Dr. Jennifer Brown, PT: Rewiring Movement To Turn Back Aging and Neurological Setbacks

Dr. Jennifer Brown, PT: Rewiring Movement To Turn Back Aging and Neurological Setbacks

What if expert therapy met you at your front door and trained your brain and body together? That simple idea drives this Good Neighbor Podcast conversation host Bob Blaisse has with Dr. Jennifer Brown, PT, DPT, GCS, founder of Dynamic Home Therapy and Neurofit, a practice she built for seniors and people living with neurological conditions who want to move better, speak clearly and stay independent. In this episode, Dr. Brown shares how her mobile outpatient model turns real-life spaces into a training ground for safer steps, steadier transfers and stronger routines, while the clinic anchors community and ongoing progress.

Hear Dr. Brown break down how physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech language pathology combine to tackle balance, gait, strength, voice, swallowing and cognition. Instead of a one-size-fits-all plan, you'll learn how Dr. Brown's team targets the goals that shape daily life: getting off the floor, cooking without fear of falls, projecting your voice at the table and protecting energy for the moments that matter. This conversation includes talk about aging in place, smart equipment choices, wheelchair evaluations and the practical difference between Medicare Part A home health and Medicare Part B outpatient services delivered in the home or at the clinic.

In this episode, you'll also learn about Dr. Brown's Neurofit community-driven approach to long-term wellness. From Rock Steady Boxing for Parkinson’s to cognitive brain games, voice groups, mindfulness and virtual classes, the focus is on sustaining gains long after insurance ends. With satellite locations and flexible options across the region, the message is clear: don’t wait for decline. Train it back with evidence-based care, accountability and a plan that fits your life.
 
If you’re caring for a parent, navigating Parkinson’s, MS, dementia or stroke recovery, or simply feeling the first signs of aging, this conversation offers concrete steps and renewed hope. 

Dynamic Home Therapy and Neurofit
511 Old Lancaster Road, Suite 12, Berwyn, PA 19312
LiveDynamicNow.com
Info@LiveDynamicNow.com
610-225-2451

--- About The Show--- Good Neighbor Podcast is a spotlight on local businesses in and around Delaware County, PA (“Delco” ) and Beyond...  The executive producer and host, Bob Blaisse, is a community sponsorship advocate, business branding specialist, and publisher of several hometown magazines, including: Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, mailed monthly to more than 12,000 homes in Western Delaware County, PA, and also available for reading online.
 

Transcript

Welcome To Delco And Beyond

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, Delco. This is Michael Barcan. Welcoming you to the Good Neighbor Podcast, where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again to introduce my friend and neighbor, our host, Bob Lacey.

Meet Dr. Jennifer Brown

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Thank you very much, Michael Barcan, for that introduction. And uh everybody listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast here. Welcome again to this Good Neighbor Podcast coming to you from southeastern Pennsylvania in the United States. And for those of you who know Pennsylvania, it's a big state and uh a lot of counties. We're down here in the southeast, most southeast corner of Pennsylvania, just north of the state of Delaware. We're Delaware County, Pennsylvania, just south of the city of Philadelphia and west of the state of New Jersey. It's a really small county, but boy oh boy, are we getting a lot of press these days? We we believe there's a Delco vibe, we call it, and it extends beyond uh Delco, our our much-loved little uh abbreviation for our county here. Delco and beyond now is hitting the the TV uh waves here. We're we're we're subject of that new TV show on HBO. It's called Task. If you want to hear what a Delco accent sounds like more than from me, check out that TV show that's on HBO Max called Task. Great show, and uh you'll laugh a little bit with the way uh you hear that local um Philadelphia area but specialized accent. We I don't think I carry it, but I I think some of our guests do. We'll see tonight, maybe not. But tonight we're stretching our wings a little bit to that beyond area of Delco, right outside Delaware County, into Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. And very happy. I'm always happy when we have a doctor joining us for an episode tonight. I'm very happy to um introduce to our program and bring to the stage Dr. Jennifer Brown. Jennifer, welcome to the program.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Thanks, Bob. Thanks so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Well, Jen, I said I'm excited when I ever have a doctor uh join us for an episode because inevitably we get some really good free advice that all of us can use regardless of what the practice is. And in this case, uh, since we're all walking around all day long and uh all of us are getting older all the time, this is important because Dr. Jennifer Brown is a doctor of um therapies, really different kinds of therapies, and we're going to talk about that. But she's the founder and owner of the business called Dynamic Home Therapy and Neurofit. It's located in Berwyn, Pennsylvania on Lancaster Avenue. And Jen, I've seen your place of business as I drive by. It's bigger than most um therapy places, but I think it's because you've got a bigger practice in multiple ways. And when this program was nominated for the Good Neighbor Podcast, I was surprised that it's not just on site, but you're probably as much known for mobile therapy. Is that right?

