Dr. Dan Serban
Dr. Dan Serban was born in Romania and raised in Canada, earned his physical therapy degree at the University of Oradea, and moved to the United States in 2020, where he completed his Doctor of Physical Therapy at Northwestern. Three countries, one consistent conclusion: people recover faster when they understand what is happening inside their own body. That is why so much of a visit with Dan is spent explaining. If you have been told your spine is crumbling, or that you should give up the thing you love, he will walk you through what the tissue is actually doing, what hurt means and what it does not, and where your real limits sit right now. Confidence is not a pleasant extra in rehab. It is often the thing standing between you and loading that joint again. Alongside the teaching, his clinical interests are firmly hands-on: manual techniques for stiff, guarded joints, nerve stretches for the symptoms that travel down an arm or a leg, and TMJ work for jaw pain, clicking and the tension that rides along with it. Care here is one to one, and the person who evaluates you is the person who treats you, so the reasoning behind each step never has to be rebuilt from scratch at the next visit.
Dan treats pain education as part of the treatment, because a patient who understands what their tissue is doing will move it, load it and trust it again far sooner than one who has only been told to rest.
What guides the work.
Nothing gets done to you here without a reason you could repeat back to someone else. Dan sets baselines at your evaluation and re-tests them as you go, so you can see whether the plan is working rather than wonder about it, and when something is not moving, the plan changes instead of the timeline stretching. Illinois is a direct access state, so most people can begin physical therapy without a physician referral. Some insurance plans still require one before they will pay, which is why we verify your specific benefits before your first visit and tell you exactly what is covered, what is not, and what you would owe.
Life beyond the treatment table.
Dan's time away from the clinic goes to his family and to the outdoors. Camping, hiking and backpacking are the standing plans, the sort of long days on foot that are a great deal more fun when your knees and your back are not negotiating with you the whole way. He plays guitar too. And if you want to watch a treatment session turn into a friendly argument about how a story should end, ask him about Breaking Bad, Suits or LOST.
