Treat Your Business

129 Transform Your Clinic: Michael O’Reilly on the Optineck Balance Wedge and Solving Neck Pain

• Katie Bell / Michael O’Reilly • Season 1 • Episode 129

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Hi everyone! I’m Katie Bell, and welcome back to another episode of the Treat Your Business Podcast. Today, I’m joined by the incredible Michael O’Reilly, also known as The Neck Physio. Michael is here to share his expertise on solving neck pain, transforming clinics, and empowering clinicians with his innovative product, the Optineck Balance Wedge.

Episode Highlights
In this episode, we discuss:

  • Why younger clinicians often struggle with sales conversations and how to guide them in building confidence.
  • The game-changing impact of the Optineck Balance Wedge on clinics, patients, and clinicians.
  • How to align new tools and technology with your clinic’s purpose to maximise ROI.
  • The importance of creating habits to seamlessly integrate new equipment into your practice.
  • Why focusing on patient outcomes, not money, makes sales conversations easier and more effective.

Michael also opens up about his journey as The Neck Physio, the inspiration behind the Optineck Balance Wedge, and how it’s helping clinics worldwide improve patient outcomes and create sustainable revenue.

Key Takeaways
✨ Younger clinicians often lack confidence in sales conversations – focus on outcomes, not money.
✨ The Optineck Balance Wedge helps patients restore balance and live better for longer.
✨ Align new tools with your clinic’s bigger vision to ensure successful implementation.
✨ Habits are key – keep tools like the wedge within arm’s reach to use them consistently.
✨ Empowering your team with the right tools builds trust and long-term patient relationships.

Resources and Links
🌐 Learn more about the Optineck Balance Wedge: optineck.com
📧 Contact Michael directly: info@optineck.com
📱 Follow Michael on Instagram: @the_neck_physio

Sponsored by Nookal
This episode is proudly sponsored by Nookal, the leading practice management software designed to streamline operations and empower Allied Health clinics. Visit Nookal.com to discover how their innovative features can revolutionise your clinic’s efficiency and profitability.

Treat Your Business podcast is proudly sponsored by MBST, the groundbreaking technology revolutionising recovery and rehabilitation. Offering a non-invasive, drug-free solution for musculoskeletal conditions and nerve injuries, MBST works at a cellular level to stimulate regeneration. Expand your services and deliver long-term patient improvements without increasing your workload.

Learn more at mbstmedical.co.uk. 

[00:00:00] Katie Bell: Hello listeners, welcome to the Treat Your Business podcast. My name is Kate Bell. I'm excited for this episode because I have a guest coming on and I love guest episodes because well, isn't just me blathering on about something but it's. Always, inspires me. I know it inspires you and our listeners, but Michael is back.

[00:00:19] Katie Bell: Michael O'Reilly is back for the second time on the podcast because the first one was so great. If you haven't listened to his original episode, go back to that. It was July, August time last year. [00:00:30] 2024. And we were talking about how to save your thumbs and create additional revenue in your clinic.

[00:00:36] Katie Bell: And he's back because his product has exploded in the marketplace. And more and more clinics are using it with fabulous results. But we are diving into. The challenge we have as clinic owners for the younger physios, the newer physios coming through that really struggle with the sales conversation and inviting that sale.

[00:00:59] Katie Bell: And we are [00:01:00] going to dive deep into why we think that's happening and what we can do to support them. And we're also going to be talking about when you implement something new in your clinic, whether it's a piece of equipment, a piece of technology, why it. This becomes a habit driven behavior, a way that you work, because so many clinics we see invest in equipment, invest in technology, and it sits there and it doesn't bring them that return on investment that they need.

[00:01:27] Katie Bell: Or if it does, it takes too long for [00:01:30] that to happen. Or equally they invest in some equipment. It sits in the stock room and depreciates over time, and then you are left with a whole load of stuff that you need to shift and sell a discount. This conversation is a much bigger deep dive than perhaps maybe either of us were expecting.

[00:01:48] Katie Bell: But I think you're going to get a lot value from it.

[00:01:50] Welcome to the Treat Your Business Podcast with Katie Bell. I'm Katie, and this is the place where clinic owners like you learn the [00:02:00] strategies, tools, and mindset shifts needed to transform your clinic into a thriving business. One that gives you more time, more money, and more freedom. Born from a passion to challenge the idea that average is normal.

[00:02:13] We empower clinic owners to create extraordinary businesses, incomes, and lives through our world class coaching programs. We help you step out of overwhelm and into confidence, turning your clinic into a business that fuels your lifestyle, not drain it, it. So [00:02:30] are you ready? Let's dive in. I'm delighted to tell you this episode of The Treat Your Business podcast is proudly brought to you by New, the leading practice management software designed to streamline operations and empower every Allied Health clinic.

