E866 | How The Longevity Trend Fits Perfectly With Cash-Based PTs

Danny: [00:00:00] Hey Danny here at PT Biz, and today we're gonna talk about a really cool trend [00:00:05] that is happening in PT right now and how it can really help your business as well as the lives of [00:00:10] all of your patients.

So in the [00:00:15] last podcast I talked about. An interaction I had with two different 60 year olds, like [00:00:20] on the dot, 60-year-old, uh, athletes that were at clinics that I was [00:00:25] visiting in, uh, Washington, DC on a trip that we had to see some clients. And if you haven't [00:00:30] listened to that one, go back and listen to last week's podcast to get a better idea of what I'm talking [00:00:35] about and the interactions I had with them.

But during my time at these, [00:00:40] uh, clinics we're at, we're at four. Uh, as well as however many number of [00:00:45] clinics I've been in, uh, in the us it's probably a hundred at this point. [00:00:50] And what I see now that's really interesting and it's something [00:00:55] that, you know, honestly at the clinic that I started, we've been talking about for a very long time, but [00:01:00] maybe wasn't generally as accepted, uh, by the masses.

Is longevity [00:01:05] is wellness, longevity, proactive work, but really the idea of [00:01:10] lifestyle medicine. So you can see this, this is nothing new as far as a, [00:01:15] a trend if you really are paying attention to this. If you look at the things that Kelly Tourette's been [00:01:20] talking about forever, you know, the Peter Attias of the world, Andrew Huberman.[00:01:25]

I really talking about the idea of longevity performance and [00:01:30] um, you know, being able to do the things you wanna do for a very long period of time. But [00:01:35] now something interesting is happening. They're starting to become what we call a product [00:01:40] market fit, or a product service fit, or service product fit, right?

So like [00:01:45] what you're seeing is people are looking for healthcare [00:01:50] providers, specialist specialized people that can help them. With [00:01:55] longevity, they can help them with lifestyle medicine. And now you see this popping up [00:02:00] with functional medicine clinics, lifestyle medicine clinics. Uh, med spas are [00:02:05] sort of a fringe example of this.

Peptide clinics are a fringe example of this as well, [00:02:10] where, you know, they may be, they may be doing things that are not necessarily quite as, um, [00:02:15] evidence-based, but even still, people are searching these out [00:02:20] because here's what's happened. People realize that they're gonna be living longer. [00:02:25] The, the, the.

The norm of exercise and [00:02:30] eating better is changing. It, it, it's not just fringe people [00:02:35] anymore. These are, uh, many, many people who are not within the healthcare space [00:02:40] or within the fitness space that are starting to make habitual changes in their life. I see this with my own [00:02:45] friends. I mean, so I'm 40 years old and I see this with my own friends.

[00:02:50] Recently I've had friends that have made pretty significant changes where they've either. Stop drinking or [00:02:55] they've started exercising again, or they've cleaned up their diet or a number of these things that have made massive [00:03:00] changes in their physical health without being prompted to by, you know, me or anybody else that [00:03:05] I know.

And when I ask 'em about it, it usually has to do with one big factor. [00:03:10] And that is their kids. So I'm not saying you have to have [00:03:15] kids to make these habitual lifestyle changes in your health, [00:03:20] but when they start to think about what they want, their interactions in their life to look [00:03:25] like with their kids, as they're getting older with their kids', kids, and [00:03:30] potentially even their great grandkids, they start to stretch out the [00:03:35] timeline of their life and they look at the decisions that they're making.

[00:03:40] As part of that in terms of, you know, what they're going to be able to do at later stages of [00:03:45] life, or even right now, right? Like, uh, my kids are very into basketball and for me to be [00:03:50] able to play basketball with them, I. Uh, is harder than it was 10 years ago for me to [00:03:55] play basketball. And it's gonna be harder 10 years from now for me to play basketball.

But I like to do it and I'm still [00:04:00] able to do it. And it's because I have to put a lot of work in other things so that I don't get hurt, you [00:04:05] know, so that I can still, uh, you know, play, uh, and, and, um, run around and [00:04:10] jump and cut and, and just, just have fun in the sport with my kids, right? So that's been a [00:04:15] big driver for me, and I see this with a lot of other people as well.

So this trend though, [00:04:20] this trend of longevity. And I would say honestly, it's people between like 30 [00:04:25] and 60. They seems to be the sweet spot where people are starting to change their views on how they wanna [00:04:30] treat themself. And some of it might be generational differences. [00:04:35] Um, and some of it might just be information access that's out there, but either way, [00:04:40] it's, it's here and it's something that you really have to continue [00:04:45] to think about as part of your clinic.

