Community Highlights: Meet Dr. Jen Fraboni of The Mobility Method

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Jen Fraboni.

Dr. Fraboni, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story started before I even graduated as a Doctor of Physical Therapy. About seven years ago, I was in my graduate program and casually posting on this “new” platform called Instagram. My handle at the time was @jen_es_care because that was phonetically how you pronounced my last name. As a former gymnast, I was committed to maintaining some of my physical strength that I was very proud of. One day, I shared some of the skills I was working on a park bar and used some calisthenic hashtags I saw others using. Much to my surprise, one of the owners of a big calisthenics page at the time reached out and asked if I wanted to join them in a workout on Venice Beach. I was starstruck and honored to get to workout with some incredible athletes. Shortly after our meeting, Ken, the owner of @progressive_calisthenics, started sharing my skills and slowly, my Instagram page started to grow. From then on, I posted workouts, shared my calisthenics journey as I competed and learned new skills and was thrilled to continue meeting new friends from social media as I continued to work toward my doctorate degree. Once I graduated, I took a step back from social media. I assumed that phase had passed and it was now time to get serious as a new therapist. However, with encouragement from a friend (@vinnierehab) and fellow physical therapist who was gathering a rather large following, he convinced me to transfer my fitness page to an educational page.

As a nervous “new grad” with imposter syndrome, I reluctantly tried it out. I switched my handle to @docjenfit and started posting educational videos. Much to my surprise, these new videos garnered a much larger following. Eventually, I left my professional clinic job and took a chance with my own cliental. From there, I realized I had an opportunity to help people all over the world and really be able to teach more than the Instagram platform allowed. I quickly decided to launch my first program called The Mobility Method. The eager response to learn past social media was overwhelming and an immediate indication that this was needed. Since 2017, I have launched The Optimal Body Membership that continues to allow members to learn about their body through movement, exercise and education, The Optimal Body Podcast with my now husband and fellow physical therapist, Dr. Dom Fraboni, and we’re currently working on a new app platform to continue helping people relieve pain and optimize movement. I have been featured in Shape Magazine, Self Magazine, and in 2020, graced the cover of Oxygen Magazine. I’ve had the opportunity to be featured on Good Morning America and NBC. What started as a hobby alongside school has helped me impact lives all over the world. I couldn’t be more grateful for the work I get to do and it’s a special bonus that I get to do it with my life partner now as well!

Alright, 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?
The entire journey has been a huge learning process. My entire college and graduate time has been focused on the study of human movement and physical therapy. When I was asked if I would ever open my own clinic, I used to say, “Business? No, that’s over my head. I’ll always work for someone else.” I never thought I would be doing the work I currently do, let alone be the CEO of my own company. I can remember falling asleep on the couch out of frustration of trying to create a website. I have had to step out of my comfort zone numerous times to ask for help on how to launch an online product (huge thank you to Lori Harder for her support and guidance during this time). Furthermore, in the beginning of launching an online product, I had no email list, no Facebook marketing experience or help, and I was still working with private clients five days/week! The month leading up to the launch, I remember waking up crying and overwhelmed almost weekly. The road has felt daunting and extremely overwhelming at times. Yet, I’ve been more committed to helping people learn than to my own mess and process along the way. It’s been a journey and something I’m continuing to learn about everyday.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
The Mobility Method LLC is a business that has been created from my social media, @docjenfit. It is a place for people to come learn beyond a social media platform and really committed to understanding why their body might be in pain or even how to prevent future pains. Under this company, we have a program called The Mobility Method that allows people to self-assess where their tightest restrictions are along their body and what exercises they can implement throughout the day to help them relieve tension and improve mobility. We also have a subscription called The Optimal Body Membership that allows people to continue the journey of learning about their body on a monthly basis. Every month, they receive new functional HIIT workouts that can all be done in home, mobility flows for every part of the body, core workouts to truly understand how to lock in and build upon a solid foundation, and muscle activations to improve the neuromuscular control and awareness within the body. This allows people to continue learning about their body through guided cueing in workouts and exercise.

I am proud that as a Doctor of Physical Therapy, these programs are not about losing weight or looking a certain way, but truly about learning about their body, optimizing movement patterns and feeling something different through exercise and movement. People come to my Jen app, membership, The Optimal Body podcast and month long challenges, not just because of fitness and exercise, but because they’re ready to relieve pain and learn! As a physical therapist, it is my greatest accomplishment to receive feedback from members of our community that they have relieved pain or improved fitness goals as a result of improved movement patterns. My goal as a physical therapist is to teach people that they don’t need me to fix them, they just get to use my knowledge to facilitate the path back into their own bodies. I am excited to see how our community continues to grow with our new app and offerings!

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I feel fortunate to have grown up with the family and support I have always had. My parents required us to be in a sport from an early age through grade school and high school and I’m grateful for the work ethic this has taught me. I fell in love with gymnastics around age seven and continued until quitting at age 16. Gymnastics engrained commitment to our craft, excellence at all costs, integrity in our practice, and patience when things get hard or scary that I’m not sure I could’ve learned anywhere else. I afford much of my success to the mindset that was cultivated through this time in my life. Beyond sports, my parents expected high grades. As the youngest child of three, I grew up wanting to make my parents happy, follow the rules and was extremely introverted. Many people would hardly guess that I was a shy child with how I show up online now, but it has taken a lot of personal work and growth to get to the point I’m at now!

Contact Info:

• Email: jen@docjenfit.com
• Website: https://docjenfit.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/docjenfit/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/docjenfit/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/docjenfit?sub_confirmation=1
• Other: https://docjenfit.com/podcast/

Image Credits:
Sarah Orbanic (@sarahorbanicphotos) Dimyana Marie (@dimlitesnotwits)