[00:02:44] Their platform seamlessly handles every aspect of your clinic. From scheduling and clinical note taking to invoicing and reporting, their innovative solution will help streamline your clinic and free up your valuable time, allowing you to focus on delivering better patient [00:03:00] care and growing your business.

[00:03:03] So if you are tired of juggling multiple systems and wasting precious hours on administrative tasks, then experience the innovation of CLE and discover how it can improve the efficiency and profitability of your practice. Visit cle.com today to learn more about how their automated features and user friendly interface can revolutionize the way you manage your practice.

[00:03:27] Unlock the full potential of your clinic with new [00:03:30] the practice management software that puts you in control of your time. Now, let's get back to business.

[00:03:40] Katie Bell: Hello, Michael, welcome back to the podcast. 

[00:03:43] Michael O'Riely: Hello. Thank you very much for having me back again. It's always a pleasure to talk to you. 

[00:03:47] Katie Bell: You are so welcome. I'm really excited for this conversation as ever. Because the first time we spoke, you had lots of people interested in what you were talking about, how it can, I think the [00:04:00] episode was something about save your thumbs and invest in this, or it was something like that, wasn't it?

[00:04:04] Katie Bell: Yeah. So if you haven't listened to it, listeners go back to last year. It's around you like August time. And me and Mike were having a great conversation about something that you have invented. You have. Established it in your own clinic. Yeah. And it has just made you tens of thousands of additional revenue of income.

[00:04:23] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:04:23] Katie Bell: But then over the last year, this product really now has grown into a much bigger thing. And you [00:04:30] were updating me just before we got, we went live, Michael, about some of the exciting things that have happened with it. So let's go back to the beginning. So some of our listeners will be listening to this, tell everybody who you and what it we.

[00:04:42] Michael O'Riely: So I'm Michael O'Reilly. My insta handle is the net physio. And that's 'cause I've spent probably the last 20 odd years specialising in upper quadrant problems and neck pain and headaches, et cetera. And based on what's I had learned and was. [00:05:00] Constantly looking for ways of managing these conditions better because they just tend to come back over time because of what I refer to as the prevailing wind of the information age.

[00:05:09] Michael O'Riely: So prevailing wind of the information age is pushing us all into flex all the time. And so we are always sowing the seeds of these problems. So I was always looking for ways of trying to help patients cope and cope better and achieve sustainability and balance. In their in their biomechanics and in their days and weeks.

[00:05:28] Michael O'Riely: And yeah. Anyway, long [00:05:30] story short, that led to me coming up with this idea for the what's now the Optineck balance wedge which is about addressing the fundamental drivers of upper quadrant dysfunction. We've been pushed into flexion all the time, so the, and gravity is pulling us in that direction.

[00:05:45] Michael O'Riely: So the wedge is about making it quick, easy, and effective for patients to restore that trunk balance or restore extension, restore thoracic spine mobilization, anterior chain release, and and help them to help themselves [00:06:00] better. Yeah. And that was, I came up with the idea the first seed of the idea was during lockdown which is now, a good five years ago.

[00:06:08] Michael O'Riely: But yeah, since then we've been through some really exciting developments, opportunities, and we've exported to. South Africa and we export into New Zealand. We shipped to the us we shipped to all across Germany sorry, all across the eu to Germany, Holland, et cetera, et cetera. And it's really becoming quite a, a bit of a cornerstone, as it were for a lot of [00:06:30]Pilates studios. And I was just in a conversation this morning with a few excellent Pilates teachers and they were saying how that's not only they're using it all the time, but they're having their clients come in saying, oh, can we do that work on the wedge?

[00:06:41] Michael O'Riely: And so there's a really very nicely ties together the whole sort of rehab journey from hands on treatments, all the. Like Pilates and other rehab and then to day-to-day or everyday use for patients and clients in their front room just help all of us move better for longer. [00:07:00] That's the fundamental is that we want to move better for longer.

[00:07:03] Katie Bell: I know that you work with so many physios and osteos and Pilate instructors, so people now are really seeing the benefit of using this in their practice, not only to save their thumbs just to optimize the results that they get, rather than just having to hammer away on a thoracic spine.

[00:07:21] Katie Bell: 30 minutes, you can do so much more while still restoring extension. Absolutely. So you for me, 'cause I use it a lot in my practice. I use [00:07:30] it in my teaching, my Pilates classes. I use it with lots of my patients who are with me for any upper thoracic neck, shoulder stuff. And it just allows a real opening.