If. You want to be a part of [00:04:50] proactive work. There's plenty of clinics where they just want to be, Hey, we treat injuries [00:04:55] and that's it. We treat injuries, we get you, we, we get you outta pain, and then go [00:05:00] back to a coach, trainer, whatever it might be. That's totally fair too. If, if that's the type of clinic that you wanna run.[00:05:05]

A lot of the clinics that we work with, that's not what they want to do. They wanna help people get outta [00:05:10] pain, but they want to have a more in-depth conversation about health, wellness, [00:05:15] you know, and longevity. We would always tell people like, you know, we help people live [00:05:20] high performance, pain-free life.

That's the goal, right? What do you want to do? And do [00:05:25] that for as long as you wanna do it with the people you want to do it with, period. And we can, we can [00:05:30] make it work within that, right? We help you do those things physically, and we may [00:05:35] have to incorporate other people into that as well. It's very common that we may have a little ecosystem of providers, [00:05:40] but this central person, I'm gonna make a, a case for [00:05:45] why we fit so well here.

That central person who we consider the kind of [00:05:50] quarterback of the health and wellness world. I honestly feel like the, the [00:05:55] performance-based physical therapist fits that so well. And here's why. Number [00:06:00] one, if you're helping people get outta pain, you're developing a lot of trust with them and they're obviously coming to [00:06:05] see you because they, they can't do something that they want to do.

So once you can get a better understanding [00:06:10] of what's driving them, what they're trying to do, what their history is, and you can help them get [00:06:15] through that early stage of out of pain, back to moving back to the thing that they like to do, that's [00:06:20] just step number one in our opinion, right Then. [00:06:25] We get a chance to ask them what do they want to do?

This was my favorite [00:06:30] time of getting a chance to work with a patient. And this is always something that I think kind of catches 'em off [00:06:35] guard, you know, because they get to a point where they're good to go. They're back [00:06:40] to, let's say, playing basketball again. And then, you know, I get a chance to say, cool, [00:06:45] Danny, you're back to playing basketball with your kids.

Your knees feeling better, whatever's bringing you [00:06:50] in. Uh. What, what health goals, what, what, what [00:06:55] fitness goals, you know, do you have going forward? Is there anything that you're trying to [00:07:00] continue to do or maybe you want to do that you haven't yet? And to sit down with an adult [00:07:05] and ask 'em to set goals physically, uh, for what they want to do 5, [00:07:10] 10, 20 years in the future.

That is an interesting conversation to have [00:07:15] and it's something that a lot of people come away with that, or from that with a very interesting [00:07:20] interaction, and they're forced to really think about what they want and the things that they want to change or need to [00:07:25] change to get where they want to go.

Right? Like you, you, it's no different than having a financial [00:07:30] meeting with somebody and say, okay, cool. You're outta debt now. What do you want to do? What, what do [00:07:35] you, are you trying to, uh, fund your kids' college education? Are you trying to pay off your mortgage? Are you [00:07:40] trying to be able to retire one day?

Like, let's forecast this out and start to make decisions now [00:07:45] based on where you want to be there? It's no different. It's just physically we get a chance to, you know, have [00:07:50] this sort of like goal session with them and ask questions about what they're trying to do, and then we get to reverse [00:07:55] engineer what that is.

Now, here's the other thing. Because you have built so much trust with [00:08:00] people, they trust your opinion on, uh, filtering out [00:08:05] the massive amount of bullshit information that is out there. There's so much bullshit, [00:08:10] so much. Anybody that tells you that they read an article [00:08:15] about something on the internet.

Probably just saw a social media post. They saw a [00:08:20] Instagram slide that showed a data point. They didn't read the fucking article. Okay. [00:08:25] And or they probably don't even know what they're looking at. That is all over the place. That's that [00:08:30] person's brother, their coworker, their neighbor, their whatever. And [00:08:35] if they're getting healthcare advice from somebody that's an accountant is probably not the [00:08:40] best place to start.

Okay? And it's rampant. Rampant. I get this all the [00:08:45] time. People in my neighborhood, friends of mine, they'll be like, Hey, what do you think about this? Or say where? Like, where'd you see that? Oh, my [00:08:50] friend sent me this post. And, and it's totally, it could be totally legit, but they also get a bunch of stuff that's complete [00:08:55] bullshit and they don't know.

