Health Update: Recharge Health + Wellness, helping everyone feel and perform better – What Experts Say

The plethora of therapeutic offerings at Recharge Health + Wellness may seem to cater only to athletes, but to owner Jessica Knies, everyone is an athlete.

Whether that person is a three-sport high school varsity player, a factory employee, a middle-aged first-time marathon trainee, or someone sitting at a desk all day, everyone deserves access to therapies that address the myriad of issues arising from their respective roles.

“We’re fighting the daily aches and pains and the inflammation that comes from everyday life,” Jessica explained. “From my father-in-law working at Kimball all day long on his feet to someone who’s sitting at a desk all day. They are still in pain.”

Recharge is not a gym. It is not a traditional physical therapy clinic. It occupies its own category: a self-serve recovery studio where members access the space on their own time, use whatever they need, and leave when they’re done. Everyone goes through a required orientation first. After that, the building is theirs (except for youth athletes, who have access only during staff hours) from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., unlocked via a smartphone app.

The space includes multiple options to help with inflammation, pain, stiffness and much, much more. There are multiple Normatec dynamic compression boot stations along with hip, low-back, and upper-body compression attachments. The technology uses sequential pressure to move inflammation and fluid out of the limbs. It is used by elite athletes for post-competition recovery and by diabetics and people with circulation problems for entirely different but equally real reasons.

“Some places have a couple of boots,” Jessica said about the Normatec stations. “We have 13. You can bring a whole team in. Or you can come in alone and maybe make some new friends.”

There are multiple massage guns, some with heated heads; vibrating foam rollers; a specialized vibrating massage ball for piriformis and sciatic pain; and Hyperice X2 joint devices for knees and shoulders that can switch between heat, cold, and contrast therapy.

There are two red light therapy rooms equipped with BioMax Pro panels, each with presets for sleep support, skin repair, workout recovery and more for ease of use.

Around the corner, a traditional sauna and an infrared sauna are anchored next to two cold plunge tubs, accentuating the contrast therapy options.

Or maybe you just need a massage in one of the three specialized chairs with a view of passing traffic through the windowed garage door.

The path to opening Recharge began when Jessica decided to become an athletic trainer in high school. She is a certified and licensed athletic trainer who began her career at Springs Valley High School after graduating. She then worked at Heritage Hills for nearly a decade before coming to Southridge. She was good at her job, and she liked it. But over time, she noticed something that gnawed at her. Working with student athletes was somewhat limiting.

“I was always with high school kids, which is great, and you become part of their story. I think it’s important,” she explained.

But she wanted to help more people. So, she began providing her services in person, traveling to patients’ homes and work sites. “That opened the door to working with an older population and more blue-collar workers,” Jessica said.

She was helping people like her mom, Vicky Lawson, and her father-in-law, Brian Knies.

“It’s people from all walks of life, which I think is really cool,” Jessica said. “I am helping people that I wouldn’t necessarily have come across if I had stayed in the traditional setting.”

However, this also led to meeting with patients at odd times and working late. It was after coming home at 11:30 p.m. from four appointments one evening that she decided something had to change. She started what she calls a baby clinic in a little room at CrossFit Discipline.

“It really took off,” Jessica said.

She provided dry needling and different therapies to clients there. She was still traveling to jobsites too. It was while she was working at a construction site in Jeffersonville that she hopped on a computer and looked for a commercial property to start her own business.

“This place popped up,” Jessica said. “It was a cool vibe right by downtown.”

She liked it, and when she told her husband, Adam, what she was thinking of creating, he said, “Do it.” It wasn’t surprising, since he is her walking billboard for the impact of her therapy on functionality and standard of living. As a high school and college athlete, he has some wear and tear on his body. Added to that are some hereditary joint issues that shortened his college football career. “He’s also an aging adult who does pickup basketball and church league softball,” Jessica explained.

She keeps him healthy and active—a goal given the couple has two young children, Emerson, 4, and Lawson, nearly 2.

Adam is the 4T instructor at Southridge, and he became her contractor for creating the space she envisioned for Recharge. They took possession of the building in December and began working on the space over Christmas break.

“It took a crew of volunteers,” Jessica said, thankful for everyone who helped bring Recharge to life.

The new business offers multiple membership options and day passes outlined on the company’s website here. Prices range from $35 for a single-day pass to $270 a month for a couple with full access to everything, even outside of staffed hours. There are special prices for students and those 55 and older.

Jessica has a simple methodology for setting her prices, designing a membership tier, or adding a new piece of equipment to her recovery studio. It is not a spreadsheet formula or a market-rate calculation. It is a question: Could my mom afford this?

“The more opportunities we offer to help people, the better,” she explained. “While keeping it affordable is kind of my rule of thumb.”

Recharge Health + Wellness officially opens Saturday, March 7, with a ribbon-cutting at 10:30 a.m. followed by an open house. You can also follow them on Facebook here.