/ team
Physical therapist
She works with people who move a lot — yoga, stretching, dance, running — and at some point start hearing complaints from their body. And separately with women after childbirth who feel their body never came back to itself.
The first visit is UAH 2,000: a movement assessment, a trial session and a plan. No prepaid packages.
/ what people come with
Not the diagnosis on a referral, but the way people describe it themselves.
/ a typical mistake
Daryna calls this the most common reason people come to her later than they should.
Most often they wait far too long for it to pass on its own. Or they try to solve the problem with one thing: a pill, an ointment or a random set of exercises from the internet. Relief comes briefly, and the cause stays where it was.
«The body likes a comprehensive approach. You rarely find one single cause that explains everything: movement, strength, mobility, load, recovery and even how a person uses their body every day — all of it is part of one story».
Daryna Popova/ case
One case Daryna tells when she explains why time is needed.
A woman came after knee surgery — she was injured during shelling. At the first meeting the knee bent about thirty degrees, and she was already afraid full movement would never come back. The hardest part was that precious time had already been lost.
They came back step by step: movement, then strength, then confidence in the leg. In the end she returned to her usual life — and decided to add sport to it, where she now sees her own progress.
«A person often comes not just for movement in a joint. They come to get back confidence in their own body».
Daryna Popova/ boundaries
Written in her words — we softened nothing.
«Professionalism is not about helping everyone, it is about recognising in time when a person needs a different specialist».
Daryna Popova/ result
Not «it does not hurt today», but the moment when movement stops being an event.
/ path
A medical university, surgery and intensive care, volunteering and private practice.
Institute of Medicine, Medicine program, master’s degree, completing in 2027.
Surgery No. 2, septic surgery and intensive care — rehabilitation nurse.
Head of the youth health center: projects on prosthetics, recovery after war-related injuries, postnatal conditions.
Active volunteer, pre-hospital first aid instructor.
Tennis elbow, recovery after knee surgery, postnatal rehabilitation, multiple sclerosis, stroke, impingement syndrome.
/ outside the clinic
A question clients ask more often than you would think.
She used to dance a lot and ride horses — that is where her sense of her own body in space and her understanding of how varied movement can be come from. Now the base is strength training and work on movement control. And sometimes she goes back to dance, simply because it is a pleasure.
/ booking
Ninety minutes, after which it is clear what exactly provokes the symptom and what to do next.
First visit — UAH 2,000, 90 minutes · Kyiv, Pechersk
/ questions
The first question is word for word the one Daryna hears at almost every consultation.
The same exercise can be excellent for one person and completely wrong for another. The question is not whether it is «good» but what problem it is meant to solve in your case. Bring it — we will look at it together.
That is decided at the assessment, not by the calendar: what matters is how the abdominal, pelvic and back muscles work right now. Come in — we will look and tell you where it is safe to start.
Often the issue is not that a person moves too little but the opposite: there is enough stretching and load, but not enough strength, movement control and recovery. Then adding more stretching does not help.
Daryna works through movement, load and exercise. «Adjustments» and sharp manipulations are not her method: the goal is for the body to cope on its own rather than need help every week.