That's the thing they don't know because they don't, they don't know how to look at a study. [00:09:00] They don't know how that, uh, relates to their individual circumstance. Healthcare is a nuanced [00:09:05] discussion. It's not a blanket discussion. Not everybody's the same. [00:09:10] Not everybody has the same goals. Not everybody has the same.

Health, genetics. There's a lot [00:09:15] of differences there, and for us to be able to have a one-on-one conversation with people is [00:09:20] a gold mine in as far as synthesizing data down for [00:09:25] them, synthesizing information down that fits. With them, their goals, their [00:09:30] history, you know, all of that. And you have trust with them.

And now we get a chance to start to make [00:09:35] true lifestyle habitual changes that are hard with somebody. That's an accountability partner [00:09:40] that is quarterbacking your health and wellness. Now this, this may be. Well, outside of your scope, you might think as a [00:09:45] physical therapist, what a great opportunity for your, for you to learn more about this world, for [00:09:50] you to learn more about program design, about energy systems, training [00:09:55] people, nutrition, looking at biomarkers, making [00:10:00] changes, sports psychology.

You know, actually. Coaching people long term. Oh, [00:10:05] and when they come back in, you can use your hands to get things moving better, and they love that. [00:10:10] What a fantastic combination of a combination of hands-on work, progressing things [00:10:15] or making adjustments to what people are doing, working in conjunction with other coaches or [00:10:20] providers, uh, potentially that need to be involved in that, depending on the complexity of what's going on in their goals.

[00:10:25] Or in many cases, just you and I saw this so much when I was in [00:10:30] dc so much, so many people were coming back to the clinics that we work with [00:10:35] that are coming in proactively. They're coming in not to solve a problem, [00:10:40] to not have a problem. Think about that for a second. Our profession is [00:10:45] built off the back of, we solve pain problems.

I, I, I, if, if they have [00:10:50] any marketing, that's what they've done a good job of, which is totally fine, but that's not all that we can [00:10:55] do. And in fact, I think that's just scratching the surface of what people need. And more, and [00:11:00] more and more people are looking for this. So if you have a desire to work with people long term and [00:11:05] have these true, you know, lifelong health clients, [00:11:10] people that you can help be that outlier, 60-year-old.

People you can [00:11:15] help do those things they wanna do with their grandkids and they can start thinking about it [00:11:20] before they even have them. That's where they make legitimate lifestyle [00:11:25] changes, health changes, generational family health changes because their kids see [00:11:30] them making different decisions. Their kids see the fact that they don't drink anymore and they're drinking water.

Their kids [00:11:35] see the fact that they're still learning new shit when they're older and they're excited to continue to be a novice at something. [00:11:40] Their kids see that their, their parent is going in and working with something, someone on a [00:11:45] proactive basis to make sure that they can use their vehicle in life for as long as they can, doing the things that they [00:11:50] like to do, and experience the world around them.

That's all it's fucking cracked up to be. And guys like, that's it. [00:11:55] A, you don't know how long you're gonna be here. B, like what's the point if [00:12:00] you don't enjoy the world with the people that you enjoy doing the things that you enjoy and help people [00:12:05] along the way? What's the fucking point? That's why we're here and we get a chance to help [00:12:10] people experience the world in a very meaningful way.

Don't undervalue that people are looking for that and they'll [00:12:15] pay for that. I see physical therapy going through a transition right now, at least the the group that we work [00:12:20] with that is more performance leaning. Yeah. Very similar to how, you know, [00:12:25] dentists, uh, did a great job of marketing proactive work, and they have, they have [00:12:30] more, uh, on their side in terms of discomfort associated with [00:12:35] a cavity filling, getting a drill out, extracting a tooth, a surgery like nobody likes that.

[00:12:40] Nobody wants that, right? So, okay. If you're proactive, you come twice a year. We, we, we do some [00:12:45] x-rays. We, we clean your teeth. You, you're good to go, right? Like you don't have to mess [00:12:50] with these things usually, and there's things that pop up, whatever, but they've done a great job of proactive, [00:12:55] keep your teeth as long as you can, you know, don't get a cavity, all that.

[00:13:00] We are just now starting to do similar things and I think that the best way to frame this is not [00:13:05] there's negative and then there's positive frames. A negative frame would be like, do [00:13:10] you want to be. The great, do you wanna be the grandparent that's sitting on the [00:13:15] sidelines watching your kids or watching your grandkids do all these [00:13:20] things, these activities, and you're too physically unable to participate with them?