What Dynamic Home Therapy Does

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Yeah, so um actually mobile therapy was our first start of the business when the business opened dynamic home therapy. So the majority of my team are performing mobile-based outpatient at home model visits.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

So you will come to us if we need help. Let's define the us um first. Is it is it children? We'll take that out of the mix. Is it is it uh some certain gender, people with any other um maladies that are pre-existing? What is the nature? Is there a specialty to your therapy practice?

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Yeah, great question. So we uh dynamic is a uh a niche practice where we specialize in aging seniors and people with chronic neurological conditions, such as Parkinson's, dementia, MS, things like that, or people who are just wanting to stay on top of it and prevent falls and stay as active as they can.

Can Therapy Be Life Changing

SPEAKER_02 3:46

I I now I know why your internet domain is what it is. I was looking at your website, which is Live Dynamic Now. That's almost like a motto or a mission statement that's tied right to your URL of your website. Listeners, if you want to get a chance to see more about dynamic home therapy as we're talking about it, go visit Livedynamicnow.com and you'll learn about Dr. Jennifer Brown as you're listening to Dr. Jennifer Brown. So, so Jen, can I ask you a question? When you say um, you know, better uh health or better uh activity when you're a senior, we're we're talking about people who might, you know, you get to be like 50 years old and you start to know what people are talking about, like, hey, I'm feeling older for the first time in my life. And then it's worse from that point on. But um are you able to actually bring someone back from uh, you know, like life has been horrible, I can barely move, but because of the practice of therapy, is it really life-changing for a lot of people?

SPEAKER_01 4:47

So I personally feel like it's life-changing. It's a different kind of life changing, right? So if if you're someone that's getting a joint replacement or orthopedic or something of that nature, you had a surgery and you expect a short term of rehab, and then you're back to your baseline, right? That's a different kind of therapy. We are not an orthopedic or sports-based practice. Our practice is focused more on people where there has to be a holistic approach. It's it's the brain and the body and that connection. And absolutely we are improving the lives of many people and their family or loved ones, right? Because it's it takes a whole village for that. So in in our practice, because we are seeing someone between multiple disciplines, um, you know, to work on PT, OT, or or their speech language, um, which we can go into a little bit later, we're really working on the whole person. So when they come in, they walk out. If they're ambulatory, we also see people that can't walk, that might be in wheelchairs or who are really more confined in their home, all different levels of mobility where we're making a difference in their lives. And yes, if you put the effort in and you are working on it and dedicated, or you have a great caregiver or care partner that's helping with that, we are seeing improvements.

Neurological Conditions Across Ages

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Well, Jenna, I'm I'm I'm not amazed because I've heard about this. And and I think what we did is we took off the table therapies that come from you know, accidents and broken bones. We're talking about mostly aging persons, but in that category of physical therapy uh comes also um therapies that are necessary because of ongoing neurological uh holdbacks, and and that's where like occupational uh being able to kind of uh live your life and do the things in your life you have to do to be able to kind of overcome what either has become an aging problem or has been a problem because of some neurological uh development that has happened. Let's focus in on just that part for a moment. When someone has a neurological issue, is it is it that it's come upon them in old age? They've always had it in their life, have they come down with a certain condition that brings them to you?

