle of prescription pain meds?
Jumping straight to surgery without exploring conservative options?
Falling through the cracks of a system that doesn’t always put you first?
YA BASTA.
I’m not pursuing more training just to hang another degree on my mother’s wall. Yes, I want to have some of the best hands in the game — but my mission is bigger than that. I want to show you that you do have options. I want to help you understand your body, protect yourself from recurring injuries, and get back to what you love.
If I can do that for every patient who walks through my doors, the paradigm will shift. People will start seeing themselves the way I do — holistically — and I truly believe things will change for the better.
Jay West Physical Therapy is my attempt to create that change, for you and for me. A clinic built around time, attention, hands-on skill, and humanity — where you come first, always.
Dr. Joseph “Jay” Westlake, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT
“I want to help you through those tough, recurring, nagging injuries so that you get back to what you love.”