I’m excited to bring you another local business profile–this time it’s Elevated Physical Therapy & Fitness in Westminster. I had seen their sign on Main Street in Westminster and was curious. Then one day I was at a listing appointment, sitting with some potential sellers and the wife mentioned that they had an appointment with Tinos so they needed to watch the time. Who was Tinos, and why were they both going? Well, it turned out that the 70+ year-old couple goes for personal training at Elevated Physical Therapy & Fitness. They talked about how much they look forward to their sessions and the results they’re seeing. That motivated me to find out more, and was actually part of the impetus for me doing my now regular local business profile stories.
So, two things here. 1. I decided to do a Q&A with David Frasier, owner of Elevated, which is located at 51 Main Street in Westminster. 2. I also decided to investigate the possibility of committing to sessions with a trainer. Stay with me here, since I’m not the type, but it’s working!
When I was younger, I could eat anything I wanted – – I’m tall and was always able to maintain a consistent weight and shape even with very little attention paid to what I ate or my level of physical activity. Somewhere around 50, I noticed that I probably needed to pay closer attention.
It wasn’t until 55-year-old me had decided to get on the treadmill that I actually started paying attention to nutrition and general fitness. To make the time pass more quickly, I watched the Mel Robbins Podcast on YouTube while reluctantly clocking my time on the treadmill. I watched podcast episodes about the negative impacts of a sedentary lifestyle as we age, how certain foods affect us in a positive way, why visceral fat is something I should pay attention to, why protein makes a big difference, the effects of alcohol on the body, and so much more.
From there, I also started following a few doctors’ podcasts after seeing them talking with Mel. My gut told me that if I didn’t want to end up with health issues later in life, I should probably be somewhat intentional in my activities. I have been lucky so far, but who knows how long that will last. I decided to hold myself accountable for something, but I wasn’t exactly sure what that would look like.
Remembering my listing appointment with the husband and wife who were actually looking forward to their fitness sessions, I set up a consultation with David Frasier, owner of Elevated. It was free and I didn’t feel at all obligated to sign up, but I wanted to explore what I might get out of spending some time at Elevated.
David recommended Shea Callahan, who is a physical therapy assistant who also does personal training. I now meet with Shea once a week to learn how to stretch and lift, and then she gives me specific directives and exercises to do at home. They’re all very customized and targeted in order to meet my goals. My specific goals are pretty loose. I want to make sure that I’m mobile and healthy as I get older. But, quite specifically, I also said I’m sick of having grandma arms. Nothing against either of my grandmas, but I’d like to be a little more toned than they were. The things I’m now understanding about physiology and body mechanics are fascinating. I also now pay attention to macros and have had a pretty easy time eating my recommended amounts of protein (140g/day!).
It’s all become very interesting to me, the once a week commitment at Elevated is manageable and I can fit the at-home exercises in pretty easily (very little equipment needed). I’m not very far into the commitment, and as both David and Shea said would happen, since I’m coming from a place of ‘never worked these arms before’, I’m seeing some pretty quick and noticeable changes.
Now to get to my Q&A with Dr. David Frasier. I asked a lot of questions, and decided to remove the questions themselves because his responses were so readable without you even knowing what my questions were. I hope you learn something, I hope it inspires you, and if you decide to check it out, tell David you read about Elevated Physical Therapy & Fitness here!
Your Background and What Brought You Here
I took about the longest path to being a physical therapist as possible due to a few circumstances: I began college as a wrestling scholarship hopeful and redshirted my freshman year as a walk-on. By my junior season when it was clear I wasn’t coming back from my shoulder surgery on a timeline that would make sense to continue, I retired from wrestling but had to remain on a 5 year plan for my Bachelor’s degree.
After that, I took a gap year to work as an aide in a hospital before finally being accepted to Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) in Worcester for PT school. After completing my three years there, I bounced around a bit trying to find the right fit for me and my preferred way to practice, and unfortunately didn’t find anywhere around here that I fully agreed with.
