Welcome to Body Awareness Physical Therapy - Offering Physical Therapy and Pilates to San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Dana Point, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.

Our Staff

Body Awareness Physical Therapy, Inc. prides itself in the quality of care provided by our highly trained licensed staff members. We believe that uniformity of our treatment philosophy is our greatest asset. Our staff regularly sets time aside to share knowledge, review case studies, and attend continuing education courses in order to best provide our patients with the highest level of care along with the latest advances in treatment techniques and research within the physical therapy field.

Click the names below for more information.

Chrissie Morgan, PT, Owner

Chrissie is a licensed physical therapist. She received a Bachelor's degree in Health Science with a certificate in physical therapy from California State University, Northridge. She went on to practice in the orthopedic setting specializing in sports medicine and orthopedics. Chrissie's work with overhead athletes allowed her to travel to France to treat and train professional water polo players for several years before opening Body Awareness Physical Therapy, Inc. in Costa Mesa, California in 2000. She opened a second location in 2004 in San Clemente, California.

Chrissie continues her love of treating shoulders while adding an interest in women's health and craniosacral therapy. She now offers a women's health specialty in both offices for prenatal, postnatal, and pelvic pain. She is one of the few physical therapists in California to treat male pelvic pain. Chrissie currently lectures yearly to the urology department of UCI Medical Center and well as functions as a teacher's assistant for continuing education courses of the Movement Balance System as developed by Shirley Sahrmann. She also lectures within the physical therapy community regarding shoulder rehabilitation and injury prevention. Other interests include working with the San Clemente High School Dance team in injury prevention and rehabilitation.

Chrissie lives in San Clemente with her husband and 2 beautiful children- Luci and Nathan. She enjoys spending time with her family, going to the beach, yoga, Pilates, hiking, jogging and laughing.

Mike Forsgren, PT, SCS, CSCS, Clinic Director Costa Mesa

Mike earned his undergraduate degree in athletic training and pre-physical therapy from Brigham Young University. He received his Masters of Physical Therapy at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Mike is one of only 708 people in America to earn the American Physical Therapy Board Certification (APTBC) in Sports Medicine and is one of only 5 APTBC’s here in Orange County. Mike also has specialization certificates in strength and conditioning and chronic pain management.

Mike enjoys working with a large variety of injures from college athletes and triathletes (including several ironman participants), orthopedics injuries, fibromyalgia/chronic pain and TMJ. He has presented at several Fibromyalgia support groups and volunteered his services as a sports medicine therapist to local community colleges in the Seattle area. In the clinic, he uses an array of manual therapy and exercise techniques. Mike has recently relocated to Orange County from Seattle, Washington where he had extensive experience managing outpatient facilities.

Mike fills his spare time trying to keep up with his 3 young boys. He also enjoys house projects, bike riding, golf and most any other activity that gets him outside to enjoy nature.

Melia Perrizo PT, DPT, OCS

Melia Perrizo studied at San Diego State University where she earned her Bachelor's Degree in Kinesiology/ Pre-Physical Therapy. She continued her studies at Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles where she earned her Doctorate in Physical Therapy. She completed a year-long post professional Residency at Kaiser Permanente, West Los Angeles, where she received clinical and didactic education from a clinical specialist in orthopedics. Melia is also board certified as an Orthopedic Certified Specialist (OCS).

Melia stays current in the field of physical therapy through her participation in the Orthopedic section of the APTA (American Physical Therapy Association) and CPPSIG (California Private Practice Special Interest Group). Melia has worked with a large range of orthopedic, pediatric and neurologic problems that range from weekend warrior and collegiate athlete injuries to post operative care. She uses techniques that include manual therapy, functional mobilizations, movement science, and craniosacral therapy.

In her downtime, Melia enjoys being active and outside in her local community of San Clemente. She can be found running, playing soccer, riding her beach cruiser or trying stand-up paddle boarding.

Melissa Matta, PT, MPT, OCS, CSCS

Melissa Matta, received her Bachelor's Degree in Biology from UC Irvine. She completed her post graduate studies at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California where she received her Master's Degree in Physical Therapy. Melissa has gained extensive practical experience working in outpatient orthopedic clinics in Orange County. She is a board certified as an Orthopedic Certified Specialist (OCS) as well as a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS).

Melissa enjoys working with athletes and a special interest in women's Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) knee injury prevention. She uses her first hand experience in having played division I soccer at UCI to enhance her rehabilitation knowledge and specificity of training techniques. Melissa also enjoys working with prenatal and postnatal patients as she has 2 children of her own. She has also has specialty training in the area of breast care after reconstructive surgery for cancer patients.

Melissa enjoys hiking, snow skiing, Pilates, spending time at the beach, and spending time with her husband and 2 children, Spencer and Keira.

Lynzi Irvine, PT, DPT

Lynzi earned her Bachelor's degree in Exercise Sports Science/Pre-Physical Therapy at Vanguard University. She received her Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree from Chapman University. Lynzi specializes in orthopedic physical therapy and women's health.

Having experienced the pregnancy and birth of her son (now 2 years old), Lynzi has especially enjoyed working with pregnant and postpartum patients. Going through the process of childbirth has given her a new perspective on her passion to educate, train and treat pregnant and postpartum women and make their pregnancy and recovery after child birth as comfortable and complete as possible.

Lynzi enjoys spending her free time at the beach with her family; running, kickboxing, snowboarding, knitting, playing poker and anything active.