Do you want [00:13:25] to be, do you wanna be the great or the grandparent who has to get a power wheelchair to get around Disney with them [00:13:30] as they're going to meeting princesses at the Magic Kingdom? Or do you want to be the one standing next to 'em in the pictures? [00:13:35] That's a strong motivator, but I think it's in a negative.

Sense. [00:13:40] And if you can flip that and you can make it more positive, I love the frame of, [00:13:45] imagine if, imagine if you were 60 and you were [00:13:50] trying to PR your marathon. From three decades before you were in [00:13:55] shape able to do so, you were energized enough to do so, you know, you, you had [00:14:00] enough mental bandwidth to think through things that you wanted to continue to accomplish as you, as you age, and you didn't [00:14:05] look at it as falling off a cliff at that point.

You look at it as, I don't know, I'm still, I'm still going strong. [00:14:10] Imagine if you're the one riding all the roller coasters with your grandkids because you have [00:14:15] no problem whatsoever walking 15,000 steps in a day at Disney. You know, these, [00:14:20] imagine if scenarios. Are the ones where you can put people in a positive lens.

Imagine if you [00:14:25] are the outlier outliers. There's genetic freaks out there, don't get me wrong, [00:14:30] but more often than not, when you really peel back the onion, these are people that have made [00:14:35] decisions to do certain things differently than other people over an extended period of time. [00:14:40] And that is where health really takes off.

You [00:14:45] start to make massive changes based on small changes that you make on a daily basis that lead to [00:14:50] very big changes over decades. And that's what we can help people with, both with [00:14:55] accountability, with information, curated accurate information that's specific to them, and [00:15:00] help them sift through the bullshit that is out there and all the different bias things that come their way.[00:15:05]

Actual like true. Understanding of biomechanics and what people need to do to correct [00:15:10] differences, that they have movement specific efficiencies that we can help them with hands-on work that [00:15:15] people value so much. Just think of this massage therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture. [00:15:20] People go back proactively to these three types of manual therapists, whether they're doing [00:15:25] manipulation, hands-on work, needle work, whatever it is proactively and have done so for a [00:15:30] very, very long time.

Physical therapy has done a terrible job of fitting into that, and that is a place [00:15:35] where we can. Honestly thrive. It's a huge part of what I would see as a, as my [00:15:40] caseload with people just like this, where they would come in. I would do some hands-on work proactively, [00:15:45] ideally, proactively, so that they are continuing to be able to do the things that they want to do, adjust a [00:15:50] treatment plan.

Go over whatever we're we're working on as far as like education is [00:15:55] concerned and shit, and we could spend the whole session going over breathing technique for them to do downregulation before they go [00:16:00] to bed. Doesn't matter. We can do whatever we want. That's the beauty of the cash model. Like it's whatever the patient needs, [00:16:05] it's whatever that client needs.

But here's what you gotta do if you wanna fit into this type of a business [00:16:10] model. Because not only is this good for your patients, but it's great for your business. And if you look at the [00:16:15] numbers of it, imagine if your schedule. Was full of people that wanted [00:16:20] to be outliers. They wanted to be proactive with their health.

They wanted to come in on a regular basis. [00:16:25] They saw value in what you do because it's helping them extend their life in a meaningful way. Not just [00:16:30] extend their life, but also extend their activity in their life. They, these are the people that are [00:16:35] fantastic to work with. These are people that don't even feel like work.

Right. Solving problems [00:16:40] initially in the evals mentally really hard. Right? It's great to have a mix of that and people that [00:16:45] are. Solving long-term problems, but they're being more proactive in nature. They're working [00:16:50] more in performance and longevity. But what if 80% of your schedule is made up of that and [00:16:55] 20% of it was new volume?

Think about that for a second. Not only is that, uh, an easier [00:17:00] cognitive load for you to carry long term, an easier administrative load for you to carry long term, but also [00:17:05] the new patients that you continue to get spill over to other providers schedules. And it's just a [00:17:10] trickle down effect that occurs.

So the next provider does the same thing. Now they need less evals, they need less evals, [00:17:15] less evals. And when people do this right, we find it. A new, uh, a a, a full-time provider [00:17:20] will need somewhere between five and eight new evals a month. That's it, in order to [00:17:25] have a maintained schedule because of how much they have coming back with continuity work for people, working on [00:17:30] performance and longevity.

