Physical therapist grows with the company

Name: Ted Kepros

Title: Clinic Director and Physical Therapist

Company: Physiotherapy Associates

Address: 4700 Tama Street SE, Suite 700, Cedar Rapids

Phone: (319) 447-0700

Website: www.physiocorp.com

Elevator Pitch: Tying together rehabilitation, prevention and performance

CEDAR RAPIDS - Ted Kepros laughed when he recalled that he began his medical career cleaning tables and doing ultrasounds for $8 an hour for Physiotherapy Associates.

“Actually it was probably around $6.50 an hour,” he added.

“Physiotherapy Associates came to Cedar Rapids in 1991, and I've been with them since 1992.”

He completed his undergraduate work at Lawrence College before attending the University of Iowa for his physical-therapy training. Postgraduate work at the University of St. Augustine in Florida helped him obtain his Advanced Manual Certification, then he returned to Physiotherapy Associates as a physical therapist.

Physiotherapy Associates, originally owned by Stryker Corp., the medical-device manufacturer in Portage, Mich., but now held by an independent financial group, operates 694 clinics nationwide that employ physical therapists to provide a variety of physical therapies, sports-injury rehabilitation and work conditioning.

“When I became the associate director, I opened the small clinic at the South MAC - it was actually 3 days a week for 2 hours a day,” he said. “I paid $2.50 to use their equipment each time I used it with a patient, and I was in a little room the size of a tanning room, maybe 6 by 8.

“Today our South MAC site is our second-busiest clinic,” he added, “and it is being expanded again.

“When we decided to open more locations in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City area, I opened 4 additional sites all on the same day,” Kepros recalled, shaking his head. “It was an interesting day, but lots of preparation went into it and we had good leaders in place, so that helped.”

Physiotherapy Associates today operates in a half-dozen locations in the Corridor.

Kepros principally works at their North and South MAC locations in Cedar Rapids, in addition to overseeing all the clinics as well as continuing to see his own patients 32 to 40 hours per week.

“Years back I treated an 80-year-old woman who had a frozen shoulder. I treated her and then she said she wanted to learn how to lift weights,” he said.

“I'll never forget every day seeing her come into the clinic. She would go down onto the floor and exercise. It was the first time in her life she'd ever exercised.

“That was a moment for me.”

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