Sports Manual Therapist / Rehab & Performance

Ascension Performance is a sports-focused manual therapy and strength & conditioning practice working with athletes and active adults throughout San Diego.

We're looking for a Sports Manual Therapist to join our growing team.

A massage therapy background provides a great foundation for this role. We're looking for someone who is excited to build on that foundation and develop deeper skills in sports manual therapy, biomechanics, movement assessment and rehabilitation.

Our approach goes beyond simply treating where someone hurts. We want to understand why someone is having a problem, assess the movement patterns and biomechanical factors that may be contributing, create a plan to address them, and help that person progress toward becoming stronger and more resilient.

Manual therapy is an important part of that process, but it works alongside assessment, movement, strength and progressive loading.

You don't need to know all of this on day one. We will teach and mentor the right person. We're much more interested in finding someone who is curious, coachable and genuinely excited to develop these skills.

The Role

You'll work one-on-one with athletes and active adults while collaborating closely with our owner/manual therapist and strength & conditioning coach.

We want you to take ownership of the people you work with, understanding what they need, developing a plan, tracking their progress and helping guide them through the rehab process rather than approaching each treatment as an isolated session.

As you develop in the role, you'll learn to:
• Assess movement and biomechanics
• Use orthopedic and functional testing to help guide treatment
• Identify relevant movement patterns and contributing factors
• Develop treatment strategies based on your assessment
• Use manual therapy purposefully within a larger rehab plan
• Retest and objectively track progress
• Understand strength, loading and exercise progressions
• Recognize when someone is ready to transition from the treatment table toward the gym floor
• Collaborate with our strength & conditioning coach to help clients return to training and performance

You'll spend plenty of time providing hands-on treatment, while developing the assessment and clinical reasoning skills that help determine what to treat, why you're treating it and what comes next.

Mentorship & Development

Mentorship is a major part of this position.

You'll have opportunities to shadow treatments, work through assessments, discuss cases, learn our approach to biomechanics and clinical reasoning, and receive ongoing hands-on mentorship in the clinic.

We don't expect you to arrive as a finished sports manual therapist. We're looking for someone who enjoys learning about the body, movement and performance and wants to continue developing as a practitioner.

Active Release Techniques (ART) experience is preferred but not required. We're willing to help subsidize ART education for the right practitioner.

What We're Looking For
• Certified/qualified massage therapist
• Strong interest in sports manual therapy, rehabilitation and performance
• Interest in biomechanics and human movement
• Experience with athletes or active populations preferred
• Curious and interested in assessment and problem-solving
• Positive, energetic and personable
• Coachable and eager to improve
• Strong communication skills
• Comfortable collaborating with practitioners and coaches
• ART experience is a plus

You don't need an extensive sports rehab background to apply. If you have a strong hands-on foundation and want to expand your skills into biomechanics, assessment, rehabilitation and performance, we'd love to hear from you.

Schedule & Growth

This will start as a flexible part-time position as your schedule grows.

Ascension will help provide and build your caseload, you will not be expected to build a practice from scratch.

You'll also have opportunities to represent Ascension at paid local sporting and community events, working directly with athletes and building relationships throughout the San Diego sports community.

There is significant room for the position to grow as your caseload develops, including increased compensation, greater responsibility and continuing-education support.

Benefits
• Opportunities for advancement
• Hands-on clinical mentorship
• Professional development assistance
• Continuing-education support
• ART education subsidy opportunities

License/Certification
• Massage Therapy License/Certification (Preferred)

We're looking for someone who wants to become an important part of what we're building at Ascension.

Pay: $35.00 - $60.00 per hour

Benefits:
• Opportunities for advancement

Application Question(s):
• What interests you about sports biomechanics, injury rehabilitation and movement assessment, and how would you like to develop those skills?

License/Certification:
• Massage Therapy License (Preferred)

Work Location: In person