Mike Rich, PTA, ATC/L
Education:
Bachelor of Arts (Minor in Science) — Arizona State University (1990)
Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) — Arapaho Community College (2005)
Mike Rich brings a combination of education, experience, and vision to the organization. Mike graduated from Arizona State University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education and a minor in Science. It didn’t take Mike long to establish himself as a defining member of the sports medicine community. As Head Athletic Trainer at John C. Lincoln Hospital, Mike proposed and integrated a sports medicine contract for the Paradise Valley School District. This vision provided athletic trainer coverage for their sports teams.
Later that year, he and two partners opened SPORT Rehabilitation Institute, a physical therapy clinic in Mesa. During that time, Mike became a teacher/athletic trainer at Gilbert High School, where he designed and implemented a sports medicine curriculum in the secondary schools while overseeing course instruction and the student trainer program. Mike previously served as District Athletic Trainer for the Gilbert Unified Schools and was responsible for overseeing the individual school trainers, formulating the district sports medicine budget, and educating the coaches in basic sports medicine concepts.
In 1994, Mike and his partners opted to merge their growing number of local physical therapy clinics with Physiotherapy Associates, a national group based in Memphis. He served as a Director for the firm until 2007 when he opened Restore Physical Therapy. In 2010, Mike took over management of the Justin Boots SportsMedicine Program. With his increased workload managing two companies, he chose to merge Restore Physical Therapy with Spooner Physical Therapy, due to like-minded patient first and patient care philosophy.
Mike has been involved with Mobile Sports Medicine Systems Inc. since 1990. Better known as the Justin Boots Sportsmedicine Team, this company has provided traveling medical coverage for professional rodeo (PRCA), bull riding (PBR), ski tours (Chrysler Pro Downhill) and motor sports events (Nascar and PPG Indy Car). In addition to the sports already mentioned, Mike has worked with trainers and physicians in a wide spectrum of professional sports. He worked with the team trainer and physicians of the Phoenix Roadrunners of the International Hockey League in the treatment of their players while being seen at the Lincoln Institute for Athletic Medicine. In this same capacity, he worked with the California Angels and Milwaukee Brewers organizations with Major League Baseball. He assisted tour medical personnel in the recognition, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries sustained by professional volleyball players for Phoenix based tournaments of the AVP Volleyball Tour, as well as the Budweiser 4-Man Volleyball Tour. Mike has also traveled overseas providing medical coverage with the ATP pro tennis tour.
Mike has served on the AZATA Board of Directors as the Clinical/Industrial representative for two consecutive terms (91-99), and served two terms as a representative on the NATA Clinical/Industrial/Corporate Committee.
With twenty-three years of experience in medicine from high school to professional levels in many sports, and from hospitals to outpatient clinics, Mike has always enjoyed helping the patients. It is rare to encounter a person with education, experience, vision, and compassion, and Spooner Physical Therapy is honored to have Mike on their team!