Melissa West

Melissa is a native to the area, born and raised in Raleigh. She stayed in-state to complete her Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology and her Clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy at East Carolina University. She went on to complete an online-based residency through Evidence in Motion, which enabled her to become a Board Certified Orthopaedic Clinical Specialist. She had five years of experience in an outpatient orthopedic clinic before joining the team at BYoung Physical Therapy, giving her a broad base of clinical knowledge in managing post-operative rehabilitation, lower extremity injury, and a variety of musculoskeletal conditions that affect the athlete and non-athlete alike.

Melissa grew up playing soccer competitively but became a runner her junior year of college. She has completed races of varying distance (ranging from 5k to 50k) over the past few years, developing a professional and personal passion for long-distance running and endurance sport. This passion spurred Melissa to become an Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) certified run coach, allowing her to further utilize her clinical knowledge to help athletes accomplish their racing/running goals after injury.

Melissa’s strategy to treating the injured athlete is comprised of an evidence-based, individualized approach that includes skilled, hands-on manual techniques, targeted exercise prescription, 2D gait analysis, and education to aide return to sport and to help athletes become stronger and more resilient.

• Certified in Trigger Point Dry Needling
• Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, March 2020
• APTA certified clinical instructor, July 2020
• Dry Needling Certification, August 2019

• Capstone Research Project investigating the “Correlation between chronic low back pain, Lower extremity strength asymmetries, and balance deficits (2017)”

• Value Excellence Award (2021) – Demonstration of clinical excellence, service with passion, and treatment with integrity
• American Physical Therapy Association