LevelUp Physical Therapy opened its doors in Ruckersville one year ago. This week, co-owners Martine Barre and Natasha Pena celebrated their first year with an official Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting at the business, which is located off Route 29 North behind Fabio’s Pizza.
“I think this was a tech company previously … there used to be a garage door right there at the front, and then there was a wall that kind of went right down the middle,” Pena said. “And it had really bad linoleum flooring.”
The duo enlisted the services of handyman Buddy Barre, who not only replaced the flooring but built in a wall and two private exam rooms, adding large mirrors to one wall of the adjacent fitness space.
Both ladies are licensed physical therapists and have been in practice for more than 10 years.
“We were working at a corporate PT clinic, and we both left because the corporate model is trying to see as many patients as you can every day,” Pena said. “You have anywhere from two to four patients in an hour, so you see roughly 16 to 24 patients in a day. … It’s not bad therapists; it’s just a different model than what we thought patient care deserved.”
People are also reading…
With the support of their husbands, Pena and Barre branched out to open up their own practice where they only work with patients one-on-one.
“We see one patient an hour (each) and it just allows us to work with people—give them that care that we feel like they deserve,” Pena added. “And we are able to get them better faster because we are spending an entire hour with just one person. We’ve gotten a lot of good, positive feedback from patients; they really feel like it’s a place that they can come and really get the attention that they deserve.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, LevelUp’s one-on-one model made it easier to adhere to social distancing and masking guidelines, as there are already separate therapy rooms for each practitioner to work with her patient. Both practitioners are fully vaccinated and they say their patients are as well, so with recently relaxed guidelines they are no longer requiring masks except by personal preference.
Pena said that many patients found them at their new location after working with them in their previous Charlottesville-based business, and the client base has just spread by word of mouth since then.
“Virginia is a direct-access state, so you don’t have to have a referral from your physician; you can just come in,” she said.
In addition to rehabilitation services from injuries or surgery, LevelUp offers balance training, health and wellness classes and pain management services and they are also available via telehealth. They are also contracted in network with Medicare and Tricare but can work with other insurance plans as well.
For more information on LevelUp Physical Therapy, visit levelupptva.com or call (434) 939-9524. The office is located at 6420 Seminole Trail, Suite L4 in Barboursville.
