Eric Kopp can trace his career path back to a sports injury. A lower back injury from rugby, to be exact.
The 35-year-old Andover resident changed gears in college to major in physical therapy. He is now partner and clinic manager of ProEx Physical Therapy in Farmington, a therapist-owned company.
“It was a time when I was starting to work out and see my body change from exercise,” Kopp said. “I became more inclined into figuring out why I was getting pain which exposed me to chiropractics and physical therapy.”
Kopp graduated in 1995 from the University of Connecticut with what he described as “the most competitive major at the time.”
Kopp completed a two-year fellowship and became a certified orthopedic manual therapist and also a sports conditioning specialist.
“I was able to learn advanced manual therapy techniques in that specialty within a specialty,” he said. “I felt like I was developing a special language with the body and with patients.”
Kopp worked in a “single-man outfit” at the UConn Health Center in East Hartford and also at Physical Therapy Partners in Avon as a clinician.
His current role is one that combines treatment with administration as well as therapy education.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with this arrangement,” Kopp said. “For five years I’ve been dying to do this but didn’t have the means or opportunity.”
The clinic has been open for four weeks and Kopp has juggled the responsibilities of scheduling, bringing in equipment and talking to doctors for referrals in that time.
“I see myself evolving as an educator, someone that partners respect and admire,” Kopp said.
Kopp is also promoting a physical therapy curriculum that embodies things he learned through his mentors.
“I’ve done educating on a collegiate level and through lecture circuits,” Kopp said. “I want to stretch it long-term and make a series of this educational format with mentorship involved.”
“I love treatment and I never want to step away from getting my hands dirty,” he said.
Emily Boisvert is a Hartford Business Journal staff writer.
