Our Staff
Mary Engles, MS, PT, OCS, MTC
Mary established Sports Arena Physical Therapy in 1989. She is an orthopedic certified specialist with over 30 years experience. Mary graduated with honors from the University of California San Francisco Med Center and began her practice here in San Diego at the newly opened Veterans Medical Center. Mary availed herself of every opportunity offered at this teaching hospital before choosing to develop further clinical skills in orthopedic and sports medicine. With this in mind, she traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to be a member of the charter class of the Institute of Health Sciences where she received a master’s degree in orthopedic physical therapy and a manual therapy certification. Mary taught kinesiology and therapeutic exercise for orthopedic diagnoses for 10 years in the Physical Therapist Assistant program at San Diego Mesa College. Before opening her own practice, she worked at several orthopedic and sports medicine private practices throughout San Diego County. Mary is highly skilled in pinpointing the source of a problem, designing and implementing a regimen and rapidly progressing a program to relieve symptoms and restore function.
Alicia Ryden, PT, MPH
Alicia joined SAPT in 2002 as an aquatic, geriatric, and women’s health specialist. Alicia has 30 years of broad experience in general and pediatric orthopedic practice. She uses her background in synchronized swimming to develop interesting and effective aquatic therapy programs for individuals with arthritis, low back pain and a variety of other conditions. Alicia received her physical therapy training at the University of Michigan and completed her master’s in public health at SDSU.
Linda Christensen, PT, CHT
Linda is one of just a few physical therapists who are also certified hand therapists. Linda had her own general orthopedic practice in the Hillcrest area before limiting her practice to upper extremity problems. Linda has 20 years experience in dealing with complex hand injuries and surgeries. Linda brought her practice and expertise under our roof in 2002. She is a graduate of the physical therapy program at the University of Colorado.