Voyage LA just published an article highlighting the beginnings of NeuroSport and what makes us unique.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason and Nicole Cozby.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Jason and Nicole. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
The start of NeuroSport Physical Therapy was not a direct path. We have been working in the physical therapy field for many years now, either as physical therapists, consultants, professors, or researchers.

This diversity of work experience has allowed us to take a unique approach to understanding our areas of specialty. Those experiences have helped us to define our vision, understand our goals, and it has shaped our business model.

For four or five years we had been tossing around the idea of starting our own physical therapy business. We would often talk about how we would like it to look, feel, and operate. But, no matter how much we talked about the new business idea, it never gained traction. Fast forward to one year ago, we were living in Long Beach, CA and decided that it would be best for us, and our kids, to move closer to our families. Nicole grew up in the Pasadena area, and we have always loved visiting the area. So, within the matter of one week we put the house on the market, started looking for places to live and we decided to begin a search for possible business locations – all while Nicole was pregnant with our second child.

We are still not sure if we were brave or crazy to take on all of this at the same time. Either way, we moved to Pasadena and started or physical therapy business on the border of Pasadena and South Pasadena, all around the birth of our second child.

The passion behind our business model is to create an environment where we can help people with care delivered at an exceptional level. We know that if one’s mobility is limited it is hard to participate in life and do the things they love. And, we both went into the physical therapy profession because we love helping people, and we enjoy the critical thinking involved with the process of physical therapy.

However, health care, in general, has a very sterile and impersonal feel, and many businesses are rushed, leaving little time for direct patient care. That is where we decided to do things differently. We created a boutique practice that allows the patient time to explain their story, and it gives us the time to truly problem solve how we can help. Also, our clinic provides a light and happy atmosphere where people can feel more relaxed. We have been very lucky to find a location that is centrally located, easy for parking, easy access in a modern loft-like space. Rarely a day passes without someone commenting that our office left them feeling better and more positive – and that kind of feedback makes it all worth it.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Actually, it has been a smooth road. That is not to say it has been easy. Starting and running a business is extremely laborious, stressful, and much harder than it looks.

Every little task takes so much longer because there are seemingly a dozen smaller tasks that have to completed in order to just check one item off the to-do list. But, we both work amazingly well together and we have been able to divide and conquer many of the difficult tasks related to starting and running a business. Also, we have an amazing network of people who have helped us along the way with developing procedures, establishing contacts, helping refer business, idea and conceptual development, etc. We could not say it has been a smooth road if it were not for all of them helping us along the way.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about NeuroSport Physical Therapy – what should we know?
First of all, we are physical therapists and many people have confusion about what is physical therapy. It is hard to explain all that we do, but in a nutshell, physical therapists are focused on trying to improve how people move and participate in life. Thus, treatment techniques are focused on promoting the ability to move, improve balance, reduce pain, restore function, and prevent disability. So, if someone is having difficulty playing with their kids or grandkids, is unable to exercise, or has difficulty working or performing their everyday activities then we are able to help.

We are a husband and wife team, we are both physical therapists, and we both received our doctor of physical therapy degrees from the University of Southern California. But, beyond those initial similarities, we have very different backgrounds and areas of expertise. Nicole has spent the majority of her career working with patients who have balance and neurologic conditions, which she has developed over a very rigorous and diverse work experience. Jason has spent most of his career practicing in orthopedics and sports as well as teaching at the University of Southern California as an adjunct professor in the division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy.

We are known as a clinic with expertise in both neurologic and orthopedic physical therapy, as well as the unique blending of those two philosophies to allow us to treat people at a much higher level. This requires a more thorough clinical reasoning process, but the results are exceptional and that is very rewarding for us. We are very proud of the fact that we personalize our approach to patient care, we personalize the entire patient experience, and we evaluate the entirety of the patient condition to allow for optimal results. That alone sets us apart, and as we mentioned earlier one of our biggest goals was to start a business that was different than your typical physical therapy practice. Thus, the name NeuroSport was adopted in an attempt to explain what we do in our business, even though it is not apparent to most people.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Grit! We have learned that the one thing most important to our success is to not let the little obstacles slow us down or deter us from achieving our vision. The biggest thing we realized when we started our business is that there are always challenges and road blocks. Nothing is easy, and every task is so much harder than one would imagine. That realization was frustrating at first. But, with tenacity and perseverance we realized that anything is achievable and you just need to keep your head up, work hard, and things will all work out. We consider owning a business akin to running a very long marathon, and one needs to pace them self to avoid fatigue, burn out, or just wanting to quit. With grit anything is possible.

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