About Us
Dr. Amy Benton, DPT, CMPT, CSCS
Licenses and Certifications:
- Doctor of Physical Therapy
- Certified Manual Physical Therapist (CMPT)
- Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS)
- Functional Movement Screen (FMS) certified
- Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA) certified
Amy Benton is the Chief Clinical Officer and the Head of Dance and Performing Arts Rehabilitation. As a former dancer and performer of over 20 years, she understands the intricate needs of performers. She provides the highest level of physical therapy and performance training to athletes and dancers looking to reach their goals in the studio, on stage, and in competition.
Amy graduated from Simmons College in 2008 with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy. She is a Certified Manual Physical Therapist (CMPT), Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), and a dance rehabilitation expert.
Amy provides hands on Physical Therapy treatment, performance coaching, recovery and injury prevention guidance to active people, athletes, and performing artists in the clinic. She also designs and delivers dance specific, cross-training and educational workshops geared towards helping dancers recover from injury, build strength, reduce injury risk factors, learn new techniques for safe flexibility, develop athletic skills, and improve overall performance.
Outside the clinic, Amy is the Physical Therapist for The Portland Ballet, and serves on their Board of Directors. She works backstage with performers touring on Broadway, and with companies performing in the Portland area. Amy is a health care provider featured on the Dance Wire health care network, and an active member of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS).
In her free time, Amy enjoys dancing, rock climbing, aerial acrobatics, Yoga, running, lifting weights, and traveling with her family and friends.
Matthew Marino
Licenses and Certifications:
- Licensed Physical Therapist in Oregon & Washington
- Personalized Blood Flow Restriction Rehabilitation certified
- Certified Performance and Sport Scientist (CPSS)
- Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS)
- Tactical Strength and Conditioning Facilitator (TSAC-F)
- Certified Personal Trainer (CPT)
- Oxygen Advantage Advanced Instructor
- Functional Movement Screen (FMS) certified
- Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA) certified
- Fundamental Capacity Screen (FCS) certified
- Y Balance Test (YBT) certified
- TrainingPeaks Level 1 Coaching Accreditation
- Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE)
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Matthew Marino is the Chief Executive Officer and Head of Performance. Matt started out in the fitness industry as a personal trainer in 2001. He graduated from Northeastern University with a Masters in Physical Therapy 2006, and has experience treating patients in orthopedic, industrial, neurological, and long-term acute care settings. Matt has completed decades of post graduate training and holds numerous advanced certifications. Matt is passionate about helping people heal, improve overall health, and perform at the highest possible level.
As a Physical Therapist, applied sport scientist, performance coach, and professional ergonomist Matt splits his time inside and outside the clinic and gym, combining rehabilitation, science, coaching, and injury prevention to deliver a unique spectrum of services.
In the clinic and gym, Matt helps clients understand how all of the body’s systems work in tandem. He uses cutting edge technology to test and analyze key health and performance indicators. Movement, cardiovascular, respiratory, and metabolic function are all considered together with the demands of sports, work and life. Matt digs deep into both physical and physiological capacities, helping patients and clients set their baseline, determine their profiles, track changes over time, identify unique areas of dysfunction, inefficiency, or weakness, and perform targeted treatment or training. By targeting the highest priority limitations and attacking their root causes, patients and clients recover and return to sports or work quickly, prevent future injuries, and optimize health and performance.
Because breathing limitations and respiratory dysfunction seriously hamper the health and performance of many patients and clients, Matt has made breathing evaluation, breathwork, and respiratory performance training an area of focus in his clinical practice. The integration of breathing practices within comprehensive treatment, strength, and conditioning programs has been a game changer.
Outside the clinic and gym, Matt is an internationally recognized expert in ergonomics, specializing in design, testing, and implementation of wearable sensors, and wearable assistive technology like exoskeletons and exosuits in clinical and workplace environments. Matt leads Prime’s technical consulting group which focuses on workplace health, safety, ergonomics, and the application of wearables, exoskeletons, and other types of safety technology.
Matt became interested in medical exoskeletons in 2011, and began working with occupational exoskeletons in workplaces as a consultant in 2015. Since then he’s introduced exoskeletons to hundreds of unique companies in various industries, and has trained and fit devices on thousands of people and counting. He’s assisted with hundreds of exoskeleton trials and dozens of longer term field studies. He’s authored and coauthored scientific research in multiple peer reviewed publications. He regularly presents his work at conferences, and he is a respected educator and practitioner.
In 2019, Matt joined HeroWear as their first employee and Director of Ergonomics and Human Performance. He spent 3 years helping to grow the company from an early stage start up, designing and testing exosuits for lower back injury prevention, and assisting companies, workers, and military personel with training, fitting, field studies, and implementation. Matt has been an active member of the ASTM F48 Committee on Exoskeletons and Exosuits since its 2017 inception, and in 2019 he became a founding partner of the ASTM International Exo Technology Center of Excellence, where he continues to be dedicated to building and energizing exo technology, research, standards, and applications for the good of humanity.
Matt grew up as an athlete playing numerous team and individual sports including baseball, soccer, hockey, basketball, lacrosse, golf, cross country, track and field, and more. He is a member of the Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue Team. In his free time he can be found seeking adventure outdoors, climbing, running, hiking, biking, paddling, skateboarding, snowboarding, camping, and enjoying life with his beautiful wife, two awesome kids, and phenomenal friends.