PT, OT, And Speech Explained

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Yeah, so you know, we're seeing both. And we're seeing people young, you know, our youngest patient is in their mid-20s, all the way up through the gamma, close to 100, right? So we're knowing also people are living longer, right? So, yes, you have some things that are happening because people are living longer and they are afflicted with whether it's Alzheimer's or another diagnosis, or you know, someone can have a stroke, but we're also seeing it younger. And especially, I will say, and I who knows if it's related, but since the pandemic, we're seeing more people younger that are being diagnosed with these neurological conditions, um, Parkinson's, you know, MS, which can hit a lot younger. Um, you know, we work with people with brain injuries that can happen at any age. And what we're seeing is that putting that on top of the cumulative effects of just aging, right? Things that happen as we get older, aches and pains and joints, and maybe some memory stuff or endurance or the balance. But but what we're seeing is that if you don't work on it, it will get worse, right? So even if I didn't have a diagnosis of a neurological condition as I age, if I'm not staying on top of it, that can go downhill, right? Our health. Longevity is the big buzzword these days, right? And quality of life. And so we really have to work on all of that and working on the brain at the same time, the research is is just supporting more and more of that as we move forward in our field as professional clinicians.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

So it sounds like an operation that is really in play here with multiple therapies. And does that necessarily mean multiple types of therapists? I mean, is is physical therapy and occupational therapy? Uh, is it the same persons that are therapists in your in your dynamic home therapy and neurofit offices or mobile services? Are they also doing the speech language therapy? Are these assigned therapists based on the particular need?

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Yeah, so they're all different disciplines. So I am a doctor of physical therapy, and physical therapy really is looking more into their physical day-to-day, you know, walking, mobility, balance, leg strengthening, posture activities, you know, we're getting people on and off the floor. We're doing exercise. We are professionals of exercise prescription. Based on your baseline, we would find a deficit in almost anyone that we test, right? Of something. But when we add in the cognitive or the brain function or healthy aging and what that should look like, um, that can play a big role. We most of our, all of our PTs are doctors of PT that work for us. And then I am what's called a board-certified geriatric clinical specialist. So there are certain therapists that go on to specialize in subcategories, also. Um, occupational therapists are a separate division of our practice. And people think it's occupation, like what they do for work. I'm retired. No, that has nothing to do with it. And it's a lot more than just being able to take care of yourself and your ADLs and brushing your teeth and getting dressed. Um, occupational therapists also look into every hobby and leisure that you have at leisure activity. What happens if all of a sudden you're limited and let's say your hand strength isn't working as well, and your fine motor and your vision, all these other areas that we also need to look at. They are also working a lot on the same things. There is some crossover and carryover in the neurological world because it's so holistic. So working on balance and functional mobility and home safety and all of the other stuff and little gadgets and equipment that we might be able to know what's going to work best, what's out there, what insurance pays for, what it doesn't pay for. Don't waste your money on this, right? So that's a big part. And we can also do wheelchair evaluations, we can order hospital beds, we can help someone age in place, which is a big goal of many people that don't want to have to move and leave their home, in the future move into a nursing home setting. And then we have speech language pathology. And our speech language pathologists specialize in speech, which can be your voice. Some people lose the volume of their voice when they have neurological conditions. It can be also for um working on swallowing, which becomes a big debilitating factor in certain diagnoses, MS, stroke, ALS, all of that stuff, Parkinson's, dementia. And then we can also work on cognition, and so can OT. So there's a lot of crossover, and it just depends on what it is that the deficits are showing. Right.

Aging In Place And Equipment

SPEAKER_02 12:05

A lot of people have multiple conditions, and thankfully, dynamic home therapy and neurofit has got multiple therapists and certainly a track record of being able to help every type of condition, but more so uh help see what is needed when it comes to therapy, and then and then recommend and then be able to take medical insurance for those who who have it to be able to pay for these therapies. Is that a is that a big part of the practice, or is it is some of it elective, or most of it elective, or is it most of it paid by insurance?

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Yeah, I would say um right now we are a hybrid mix. So that means, you know, we see a mix of both Medicare and self-pay or other um out-of-network insurances. So we will see Medicare Part B, because you might say insurance, and people might think, oh, well, yeah, I'm home. I get home care. True home care is uh Medicare Part A companies that provide a nurse. It's more medically involved with nursing and so forth. We are part B. So we are as if you were to go to our brick and mortar, we can see you in the brick and mortar or in the home. It's outpatient at home. But then we can also see people without Medicare B if they have out-of-network benefits. And then we do see a good amount of people that are self-pay or are medical fitness kind of wellness model after they graduate from skilled therapy with insurance. We know if they don't continue that there will be a slippery slope. People will not be motivated, they won't do, they're not gonna do it for their spouse or whoever else is asking them to do it. And um, so so we do find a good amount. So I would say it's like 80% insurance and 20% other right now.

