Bodyful Physical Therapy and Wellness

Dr. Steffen was great for helping me manage my pelvic floor pain. She's patient and encouraging, takes the time to get to know you and your condition, and asks for your consent and input throughout the session. I appreciated her holistic approach to treatment, and she also does a lot of continuing education which she incorporates into her professional practice. If I could give more stars I would!

Really, really wonderful practitioners at this office. I was put right to ease, being talked through all there is to know about pelvic floor therapies and how best we will work together. The knowledge from the female doctors is astounding, scheduling is easy and communication is great. Highly recommended!

This is my second pregnancy and I have been struggling with persistent pelvic pain, this time being able to receive Dr. Marissa's guidance, advice and support has been incredibly helpful. Not only I feel her care, support and real deep knowledge, but I am also learning so much about how to perceive my body and heal in a way that is completely new to me. With the internal work, which I was nevourse at first, (mostly due to past unpleasant gynecological experiences) I felt safe and comfortable, always in communication to what I was sensing and comfortable with. This allowed me to really identify the source of my pain and apply the exercises in a way that I could understand it with my whole body. I am very thankful for this experience.

First of all, I can't get over how cool that experience was! I had never been to a pelvic floor PT before, and it was such a lovely experience. I want to send everyone I know to see Karah. She's incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the care she provides. It was so refreshing to slow down and truly pay attention to my body. I can't wait to refer my own patients to Bodyful, ensuring they receive the comprehensive care we all deserve.

Dr. Karah Charette has worked wonders for me! She not only treated my pelvic pain and dysfunction, she gave me tools and stretches to alleviate and prevent more pelvic pain in the future. She also helped me treat persistent bloating (I didn't even know you could use physical therapy to fix that one!) and back pain. I was nervous seeing a pelvic floor specialist at first, but her compassionate, somatic approach to therapy helped me relax and get the most out of my treatment. Like many, I have had some not-so-great experiences in medical settings, and she patiently listened to my anxieties and tailored our sessions to suit me. For example, I told her my response to being put in unfamiliar situations was to tell a lot of corny jokes, and she gave me an in-depth explanation on the benefits of diaphragmatic breathing and encouraged me to be still, both of which helped me get the best out of our sessions. Also, an extra bonus to nervous drivers everywhere, this area of Oakland tends to have plenty of street parking. I've never had to park further away than one block.

I really enjoyed working with Karah - her knowledge is so valuable and holistic, always approaching the body as a whole. She specifically worked with fascia and visceral techniques for my gut and menstrual pain and it was very helpful and effective! I love the emphasis on the nervous system and how she touches on so many different fields - from yoga to dance to somatic practices to medical treatments. Couldn’t recommend her enough!

Dr. Karah is an excellent pelvic floor PT and I especially appreciate how comfortable she made me feel from the start. The session was a great combination of teaching me about what would help me, as well as really effective hands-on release work. She listened carefully and I could tell she was sincerely invested in helping me. She was super helpful with my issue and she has such a positive, caring attitude, that I have a more positive association with my body after working with her. If you suffer from pelvic floor issues, and have hesitated getting help, I highly recommend Bodyful Physical Therapy and wellness. Dr. Karah is the best!

I want to highly praise Dr. Karah Charette for a beautiful session that supported healing my neck. Karah is a humble, brilliant and empathetic practitioner whose attunement and listening skills put me at ease as soon as I walked in. She was able to approach my chronic neck pain from many lenses, her physical therapy as well as a gentler somatic modality called Body, Mind, Centering. She described her work with people's core systems to work on the neck and hip biomechanics and any coordination issues that might exist, as well as the low back. We got on the floor and studied the anatomy of my neck, so I could get a visual and felt-sense of my ligaments there. With that sense, I am more prepared to let them hold the stress in my neck rather than the muscles needing to do the work. Then, she placed her gentle and wise hands on my neck and we used somatic visualizations to coax my nervous system to relax around my tender places. Her presence is so calming and her language invitational. I felt that I left with a greater sense of empowerment in how to guide myself to relax my neck, a more vivid map of my anatomy, and well, less neck pain. It was so much goodness in one session. I left feeling super centered, with significant reduction in my neck pain, and with a lot more awareness of the ligaments. Having a visual map of that area will help me relax it more effectively in the future. I recommend Dr. Karah wholeheartedly! -------