

Today we’d like to introduce you to Leo Matsumoto.
I was born and raised in Japan and moved to Hawaii when I was 12. Growing up, I played a variety of sports throughout high school including karate. I moved to the Pacific Northwest for college and after changing my major 5 or 6 times, I received my bachelors of science degree in Accounting from Oregon State University. After graduating, I still didn’t feel accounting was the right fit for me, so I decided to pursue a career following my own interests in health and fitness as a personal trainer.
During my time as a personal trainer, I found myself getting injured (I threw my back out during a lifting session) and that is how I was initially introduced to chiropractic care. As I was getting my own chiropractic treatments, I realized that exercise and nutrition alone was not enough to achieve the ultimate goal of being healthy and pain-free. I started to learn more about the root causes of injuries/conditions which stem from physical, chemical, mental and emotional stressors that can all impact your body. That’s when I decided to further my education and went to University of Western States in Portland, OR and completed my Doctor of Chiropractor (DC) degree.
Shortly after graduating from chiropractic school, my wife received a great opportunity to move to Long Beach, CA–and so in August 2016 we did. My wife is a SoCal native, but I didn’t know anyone except for her and her family. To help me get familiar with the area and get my chiropractic career started, I did a few associateships and independent contracting jobs for the first few years, and at one point I was a clinical director at a physical medicine office where I managed a team of nurse practitioners, chiropractors, and physical therapists. However, I always knew that I wanted to start my own practice, so I took the leap in December 2019 when I opened New Era Chiropractic.
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?
It hasn’t been a smooth road at all! And if any entrepreneur says starting your own business will be smooth sailing then they are lying.
When I first started my business, I was working at another office as an independent contractor and didn’t put too much time and effort into working on my business plan. I had to learn from my mistakes along the way. I learned never to undervalue the quality of care I give my patients and not to underestimate myself. I learned this the hard way from the time I offered Groupon deals. Though affordable to my patients, it resulted in a loss of over half my profits. It also made it harder for patients to understand how I offer quality care at a value to them even without a Groupon. I also spent a few thousand dollars on TV marketing ads at a big box gym which got me ZERO patients.
In the beginning, I didn’t know who I wanted my target audience to be. I was just trying to treat anyone and everyone who wanted to come see me, so I didn’t know how to properly advertise. In hindsight, had I spent more time on my business plan when I was getting started, I could have avoided learning these lessons the hard way.
I will say that some of my first patients have been so loyal and supportive and are now regulars–and I couldn’t be where I am now without some of my OG patients! I appreciate each and every one of you!
Please tell us about New Era Chiropractic.
I came up with my company name, New Era Chiropractic because I’m not an old school traditional chiropractor who only treats spinal injuries. I am a Certified Chiropractic Sports Practitioner (CCSP), which means that I specialize in not just treating and adjusting the spine, but extremities such as your shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, and ankle issues, typically resulting from sports injuries. I’ve been told by all of my patients that they have never received a treatment quite like mine and that I offer more specialized adjustments they haven’t been given before.
What sets me apart from other chiropractors, is that I typically spend 1 hour with new patients, and about 20 minutes with returning patients, since this extra time lets me understand the root cause of their problems. My typical appointment includes thoroughly reviewing a patient’s medical history, completing an orthopedic exam and assessment, providing spinal and extremity adjustments, muscle work, and mobility and strengthening exercises for the injured area(s).
A lot of people have this misconception that when you get injured, you should restrict movement and focus on rest. Though partially true, in most cases you should actually start moving and strengthening the area as soon as possible to speed up recovery. Most of the injuries I see in my office are due to microtrauma/overuse, the lack of range of motion, and/or the injured area not being strong enough. This is where my years of experience as a personal trainer come in handy since I also tend to prescribe corrective exercises to my patients so we can address the root cause too. I always encourage my patients to complete the exercises I assign and stay physically active since the more they do the right exercises, less they have to come see me! Like my slogan says, “a body in motion stays in motion!”
I also have a Radiology Supervisor and Operator certification, which allows me to take X-rays in the state of California, but I typically refer my patients outside of my practice for imaging (like X-rays and MRIs) since they could need more attention. In general, I like to focus on my stronger skillset of chiropractic care and working as a team with my patient’s other health service providers to make sure they get the best care overall.
What makes me proud of my practice is that I still get to treat a wide range of people and that I can still treat anyone who needs my help and care. For a sense of scale, my patients range from kids to senior citizens with severe scoliosis. I even have patients as big as 7 feet and 400 lbs to as small as 2 ft and 50 lbs. I treat veterans, healthcare professionals, amateur and professional athletes, barbers, and hairstylists and plenty of other professions too. Anyone and everyone is welcomed at my office. I also treat my patients’ children under the age of 12 for free.
Though I am not a veteran, I choose to work closely with the veteran’s community. On every first Tuesday of the month, I visit U.S. Vets Inc. in Long Beach, which is a veterans housing community organization led by Arthua Lara (who is a veteran). During these sessions, I treat the veterans and the staff there for free. On every 4th Friday of the month, I also go to Long Beach Coffee and Tea, which is owned by Tom West (also a veteran) and his wife Shannon, to educate veterans about health, chiropractic care, and I offer free treatments. I love working with both organizations because they are committed to doing awesome things for both the city of Long Beach (like with youth and transgender groups) and the veteran community, which is always inspiring. I take pride in knowing I’m doing my part in supporting our veteran community since they always do so much for our country.
Pricing:
- Initial Exam and Treatment – $120
- Standard Treatment – $70
Contact Info:
- Address: 28924 S. Western Ave., Ste 101
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275 - Website: www.newerachiro.com
- Phone: 4243349909
- Email: drleo@newerachiro.com
- Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/ newerachiropractic/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/ newerachiropractic/ - Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/
biz/new-era-chiropractic- rancho-palos-verdes-2
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