Although the therapists I met along the way were fantastic and helped me grow as a clinician, I always felt I wanted to give more to my patients, and the business models I was in did not allow for that.
After burning out HARD throughout the Covid pandemic, I nearly left the profession in 2022 before deciding if I was going to be miserable I would just do some per diem work for more money and more time with my family. I soon realized this would be temporary as well because I was still very unfulfilled by my work.
I couldn’t stop thinking that I could give people more if all the red tape was gone.
While still working per diem, I began planning the start of Elevated in my basement office through tons of research and engaging with some business coaching. This was all in the name of improving my understanding of how to properly run a business while maintaining my own ethics and community service ideals.
Through our first few years I’ve learned how much the business side has to matter, but ultimately have realized what my gut has been all along: provide the community with valuable help, knowledge, and a novel service, sometimes pro-bono, and they will build you up via word of mouth referrals and outstanding lasting relationships. We’ve been transforming how people think about physical therapy and personal training ever since.
The Work Itself
At Elevated Physical Therapy & Fitness we provide 1:1 physical therapy and personal training services for 60 minute sessions. Our goal is to build you up, both physically and mentally, to improve your confidence, self efficacy, and knowledge around fitness and physical rehabilitation. During an initial session, especially when someone may be in the “gray area” between PT and training, I spend a decent amount of time getting clear on why you’re looking for help, what your goals are, and the story behind your symptoms if they are present. I often have most of what I need after that interview portion, but will sometimes do an objective assessment of strength, mobility, and any special testing that may be needed for a diagnosis.
We encourage everyone to begin or continue training while working with us for physical therapy. Some already have coaches or a gym membership, so we can work closely with the team they’ve already got established. Others are brand new and start with us then can continue on with our trainers, or even begin training concurrently for maximum collaboration. A typical patient will work with us for 3-12 months in the physical therapy side of things, and many of our training clients stay on indefinitely because of the stellar service that they can’t find elsewhere.
Getting Started — The Practical Stuff Readers Need to Know
In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (and nearly all states at this point), you do not need to see a physician prior to seeing a physical therapist. We are adept at diagnosing neuromusculoskeletal conditions, and sending someone to the appropriate specialist if it’s outside our scope of practice. One caveat, your insurance may require a referral and prior authorization to cover anything.
We operate on an out-of-network basis with insurance companies. This means that I do not have a contract with any of them. This is by design so that they are unable to restrict visits, deny interventions that we deem necessary, or otherwise manipulate care to fit within their, in my opinion, disingenuous rules. The transaction will be between you and Elevated, and we will provide you with invoices that contain all treatment and diagnosis codes for submission to your insurance, as needed.
The first step to get started with us is to book an initial phone call with me to discuss your needs and goals, and be clear on the next steps. This is free of charge or any pressure to start working with us. It’s just an informational call for me to make sure we’re the best fit for you, and point you in the right direction if not.
Once you schedule an in-person evaluation, you are committing only to that visit, not a full plan of care. This helps you make an informed decision where I can be very clear about how many sessions we will need to meet this goal, your cost for that, and give more information about our ongoing or concurrent services as needed.
If that plan we come up with together makes sense to you, we enter into a full plan of care, which by default is 12 weeks unless a more custom situation is needed. If appropriate we use one of our packages: 10, 15, or 24 visits over that 12 week period. When you complete that initial package, you can continue on for as long as you need or would like to, either with ongoing physical therapy care or with personal training. These rates are discounted even further as you’ve now spent quite a bit of time with us and I understand it can add up long term. We offer ongoing physical therapy on a weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly basis, as well as training services up to 2-3x/week.
Your Clients and Their Stories
We have a wide range of who we work with, and that’s what keeps it fun and fresh. There are unique challenges working with a high school athlete hoping to earn a scholarship, the middle-aged parent who is trying to find the fitness routine that works for them after being relatively sedentary for a decade or two, and powerlifters and CrossFitters who are pushing their body to the limit. Each of these demographics challenge us in different ways to provide value to them, and ultimately we get to give them tools to be happy, healthy, and active.
