Helping People Live Life Again Without Limits
By Matt Beardmore
Kim Nartker knew she wanted to pursue a career in healthcare while growing up, but she was unsure where that would take her.
As the proud owner and creator of Stretch Mobility Coach in West Chester, Nartker could not be more energized about the new direction her business has taken over the last few years.
In the late 1990s, Nartker decided to become a Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA), but with the school near her hometown of Plains, Georgia being unaccredited, an opportunity to move to Hawaii presented itself and she ended up moving 4,500 miles away to Honolulu. Nartker spent three years in the Aloha State, graduating from the University of Hawaii’s Kapi’Olani Community College’s Physical Therapist Assistant program while serving as the Class President of the program.
Nartker’s passion had always been in orthopedics, but the pay for PTA’s working in ortho did not provide a living wage. She advanced through skilled nursing and finally landed in home healthcare. Nartker was married in 2012 and moved to the Hamilton area. She knew she wanted to do more to help people and home health was not where she felt she could help, so with her passion in orthopedics and expertise in health wellness and fitness, she set out to combine those into a PT clinic. In 2013, Nartker opened Stretch Physical Therapy and Total Wellness.
What Nartker learned, though, during the early stages of her business was that PT treatment was limited in large part to what clients’ insurance companies would pay for, and how that limitation was preventing clients from achieving their desired outcomes.
“When clients were finished with therapy, the physical therapist would tell them they were discharged and they just gave us this deer-in-the-headlights look,” Nartker said. “I wanted to create a business that was disconnected from what insurance would pay and what a client actually needed and wanted.”
Nartker then made the decision to step away from traditional PT when she realized her client base was not looking for reactive care but rather preventative services that could provide long-term benefits that prevent orthopedic surgeries and other invasive procedures.
This led to Nartker creating The Stretch Mobility Coach™ and The Stretch Method® in January 2020. Developed similar to CrossFit, PTAs are trained to become a Certified Stretch Mobility Coach so they can provide The Stretch Method through their affiliate license.
“The Stretch Method is a proven system that is backed by science that takes a person experiencing pain and tightness through a proven program that finds the root cause of the problem, then rebuilds the neuromuscular system to a healthier state allowing a person to live life again without limits,” Nartker said.
Some of the additional benefits of The Stretch Method, Nartker said, include increased joint mobility throughout the body, improved sports performance, long-term flexibility and sleep, and breaking the degeneration cycle while rebuilding the neuromuscular system.
The number of client visits varies based on their problems and goals, but Nartker said it typically ranges from 8-12 sessions. Clients in the West Chester location – now called The Stretch Mobility Coach – work with Nartker’s team, which includes two Stretch Mobility Coaches and a Stretch and Mobility Specialist.
“If you walk into the clinic, everyone loves us and loves being there,” Nartker said. “It fills my soul.”
Nartker feels similarly about being able to share her message and training techniques to a wider audience. She already has seven affiliates (PTAs) across the country who have completed the Stretch Method training and become certified Stretch Mobility Coaches, and every week she works with 10-15 additional PTAs who are looking to follow that same path.
“I’m hoping to have Stretch Mobility in every town across the U.S.,” Nartker said. “I feel like I have this opportunity to help people, so now it’s my duty and obligation to help people around the U.S. to achieve the same type of results.”
For more information on the Stretch Mobility Coach and the Stretch Method, please visit https://thestretchmobilitycoach.com.