A group of UCLA students are taking their fitness knowledge outside of the gym and into the healthcare field.
BareBones, a student-run club founded in October 2024, aims to provide personalized musculoskeletal care – healthcare that focuses on bones, muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons – to underserved communities. Members use their expertise in sports and calisthenics to provide services including posture screenings, bone density testing, joint flexibility testing, stretch clinics, nutrition counseling and education.
“Movement underlies all physical activities,” said Neo Phuchane, the club’s co-founder and president and a fourth-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student. “That allows you to do lifestyle modifications that prevent further diseases.”
Phuchane said the inaccessibility of musculoskeletal care inspired him to create the club.
“Hip surgeries, knee replacements, ACL tears – all of them are very expensive, and they frequently get denied for insurance coverage,” he said.
The club partnered with The Midnight Mission – a homeless shelter in Skid Row – to host mobility clinics, where student volunteers teach people how to stretch different parts of their body, Phuchane said.
Nikita Motchenko, the club’s treasurer and a fourth-year physiological science student, said BareBones teaches rehabilitation exercises to recently injured participants to aid their recovery and prevent reinjury.
Club members have assisted people who have experienced imprisonment or addiction, Phuchane said.
“One of the things that we hope beyond stretching is motivation and being compassionate,” said Lucas Cheng, the external vice president of BareBones.
Miroslava Alvarez, the club’s internal vice president and a fourth-year physiological science student, said some participants’ limited mobility requires personalized exercise plans.
Cheng said the club recently partnered with Calligraphy Westwood Village, a local senior living center, to hold stretch sessions for residents. Stretching can prevent injuries and allow the body to do more weight-bearing exercises, Phuchane said.
The club tries to limit the use of training equipment to promote accessibility of their care, Alvarez said.
“Not everyone’s going to have 30-pound dumbbells,” Alvarez said.
BareBones started collaborating with Health Matters Clinic this summer to conduct monthly health screenings, measuring blood glucose, blood pressure and BMI of their participants, Phuchane said.
“By doing so, we can actually help them track the improvement of their health and actually quantify the change that we’re making,” he said.
Phuchane said the club’s health screening recently helped refer a person with diabetes to get treatment, after the testing showed they had extremely high blood glucose levels.
Beyond mobility clinics and health screenings, BareBones also distributes flyers showing different exercise instructions with the hopes of educating people.
Bella Castillo, the director of marketing and a second-year physiological science and pre-economics student, said club members use their personal expertise when assisting participants, bringing in experience as gymnastics coaches, emergency medical technicians and physical therapist aides.
“You don’t need to have a professional background,” Motchenko said. “If you enjoy working out and enjoy doing sports or calisthenics, I think you’d be great company.”
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