And if you can get to that point, it's just so much easier. Continue to build [00:17:35] provider schedules and provide an environment that providers can thrive in long [00:17:40] term without having so much burnout. It solves many problems if you're interested in [00:17:45] leaning into that type of work. So it's great for the provider, it's great for the business, [00:17:50] and it's great for the client.

Win, win, win. I think this is the [00:17:55] way that we are, uh, supposed to go. You know, I think it's, it's this sort [00:18:00] of convergence of the skillset that we have and the things that we can help people with, and the fact that people are [00:18:05] seeking it out is changing dramatically. Dramatically. I used to have [00:18:10] to have conversations with people about this, you know, towards the end of a visit, uh, uh, end of a package, [00:18:15] and it's too late by then, right?

It's like, dude, my back doesn't hurt anymore. What are you talking [00:18:20] about grandkids for? You know, my kids are like three, and now people are looking [00:18:25] for this. Not only that, but you can have this conversation so much earlier. In fact, you should first [00:18:30] conversation, Hey, we're not like other PT clinics. I know we have physical therapists in here, but [00:18:35] here's what we do.

We're gonna help you get outta pain and back to what you like to do. But more than anything, [00:18:40] we help people live a high performance, pain-free life. And we want to help you do whatever it is you wanna [00:18:45] do for as long as you wanna do that. And we wanna be your partner in a outlier [00:18:50] life, in an extraordinary life where you get to experience the world in a way that very few people do with the people that [00:18:55] you love doing things with.

And do those for as long as possible at the highest level that you want to do those. [00:19:00] That's what we like to do. So we would love to get your back pain, you know, back to [00:19:05] where you want it to be. But after that, we got a lot of work we can do. If you're interested in that, right? Set the [00:19:10] stage from the beginning.

Your providers need to be talking to people about this 'cause people want this. [00:19:15] And the coolest part is. To see what actually happens when you can help [00:19:20] implement these basic things. This, this level of accountability where they're coming back and [00:19:25] they're seeing you on an ongoing basis. Don't discount accountability.

Accountability is incredibly valuable. People [00:19:30] pay for accountability in many, many ways. And you can provide that for people [00:19:35] in a very positive manner in a, in an ongoing environment, in an envi ongoing relationship with somebody that they [00:19:40] trust you, where you're gonna be the first person that they reach out to about a number of things, where then you can be that quarterback [00:19:45] and you can send them off to other areas if they need to, or you can handle it in house depending on the complexity [00:19:50] of it, and if it's within your scope of practice.

That is a fantastic, fantastic place to be. [00:19:55] I see the profession training that direction. I hope that you decide that you wanna lean into this as well, because you can help a [00:20:00] lot of people. You can help a lot of people avoid a lot of medical issues, a lot of [00:20:05] physical issues that are avoidable if they were to put a little bit of time back into [00:20:10] themself on a regular basis.

And the fact that the market is shifting for this, and we're here at the [00:20:15] right time. I think it's amazing that we're hitting this just at the right time. I think over the next [00:20:20] decade you're gonna see so much more where people are gonna lean into longevity, and [00:20:25] it's either gonna be you or it's gonna be somebody that's a better marketer than you that maybe is less [00:20:30] skilled, has less credentials, cares less about their providers.

And this is what always happens when there's [00:20:35] opportunity. Great marketers come in and they try to swallow up that opportunity. You gotta learn these [00:20:40] skills on a business owner side so that you can get people in the right environment and really, really truly help them. [00:20:45] Otherwise, who knows what they're gonna be, you know, doing, who knows what fringe shit they're gonna do that has [00:20:50] no actual, like, evidence behind it.

They're not practicing evidence-based medicine of any sort. They're [00:20:55] not continuing to learn these things. We are. It's a great place to be. You gotta own it and I hope that you [00:21:00] decide to do so. So, I thought this was pertinent. This is something that we're gonna lean into heavily at Pt bs. We're [00:21:05] helping people really develop these, these clinics that are, that are designed to really help people long term.[00:21:10]

They're not dependent on just massive amounts of new volume, like the traditional [00:21:15] insurance model is, uh, and has to be basically because they cannot do this type of work, insurance [00:21:20] does not pay for it, and we get to fit in that area, which is fantastic. So hope that this is something that [00:21:25] you decide to lean into.

We'll have more information on this going forward. I'm super excited about this variation of, uh, [00:21:30] of the profession and to help everybody really implement this effectively in their business so we can help people live. [00:21:35] As healthy of a life as possible and do the shit they love to do with the people they love doing it [00:21:40] with.