One patient in particular comes to mind when I think of our success, and I’m happy to report that the story is becoming more common. This person was dealing with debilitating chronic low back pain. They couldn’t garden, participate in the fitness activities important to them, or even walk or do gentle yoga. After a lot of education and slowly reintroducing movements as able, this person went from being unable to move through their daily life, to lifting hundreds of pounds off the ground deadlifting and little to no pain day to day.
We have a few core tenets that help describe why it is important to train and how this experience might be different than other clinics or gyms nearby:
- Rehab is training, training is rehab. Fitness is a continuum, being injured shouldn’t mean being inactive, and being pain-free does not mean maintenance is unnecessary.
- If nothing changes, then nothing changes (your routine and general health will impact your pain and strength gains more than most exercises or manual therapy we can do).
- Splitting care up a la carte is unnecessary and could lead to worse outcomes. We include nutrition education and advice that is within our scope, programming for your independent training routine, sleep hygiene education, and any rehab/activity modifications into every plan.
- 2 days/week of lifting weights and 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week will reduce all-cause mortality. You are literally less likely to die–it’s that serious.
- Do what’s right for the patient, even if it occasionally negatively impacts the bottom line. (Comp a session, help after hours if available, share some valuable knowledge that we could charge for. This will improve that person’s health, experience, and those gestures will be returned to us down the line through that person who now knows we can help next time they need something).
Looking Ahead
One thing we’ve considered doing in the future is moving to more of a timeline/outcome based model of care rather than number of sessions. For example, a typical chronic issue takes longer than that initial 12 weeks to get fully under control, but that 12 weeks can be a good starting point for many. Having a 6 or 9 month option for someone ready to deep dive into this issue or coming off a surgery would be great for all involved.
Our workshops have slowed down a bit this year due to being VERY busy (a good problem to have), but we are often hosted by other local gyms and studios such as Fitness Concepts, Zen Yoga, and CrossFit EXP. We also have some virtual and/or in house ideas planned for down the road. The best way to stay in the know is to subscribe to our newsletter!
Five years from now? If we are still at capacity and helping the community be more active with less pain, that is a win in my book. Ultimately we’d love to have even more space and equipment to meet the needs of the people we serve, so we continue to invest in ourselves and our space to maximize what we can do!
Your Own Words
This is obviously coming from a place of bias, but I strongly believe that the best investment you can make is into your own body. Whether it’s money, time, education, or something else, investing in your body will only lead to positive things for you. There are A LOT of snake oils and misinformation traps out there in the fitness and rehab space, none of which we subscribe to. You will get a no-nonsense approach here, rooted in science and built for each individual who walks through the doors, as we are all unique in what we need to feel our best.
Most of what we do is relatively simple, can be done independently, and is not gatekept from you. We actively share the information we use to help everyone and ourselves. None of this is a secret and all of it can be found online, the secret to our success is the small tweaks in the plan along the way when things inevitably get shuffled, accountability to your plan, and a strong support system and community to keep you moving forward.
How Will People Find You?
We are located at 51 Main Street, unit C in Westminster, right next door to the Westminster Café and Jen Aube’s office. You can read more about the team, book a consult, or sign up for our newsletter at our website at www.elevatedptfit.com. I can be reached directly via text/phone call at 978 245 5500 and via email at davidfrasier@elevatedptfit.com. Finally, links to our socials can be found below:
- Elevated Website
- Instagram- Elevated We also have professional accounts for everyone on the team!
- YouTube
- Google Reviews
Did you like this story? Read more BUSINESS PROFILE stories here!
Editor’s Note: I always encourage readers to do their own due diligence before hiring any business. My endorsement of any business is limited to my own experience with the people and/or the business. If I’ve personally hired a business in my Business Profile series, it will be detailed in the story.
