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Above photo by Lindsey Clark.

A physical therapist for nearly four decades, Dr. Bente Dahl-Busby has always had a passion for health, wellness, and movement. As a gymnast, horseback rider, gymnastics teacher, and dancer throughout her upbringing and adolescence in Denmark, she desired a career that would combine academics with these interests, empowering her to help people foster a healthy life through movement. Ultimately, physical therapy was the avenue she chose to accomplish this, but since then, her work has encompassed a range of disciplines and movement techniques.

At the beginning of her career, Bente was working in mostly private practices, including one that she operated with a partner in Sharon, CT, for 23 years. When that endeavor came to an end, she sought to pivot, looking at physical therapy, movement education, and various types of movement from a holistic standpoint. She explains that while her initial experiences were great, working within the limitations framed by the insurance system and managed care didn’t allow her to give her clients all that she felt they needed to take away from a session. 

A comprehensive approach to movement

Her model seeks to give clients and participants insights that they can apply to their daily life after each and every visit. Having the space and flexibility to teach was central to this aim, as Bente had always enjoyed teaching, but found it difficult to incorporate movement education into sessions before she opened the Danica Center in September 2015.

“Every person who walks out from a session or class at Danica should have had a movement experience or a piece of knowledge that’s new to them, or an ‘aha’ moment they haven’t had before,” she reflects. “When I built this, it was really with the purpose of it being a place where people could feel welcome when they came in – and become inspired to feel well in movement and daily life for as long as possible.”

To accomplish this, the healing and rehabilitation facilitated through physical therapy at the Danica Center is directly connected to the way that movement and well-being are taught and developed. This all-encompassing model is focused on various types of movement without making strict distinctions between them. 

“In essence, we’re looking to achieve a positive movement experience,” Bente underscores. “It’s learning and experiencing how to move with greater ease and comfort. And it doesn’t matter if it’s yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, or other types of working out. The principles of being able to better organize our body are the same in terms of alignment, balance, breathing, flexibility, strength, proprioception (that sense of where we are in space), and appropriate movement patterns that are safe, functional, and efficient.”

Danica’s dynamic team

This vision has since expanded as Bente’s daughter, Dr. Sabina Busby, joined the team as a physical therapist. From early on in her career, Sabina expressed an interest in the same overall spectrum of care in which her mother has specialized, and Sabina has since earned board certifications in orthopedic rehabilitation and pelvic health physical therapy as a women’s health clinical specialist and orthopedic clinical specialist. Both Bente and Sabina are Polestar graduates and nationally certified Pilates teachers too. “It’s beyond wonderful in so many ways to have her working here with me,” Bente beams.

Donnell Oakley more recently joined the team in 2023. As a skilled and certified Pilates instructor, Donnell teaches at Danica a few days a week, instructing a popular Saturday morning class as well as one-on-one, duo, and trio Pilates sessions with equipment. When it comes to expanding further, Bente says, “The goal is to continually be able to give every person who comes in that same high-quality experience.”

Bente’s background in Polestar Pilates and Tai Chi chuan training and practice played a pivotal role in developing a vision for the Danica Center that recognizes the interconnectedness between physical therapy treatment and the movement principles that help us live a more balanced day-to-day life.

“One of the things that is wonderful about our set-up is that we can be seeing someone who is coming for Pilates, and if we identify something that needs intervention in terms of physical therapy, we can decide, ‘Let’s go that route,’” says Bente. “With our training and experience, you never say, ‘Today I’m a Pilates teacher,’ or ‘Today, I’m a doctor of physical therapy.’ We’re always everything we’ve ever learned, and it is this integrative approach that we feel is so beneficial for our clientele and what sets us apart from other settings.”

Understanding the physical therapy experience

For those unfamiliar with physical therapy sessions, Bente outlines that a typical session lasts for at least an hour and initially consists of a patient history and assessment to determine the appropriate treatment. The patient’s personal goals are at the center of the treatment plan. Treatment options include many types of manual therapy, like myofascial release, dry needling, and craniosacral therapy, as well as educating the patient about what’s going on in their body, instructing in movement and gait patterns, and establishing exercise programs for the patient to perform at home.

As an extension of these healing practices, Bente points out that a majority of physical therapy patients also do movement work that teaches the inner workings of motion, from the connections between tissues, bones, and joints to the flow of energy, breath, and movement patterns.

“Pilates is not only a good mode of exercise, but it’s also an excellent way of helping people develop new movement patterns. If you injure yourself and then you heal, you might go back to the same patterns of movement that got you injured in the first place. Pilates offers a way to change the way we are wired to more appropriate, efficient, and safer patterns of movement so that we can do the things we love to do for a long time,” she explains. “You can learn to perform movement in a way where the whole body and mind are connected, where we extend our awareness into every part of the body, and where all tissues are engaged.”

A lack of insurance-based restrictions help to further facilitate a holistic view of rehabilitation and movement at the Danica Center. In addition to enjoying full access to movement education of many types, you can be treated from a whole-body standpoint, rather than focusing on a single injury or body part. “We see the body as a whole, where we can treat everything and anything at the same time,” Bente reflects. “We’re so fortunate that a person can choose to continue in this setting for as long as they feel the treatment or movement session is beneficial to them.”

