Two regional physical therapy centers have merged their groups.

Tidewater Physical Therapy, which has 27 offices throughout Hampton Roads and Richmond, merged with Western Tidewater-based Southside Physical Therapy recently.

This is the first time Tidewater has combined with a company that is the size of Southside, which has 22 employees and three clinics located in Franklin, Chesapeake and Windsor.

“You’re going to see a name change, but our staff is still here,” said Kevin Schrack, the owner and found of Southside. “We’re doing this to become better.”

Schrack said the merger came about to allow Southside to adapt to changes in health care, provide better benefits to his employees and maintain a high dedication to excellence.

He added Tidewater Physical Therapy was “the best match for my company.”

“I wanted to stay with a practice whose sole product is good patient therapy,” he said.

But this merger isn’t the first time the two companies have crossed paths.

When Schrack started his practice in the 1990s, Tidewater President Wayne MacMasters was one of his advisers.

Southside opened its first clinic in Franklin in 1992 under the name Franklin Rehabilitation and Sports Therapy.

After success with his first office, Schrack expanded and opened a second office in Chesapeake in 1995 and then added a third location in Windsor in 2002.

Tidewater Physical Therapy was founded as an independent outpatient practice in 1986.

“Tidewater respects and appreciates the history of Southside,” a news release about the merger said. “Tidewater, like Southside, has always been dedicated to providing patients, referring physicians, case managers and payers with high-quality, cost-effective physical therapy services.”