Does anybody here have any experience in "prehab" or "performance therapy"?

[BiffTheFlashRogers]

Current second year student.

My goal is to someday work in a practice (or start my own practice) that focuses on working with athletes (local level)/active individuals. In addition to traditional physical therapy where we work with patients after they are injured, I want to work with people before they get injured. I want to help people maximize their performance by identifying deficits and impairments before they become symptomatic and cause issues.

Does anybody here have any experience with this? I have one contact in my area I am reaching out to as well, but wanted to see if anyone here has any input.

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[astarblaze]

Check out Paragon Athletics (http://www.paragonathletics.com). They're not PTs, but seems like it still might be a similar model to what you're looking for. They're pretty popular in town and lots of local PTs send people their way.

 

[jblil]

Biff - I suggest you open this practice in an area where folks have relatively good healthcare literacy. I am currently working in a rural area, and many of my patients do not realize the risks they incur through their lifestyle (diet, smoking, staying on a couch & watch TV all day long, etc). And it's not easy to convince them to change. Also pick a fairly well-to-do area because I'm not sure insurance companies will pay for "prehab" and patients may have to pay out-of-pocket.

 

[jesspt]

Current second year student.

My goal is to someday work in a practice (or start my own practice) that focuses on working with athletes (local level)/active individuals. In addition to traditional physical therapy where we work with patients after they are injured, I want to work with people before they get injured. I want to help people maximize their performance by identifying deficits and impairments before they become symptomatic and cause issues.

Does anybody here have any experience with this? I have one contact in my area I am reaching out to as well, but wanted to see if anyone here has any input.

Keep in mind that this area is rapidly getting crowded. It's not covered by insurance so you need people who are willing to pay out of pocket and you need to have unfettered direct access in your state to be able to practice in this fashion.

 

[topher031888]

I know several businesses that incorporate what you are looking for but it is mostly to supplement their practice. They also delegate those responsibilities to less expensive employees that still have significant training and qualifications like athletic trainers or certain personal trainers with reputable credentials and good work experience. What you have to ask yourself is how much are people going to pay for this and can I really justify paying a PT for providing these services?

 

[DesertPT]

athletes (local level)/active individuals

As a largely unrelated point, I always wonder when PT students say they want to work with "active individuals" why this implies an otherwise healthy sports injury population. There are lots of people with Parkinson's, CVA, etc who are fitter and more "active" than plenty of PT students. I've met several who could easily make me eat their dust on a bike.

 

[BiffTheFlashRogers]

As a largely unrelated point, I always wonder when PT students say they want to work with "active individuals" why this implies an otherwise healthy sports injury population. There are lots of people with Parkinson's, CVA, etc who are fitter and more "active" than plenty of PT students. I've met several who could easily make me eat their dust on a bike.

I understand the general point you are making, and completely agree that there are many individuals with complex medical histories who are physically active. I know that you are not directly questioning what I posted, but I wanted to just clarify what I meant because it may very well overlap with what other students think.

Back home, I am a relatively well known runner on the local level for a variety of reasons. Many runners in that community are aware that I am in PT school, and have expressed interest in working with me when I eventually earn my DPT and my license. While this might seem sort of ridiculous, it's a cultural thing. Runners tend to be pretty cautious about who they work with when they become injured. Many runners search for healthcare providers who are also runners, or at least endurance athletes, when they have some sort of orthopedic issue. As someone embedded in that community, I will already have a leg up with regard to marketing and recruiting patients. I would not be surprise if similar patient preferences exist within other athletic populations.

All of that being said, I am well aware that many individuals in the running community have other complex conditions.

Biff - I suggest you open this practice in an area where folks have relatively good healthcare literacy. I am currently working in a rural area, and many of my patients do not realize the risks they incur through their lifestyle (diet, smoking, staying on a couch & watch TV all day long, etc). And it's not easy to convince them to change. Also pick a fairly well-to-do area because I'm not sure insurance companies will pay for "prehab" and patients may have to pay out-of-pocket.

Keep in mind that this area is rapidly getting crowded. It's not covered by insurance so you need people who are willing to pay out of pocket and you need to have unfettered direct access in your state to be able to practice in this fashion.

Thanks for the feedback.

There are definitely a number of barriers to making this a reality. I believe it would be next to impossible to sustain a practice on prehab alone, however I think that supplementing a traditional caseload with prehab clients is not an unrealistic goal.

 

[DesertPT]

I understand the general point you are making, and completely agree that there are many individuals with complex medical histories who are physically active. I know that you are not directly questioning what I posted, but I wanted to just clarify what I meant because it may very well overlap with what other students think.

Back home, I am a relatively well known runner on the local level for a variety of reasons. Many runners in that community are aware that I am in PT school, and have expressed interest in working with me when I eventually earn my DPT and my license. While this might seem sort of ridiculous, it's a cultural thing. Runners tend to be pretty cautious about who they work with when they become injured. Many runners search for healthcare providers who are also runners, or at least endurance athletes, when they have some sort of orthopedic issue. As someone embedded in that community, I will already have a leg up with regard to marketing and recruiting patients. I would not be surprise if similar patient preferences exist within other athletic populations.

All of that being said, I am well aware that many individuals in the running community have other complex conditions.

Cool stuff.

I'm glad to hear you know people in the running community where you are who have medical issues other than your standard orthopedic problems. It has been my observation that a lot of PT students still have biases and pre-conceived notions about people with disabilities, without even realizing it (although we are as a whole MUCH more enlightened then the general public, obviously). I don't blame anyone, it's hard not to think a certain way when you grow up in a society that portrays and talks about people with disabilities in the ways ours typically does. A non-disabled person who will pay cash for a consult on how they can reduce their chances of running-related knee pain is often seen as a "client", but a person with a neurologic condition, etc requesting exactly the same services is automatically viewed as a "patient" subconsciously by the majority of us.

Anyway, I digress. Thanks for letting me hijack your thread to preach for a minute.

 

[PT^]

While it's not physical therapy, I do have a background working in sports performance and injury prevention. As a current DPT student, I plan on integrating "prehab" into my practice. The only problem is that insurance doesn't seem to like covering "preventative care," because they don't see the long term cost savings on their end.