Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Benton.
Hi Amy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Amy and Matt’s path to founding Prime Performance began on opposite sides of the country but ultimately came together in Boston, MA in the early 2000s. Amy grew up in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where she spent most of her childhood training in dance and playing various sports. Matt grew up in New York and was similarly active, growing up playing a variety of sports. Those early experiences being active, competing, and occasionally getting injured helped shape their interest in how the body moves, performs, and recovers.
Amy originally attended Goucher College in Baltimore as a Dance and Psychology major before transferring to Northeastern University in Boston to complete her Psychology degree. While in Boston, she danced professionally with Boston-based dance companies, which gave her a firsthand understanding of the physical demands placed on high level performers and athletes. After completing her Psychology degree, Amy went on to earn her Doctorate in Physical Therapy at Simmons College. Matt was also at Northeastern University, where he completed his undergraduate degree in Rehabilitation Sciences and later earned his Master’s in Physical Therapy. Amy and Matt met in Boston while finishing their undergraduate degrees at Northeastern.
After completing their training and beginning their early careers on the East Coast, they moved to the Pacific Northwest. Amy continued dancing professionally with a local company while working in a traditional outpatient orthopedic clinic, where she quickly developed a reputation as a highly skilled and sought-after clinician, particularly within the dance and performing arts community she was apart of. Her experience as a dancer, combined with her clinical expertise, allowed her to deeply understand the unique demands placed on performers and athletes. Over time, she became known as a master clinician, helping dancers and active individuals return to performance and stay healthy in demanding careers.
Matt, meanwhile, provided industrial on-site physical therapy and injury prevention services, helping workers stay healthy and productive on the job. That experience sparked Matt’s deeper interest in ergonomics and ultimately led him to become a Certified Professional Ergonomist. Matt’s work in ergonomics, combined with his background in physical therapy, strength and conditioning, exercise science, and human performance optimization, also led him into the world of wearable technology. He helped support the early development and launch of an exosuit company called HeroWear, based in Nashville, which spun technology out of the lab at Vanderbilt University’s Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology. That experience gave Matt firsthand exposure to the startup world and emerging technologies designed to augment human performance. Along with many years of ergonomics consulting, it helped provide the experience and perspective needed to start and operate a business.
Throughout their careers, Amy and Matt have maintained a strong commitment to lifelong learning, earning numerous advanced certifications in their respective fields. Their shared philosophy has always centered on helping people move better, perform better, and stay active throughout their lives.
Over time, Amy became the driving force behind the vision to create something new—an environment where healthcare, fitness, and performance could exist together under one roof and where people could receive truly individualized care. In 2021, Amy and Matt founded Prime Performance with the goal of bringing together some of the region’s best providers across disciplines.
Today, Prime Performance combines physical therapy, acupuncture, massage therapy, Pilates, personal training, group training, sports science, and performance coaching in one integrated setting. The mission of Prime Performance is simple: to help people heal, live, and perform at their best—whether that means recovering from an injury, improving athletic performance, or simply feeling better in everyday life.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Like most startups, it definitely hasn’t been a completely smooth road. Struggles are part of the process, and we’ve tried to take each challenge in stride.
One of the biggest hurdles early on was finding the right space. We had a very specific vision for what Prime Performance would be. We wanted a space where we could seamlessly integrate healthcare, wellness, and performance. It took nearly two years to find real estate that truly fit that vision. During that time, we kept moving forward in a much smaller studio space where only one of us could work at a time. It wasn’t what we initially planned, and it lasted longer than expected, but it forced us to stay focused, be resourceful, and continue building the foundation of the business.
Beyond that, starting any business, especially in the healthcare space, comes with its own complexities. Blending physical therapy, acupuncture, massage therapy, pilates, applied sport science, metabolic testing, health, wellness, and performance coaching into one cohesive model required a lot of problem-solving, iteration, and learning along the way.
That said, none of the challenges were insurmountable. If anything, they helped shape what Prime Performance has become today. We’ve built something that feels truly unique in Portland, and we’re proud to be delivering superior, personalized care and meaningful results for our patients and clients every day.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
At Prime Performance, our mission is simple: helping people heal, live, and perform at their best. We are a Portland-based clinic and performance center providing one-on-one, expert-driven care that bridges rehabilitation, wellness, and human performance. Our services include physical therapy, acupuncture, massage therapy, breathing assessment and intervention, Pilates, AcroDance instruction, strength, conditioning and performance coaching, as well as applied sports science services such as resting metabolic rate (RMR) testing, VO2 max / graded exercise testing, training program design, and more.
Our team has extensive experience working with clients of all ages and backgrounds, with specialized expertise in dance and performing arts, endurance sports like running, cycling, triathalon, and mountaineering, technical climbing, team sports, combat sports, and tactical populations. Whether you’re recovering from injury, managing pain, optimizing your health, or striving for peak performance, we combine hands-on care, science-driven assessment, and individualized programming to help you move better, feel better, and perform at your highest potential.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Work hard, never stop learning, put your best self out there, follow your passions and do what you love.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://primeperformancept.com/
- Instagram: @prime_performance_pt