Insurance, Medicare Part B, And Wellness

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Right. And and well um well-deserved other. Some of us, you know, know that we'll pay for health if we need it. And when you really do see improvement, that's when you really don't mind paying for it, even if you don't have insurance. We've heard from Dr. Jennifer Brown here, who is the owner and founder of probably one of the top therapy uh locations, but also more so one of the best known mobile therapy uh services that will come to you. And and the you there is a lot of people who are homeward bound, if you have parents or if you yourself just don't want to have to get in the car because it's too hard, but you do know that you need therapy, especially as Dr. Brown has just suggested to us, you'll want to reach out to Dynamic Home Therapy and Norofit. You can look at the website, as I mentioned earlier, it's livdynamicnow.com. And or if you'd like to call them, they'll be able to talk to you and guide you through a way that they can meet up with you at your location or actually help set an appointment for you to come and have a tour of the facility there on Old Lancaster Avenue in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Call them at 610-225-2451. And and Dr. Brown, I have to close with one thing here. I'm I'm I'm familiar with one aspect of what you have done. Someone mentioned it to me, and it was really kind of surprising to me because it had to do with therapy, but it also had to do with uh boxing. It was called Rocksteady Boxing, and and I have to imagine that that is what it sounds like, but it's for therapy. Explain that a bit.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Yeah, uh sure. So Neurofit is our brick and mortar. So two different divisions. That's our brick and mortar where we do outpatient therapy, and it also houses Rocksteady Boxing. So Rocksteady Boxing is an international program. There's over 800 around the world of Rocksteady Boxings. It is a group fitness for people with Parkinson's or Louis body dementia, anything under the Parkinsonism umbrella. Wonderful. And yeah, it's not covered under insurance, it's like going to a private gym. It's a special group class.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

I'll bet you that's fun. And I bet you those people, especially seniors, coming in there with shadow boxing each other. It must love that.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Well, and they're hitting the bags, but there's also virtual classes for people that can't get out of the home. And it's just a great community.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

It's that's super well. It you mentioned that it it falls under your neurofit brand practice part of the business. Well, explain that one more time what neurofit programs are.

Neurofit And Rock Steady Boxing

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Yep. So neurofit is part of it is our brick and mortar where you're coming there for the outpatient therapy services. But then it's also any of our fitness models. So we do group classes for Parkinson's, we do cognitive brain games, we do virtual two for people that can't get out. We do a voice group for people that need that after they graduate from therapy. We add on mindfulness, we do pop-up classes in the community under Norofit, and we have two satellite divisions, um, one in Winwood at the Kaiserman JCC and one out in Royersford at um at Legacy Karate. So we can offer throughout the three counties of Delaware, Chester, and Montgomery.

Community Reach And Closing Details

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Awesome. I mean, this has been very, very informative. And I've talked with other businesses that are in the therapy world, and and none of them have really, I don't think, hitting the level of standard that you uh have just described here. And not just because of the many different services and and the uh types of services, but really the fact that it's specialized in two very important ways. It's very mindful of aging population, not that you don't have 20-year-olds and people that might have some uh neurochallenges that need therapy, but to be able to have all the skills that are needed to be able to help um create this uh better dynamic life, you know, to live dynamic now, as your URL says, but to have those skill sets in-house and then they'll also be able to take them all over the Philadelphia area, I would imagine, um, to be able to go out and set these appointments for people who need these therapies. But what a wonderful, uh good business in our community. I mean, it's dynamic for sure, and it's um certainly uh home therapy and and Norafit that is needed. Dr. Jennifer Brown, thank you so much for being a guest here on the Good Neighbor Podcast. It's been wonderful. And uh for those of you who want to get more, go visit the site livedynamicnow.com or call Dr. Brown at 610-225-2451. Dr. Brown, thank you so much for developing your business as a good neighbor business in our community, and thank you for being a guest here today on the Good Neighbor Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Thanks, Fab. This was awesome. Anything's possible.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast, hosted by Bob Lacey. This is Michael Barkan, inviting everyone to get on the Good Neighbor team. Nominate your favorite local business to be featured on an upcoming episode by going to gnpdelco.com or by calling Bob at 610 557 3745.