Office Staff

Sandra Monroe – Office and Billing Manager

Christina Simon – Medical Assistant and Regenexx Lab Technician

Jasmine Reyes – Medical Assistant

Kalena Kuhn – Medical Assistant

Aileen  Lock       – Reception

Medical Staff Bios

Dr. Joel Richnak, MD

Managing Partner

​Dr. Joel Richnak is Managing Partner at Mountain View Rehabilitation Medical Associates where he is Co-Chairman of their sports and spine specialty clinic. He is also a Consulting Physiatrist for Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital in Grass Valley, CA.

Dr. Richnak received his medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine in 1999 and went on to complete his residency in Physiatry at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, NY in 2003. He has been board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation since 2004 and earned his Sports Medicine sub-specialty board certification in 2013.

Since completing his residency, Dr. Richnak has consistently pursued additional professional training, driven by his strong interest in regenerative medicine and its ability to help the human body heal itself. This led to training in prolotherapy in 2007, followed by training in regenerative medicine concepts and treatments in 2014. In 2015, he was brought on as a Regenexx affiliate – the foremost regenerative medical company, offering the most advanced stem cell and platelet procedures.

Since 2003, Dr. Richnak and his family have lived in the Sierra Foothills of Northern California. He is an avid outdoor sports enthusiast, with experience as a climbing and back-country ski guide. He and his family spend much of their leisure time cycling, running, backpacking, and skiing the mountains of the Sierra Nevada.

Christine M deLaveaga, MPT

Christine M deLaveaga, MPT has been the owner of DeLaveaga Physical Therapy Services since 2006, which contracts with Mountain View Rehabilitation Medical Associates to provide exceptional and personal physical therapy services to their patients. She has 29 years of orthopedic, spinal and sports rehabilitation experience in California, Indiana and Virginia. Her specialties are in the rehabilitation of surgical and nonsurgical neck and back pain, shoulder, pelvic, hip and knee injuries, chronic pain management, and post-operative joint surgery and arthroplasties. Integrative education, manual therapy, and exercise for posture, core, functional closed chain and posterior chain spinal strengthening are keys to her successful approach. She has extensive expertise in manual techniques including myofascial release, craniosacral therapy, muscle energy techniques, trigger point, acupressure and joint mobilization.

We have a unique working environment here at Mountain View Rehabilitation. Unlike in other private practice clinics, or hospital based therapy centers, we have direct access to the medical doctors and their diagnostic findings, and are able to supplement directly with concurrent manual treatment after trigger point injections or other medical procedures. We work with our clients in a manner that gives us the time to treat the whole person, not just the body part, by spending sufficient time to do a proper evaluation and base our treatment plans and goals on the client’s specific needs.

Our treatment emphasizes patient education, so that the patient can be an active participant in their own recovery. Appropriate level exercise and self-care, body mechanics and ergonomics, are crucial to long term independence and optimal function. Our philosophy of care has always been to help the client create an environment in which the body is allowed to optimally heal itself.

Christine graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Therapy from Northern Arizona University in 1987. She has taken many post graduate level classes in Health Sciences, as well as numerous continuing education courses related to manual and exercise based therapies. Outside of work, she enjoys the rivers, mountains and oceans of California, but is partial to traveling around the world. She and her husband Bob, have raised five children in Grass Valley.

John F Balinsat, PTA

John has been practicing as a physical therapy assistant now for 18 years. He received his Physical Therapy degree from Sacramento State University and after a brief stint in acute care, skilled nursing and chronic pain facilities, he settled into his specialty area of manual medicine, specifically myofascial release and exercise instruction in orthopedic and spinal rehabilitation here at Mountain View Rehabilitation since 2001.

John is an avid golfer and sportsman. He is well versed at teaching golf swing mechanics. He closely follows professional baseball, football and basketball players and teams and is a coach for Youth Sports in Soccer, softball, and basketball. John’s life is full and busy with raising two children with his wife, and lots of traveling with competitive soccer teams, and of course hitting the greens.