March 14, 2017

Meet Raul Quintana of Balanced Bodyworks in Mar Vista and Sherman Oaks

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Raul Quintana.

Raul, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I began my career as Massage Therapist in 1999 after attending the Florida School of Massage in Gainesville, Florida. For several years I worked for a few chiropractic and physical therapy clinics. Along the way, I gained quite a bit of knowledge learning from the chiropractors and physical therapists that I worked with and began to get more detailed with my therapeutic massage. After a few years of working and many continuing education workshops, I returned to school at the University of Florida to get my BHS in pre-physical therapy. My last semester at UF I met the new sports massage teacher at the Florida School of Massage during a shoulder workshop. This sports massage teacher, Vincent Cambrea, became a mentor and introduced me to orthopedic massage and manual therapy as well as corrective exercise. I ended up completing a semester long internship with Vincent and that transformed my massage into more of an orthopedic and sports style of bodywork. After graduating UF, I was offered a position with the University Florida football team by Vincent which I declined because I had planned to move to California to pursue bigger opportunities in alternative healthcare.

I ended up moving to southern California and began to work at several spas in Los Angeles. The spa industry was not what I had expected and I was easily becoming burnt out and overworked with mindless massages that were more fluff and relaxing and less effective in resolving people’s aches and pains. I quickly looked for a different job as a sports massage therapists which I ended up finding with a sports massage company based out of Los Angeles. I quickly gained a following at the sports massage company and I was highly recommended by the owner and my clients. My word of mouth referrals grew quickly and I was seeing 75% of the clientele at the company. I also got another job with a training facility that trained professional football players and prepared them for the NFL Combine and their Pro-Days. This was a seasonal job at a company called Athlete’s Performance (now called EXOS). After 2 years of working for the sports massage company, I was looking to explore working on my own and growing a private practice that focused on helping all people with injuries as well as athletes. I felt it was time to move on and start my own bodywork company, which I named Balanced Bodyworks LA.

After starting Balanced Bodyworks LA, I was mainly working as a traveling sports massage therapist traveling to people’s homes and working part time at a physical therapy clinic in Marina Del Rey to supplement my income as I built my practice. I also took a job working as a break-dancer with an entertainment company called Real Genius DJs. I continued to expand my knowledge, experience and expertise in bodywork by consistently accruing hours of continuing education credits through orthopedic manual therapy workshops and various other training to enhance my skill level and to better serve my clients. After a year of doing house calls, I found a space to rent and hired another therapist who worked with me at the physical therapy clinic.

I developed Balanced Bodyworks LA with the goal of providing simply the best and most effective bodywork and manual therapy found in the Los Angeles area. Orthopedic Manual Therapy and Medical Deep Tissue are our signature styles of bodywork geared toward the needs of anyone with pain, active individuals, professional athletes, and amateur athletes. We are knowledgeable with the human body and can meet the needs of all types of people as well athletes of all of sports and levels. My mission is to help every client relieve pain, speed recovery, avoid injury, increase focus and improve upon their lives.

I believe that Orthopedic Manual Therapy and Medical Deep Tissue therapy enhances the body’s ability to heal itself and is of proven benefit to everyone suffering from pain or overuse injuries from repetitive activities such as sports, seated work, or typing.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Some of the struggles along the way were building a large enough clientele in order to be able to afford a nice office space. Not every client that I encountered or that was referred to me wanted a house call. I needed to find an office that was holistic, professional, and affordable. So after a year of house calls, I had to make a decision to take on a room in a wellness clinic and grow from there. I started with 2 days a week and ran several specials on a couple of different deal sites, knowing that my work was good enough to get repeat clientele from deal sites. Once, I started to get busier I brought 2 other therapist to work for me. We slowly built a following and began to expand our days until we were working and renting 7 days a week. Eventually, that led into my own office space within the same building.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Balanced Bodyworks LA – what should we know?
We specialize in Orthopedic Manual Therapy and Medical Deep Tissue Massage. These types of manual therapies are all anatomically specific types of deep bodywork that target and correct chronic pain conditions and help resolve soft tissue injuries. We are known for our great touch, specificity, and the ability to help clients even when other health care practitioners were unsuccessful.

Our staff has one goal and that is to reduce pain, improve performance and achieve optimal results. We are sports minded people who understand the human body and the way it is made to move. The bodywork session that we deliver is always designed and tailored to the client’s specific needs. Our bodywork helps people reach higher levels of physical and emotional wellbeing.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I believe that my school, the Florida School of Massage in Gainesville Florida, deserves a great deal of credit as they prepared me well for this profession. I believe that each teacher taught their subject with enthusiasm and passion. This motivated me to get better and better each day in order to be able to help people on my table. I also give credit to Vincent Cambrea, who was my friend and mentor, for giving me a Sports Massage internship and allowing me to learn that there is more to bodywork than just massage and stretching and that the strength component is just as important for balancing the muscles in the body. He also taught me about muscle testing and how to be more efficient with my work. Vincent help me become more knowledgeable in Sports and orthopedic manual testing. He also taught me to trust my knowledge and intuition when working with my clients.

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