If a patient decides to participate in classes and practice Pilates or Tai Chi as a continuation of physical therapy, they can even submit claims to their out-of-network insurance providers (excluding Medicare) and receive coverage. This vertical integration allows for the opposite to be true, too: if a Pilates student begins to feel like they might need physical therapy treatment, that option will always be available to them at the Danica Center.

Emphasizing movement quality, safety, and efficiency

When it comes to options for classes, the Danica Center offers weekly Tai Chi balance classes and Pilates mat classes at different levels. With 12 to 15 people per hour-long class, the Pilates experience is much less concerned with “feeling the burn” in your abs or glutes. Rather, research-based movement principles, which serve as a common thread through all the work at Danica, promote mobility, breathing, and the discovery of the appropriate amount of support in your body so that you can move in all ways that you need, functionally and safely. 

Although no two classes are exactly the same, these principles remain as a central pillar, and the classes incorporate all sorts of props to make them fun and to help deepen the movement experience, from different sized exercise balls and MELT rollers to the Oov and TheraBands. As a part of the comprehensive Polestar Pilates school of thought, Bente illustrates that physical, mental, and spiritual alignment lies at the core of their Pilates approach.

From Polestar Pilates and movement science research, Bente explains that they always integrate new information that comes out about connective and nerve tissues, muscle fibers, joints, and more, to their practices. In this way, their methods are always evolving and becoming increasingly effective while still being rooted in the same goals. “When we move, we want to find that place and experience where our movement, our body, our mind, and our breath are one and the same.”

The brain’s response to imagery is one such effective application: for instance, Bente might tell you to imagine a tray of teacups balancing on your shins as your legs are bent mid-air at a 90-degree angle, or roots extending into the ground from your feet to better conceptualize the stability of your standing position and your relation to the ground.

You can also schedule single, duo, or trio sessions using Danica’s Pilates equipment. These apparatuses include trap tables, reformers, chairs, spine correctors, and ladder barrels, which were originally made by inventor and creator of the exercise method Joseph Pilates, and the CoreAlign, which was devised by a physical therapist.

The use of equipment not only helps to promote spinal alignment and articulation while encouraging controlled and segmental movement, but it is also a way of building functional strength. “It all hinges on that sense of awareness of where you are in space, the intent of the movement, and offering support to the spine so that when we are standing or moving, the spine is safe in all planes,” Bente emphasizes.

The overall appearance of these devices, with their springs and straps, can feel formidable; however, the use of this equipment is meant to better inform the Pilates experience and make movement easier, not more difficult. “When you move in space and when you’re moving on the mat, it’s really more challenging because you’re having to figure out where to be in space,” Bente observes. “The equipment gives us information as to where we are and helps us to move better.”

The very same principles of movement apply to the weekly Tai Chi classes, which are particularly beneficial to those looking to stand sturdier with improved balance, and, in the process, move in an overall more intentional, balanced, and safe way, with goals of decreasing fall risk and maintaining or increasing joy in movement as we age.

Multifaceted treatment, aligned with your goals

To determine if Danica Center’s services are right for you, there are several aspects to consider. You might be someone wanting to heal an injury and pain, or you may be looking to move more freely and in a more functional and balanced way – or you could simply be seeking to enjoy your favorite hobbies for a long time. The Danica Center can, via physical therapy, Pilates, or Tai Chi, help truly anyone with their concerns in a dynamic and educational environment.

It’s also important to note the sheer number of reasons that pelvic floor therapy can be beneficial to one’s well-being. Whether someone is pre- or postpartum; has had a difficult pregnancy or a C-section; is experiencing incontinence, pelvic floor prolapse, pelvic pain, or constipation; is pre- or post-menopausal; or has had prostate or abdominal surgery, this form of therapy can be incredibly helpful.

Sabina had a moment to chime in during this discussion, and she emphasized that oftentimes people don’t even realize they can be helped by this kind of therapy or even that there is treatment available for this wide variety of pelvic floor-related issues. The Danica Center works not only to inform people throughout treatment about what the pelvic floor is and how it works, but also to dismantle the stigmas surrounding this therapy. You can receive specialized treatment and information about these issues from a board-certified doctor of physical therapy right at the Danica Center.

Looking forward at the Danica Center

In the future, Bente hopes to incorporate more teaching and workshops into her schedule, including osteopenia and osteoporosis-focused classes about bone building and the importance of retaining muscle mass and strength. She also hopes “that people in our community and beyond will continue to use us as a rich resource helping restore health and functionality so they will be able to move with spontaneity, pleasure, and safety for a long time.”

When it comes to the most rewarding part of the Danica Center, Bente says she feels grateful to have a place in the community where she truly gets to know her clients, understand their needs and wishes, and foster strong connections through her work. Patients and clients come from near and far to work with the practitioners at Danica Center. She feels truly accomplished watching people experience “aha” moments, where the movement education and strategies are suddenly clarified and understood in a client’s mind.

The Danica Center is a clear reflection of Bente’s passion and care for the surrounding community, and she feels incredibly fortunate to be able to share her services and expertise. “I’m really truly so privileged, and I feel so honored that people want to come here and that they come back again and again. How lucky am I that I get to hang out with all these wonderful, interesting people? And I get to know them really well,” Bente muses. “It’s a huge privilege that I will never forget, not for one second.”

Danica Center for Physical Therapy and Movement Education is located at 101 Gay Street in Sharon, CT. To learn more, please visit danicacenter.com. You can get in contact by calling (860) 397-5363 or sending an email to danicacenter@gmail.com.