[00:07:40] Katie Bell: And what I love about this product, Michael, is the minute.

[00:07:45] Katie Bell: Oh, that feels good. Everybody does that. 

[00:07:49] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:07:50] Katie Bell: And I like, wait for it. I'm like, just wait. You've done that Rolldown. And they go, ah. And I'm like doing it with them because I have one we've left before my, I have one in my front room [00:08:00] and in my living area, and I rely on it almost every night.

[00:08:03] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:08:04] Katie Bell: Five minutes, 10 minutes because my desk, my work is sitting at a desk a lot or if I'm not over desk. So everything is there's so many ways that you can use it. You can optimize, you treat.

[00:08:20] Katie Bell: It really leans into is for those clinics who are here to help people live better for longer, I know that's something your clinic's really passionate about. [00:08:30] We talk about moving better, feeling better and living better. 

[00:08:33] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:08:33] Katie Bell: This really leans into how you facilitate that for a patient.

[00:08:37] Katie Bell: How you not just. Do five sessions, three sessions.

[00:08:43] Katie Bell: Additional income stream, you save your thumbs. You don't have to invest huge capital expenditure upfront to be able to bring this into your clinic. There's so many benefits. I'm as passionate about it as, as you're Michael, you probably can tell you're [00:09:00] on.

[00:09:00] Katie Bell: But I want everybody to know about it. 

[00:09:02] Michael O'Riely: Yeah, thank you. 

[00:09:03] Katie Bell: But I also think what we're here to talk about today, Michael, is it's amazing. I love it. If you've not got one, you need to order one just for yourself and experience it, first of all. But secondly, I think what's really important is on this podcast, we always try and bring light and shadow to everything because balance and I talk specifically about.

[00:09:28] Katie Bell: How do you, when you [00:09:30] go to Therapy Expo and you come to your fabulous stand that you had there in November and you were so busy, like I, every time I looked over, you were flat out with people on the bed trying it, doing it, having great conversations. I know 'cause I was also there that what our biggest challenges, Michael, is people are very excited in the moment about it.

[00:09:51] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:09:52] Katie Bell: But then the actual follow up and the follow through of implementing that into your clinic and moving it forward, it is much harder [00:10:00] than, we. Maybe we give people credit for, because we think, oh, you just need to buy it and you just need to put it into your clinic and just start using it.

[00:10:07] Michael O'Riely: Yeah, 

[00:10:08] Katie Bell: absolutely. 

[00:10:09] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:10:09] Katie Bell: But there is a bigger strategy to this. There is a bigger thing that they need to consider about them being passionate and their team also being passionate about it. Yeah. Because otherwise it's something that you buy and then nothing really happens with, and that's a really big challenge for clinic owners with any equipment.

[00:10:26] Katie Bell: Isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. Tell me about your [00:10:30] experience. 'cause you've had wow, so many people have introduced it to their clinics. But ultimately you need repeat orders. That's what the business requires to happen.

[00:10:38] Michael O'Riely: Yeah, for sure. 

[00:10:39] Katie Bell: And you know what clinics are implementing it and using it and selling it based on how many orders they're making and, buying it, but not doing a whole lot with it in experience.

[00:10:49] Katie Bell: Why, what. 

[00:10:51] Michael O'Riely: Think, that's a really interesting question. It's and just coming back to the, it's, obviously, my aim is one in every household. Yeah. And the thing that really, [00:11:00] but the thing that really drives me is that, and I feel so passionately about, is that we give our best years.

[00:11:07] Michael O'Riely: We can fall into a trap where we give for the best years of our life to our careers and to our working days. And then by the time we come out the other end of it, we are so crook, we are so stiff, we're so decrepit that we don't actually get to enjoy the freedom that we've worked so hard to do, to achieve, so for me, it's when I get frustrated about. How is it? So [00:11:30] something has started, there's been great excitement, great momentum, and it's dropped off. It's as much about, I'm thinking you've got patients who want this, they and patients who need this, why, what's happening that they're not being introduced to?

[00:11:44] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. And that's, so that's the bigger thing that sort of frustrates me.

[00:11:47] Katie Bell: Yeah. That other things that we talk quite a. Is we are challenged. You and I by the challenge that, that our industry [00:12:00] struggle to have the sales conversation. In our head. 

[00:12:03] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:12:04] Katie Bell: We are like just to ask them, do they want to buy it or do they not? 

[00:12:08] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:12:09] Katie Bell: We also sit in a position, Michael, that we've done a lot of work on ourselves and our confidence on our, we're very passionate.

[00:12:17] Katie Bell: We have a very clear purpose, and when you have a very clear purpose about what you do and why you do it, it becomes really easy to have that conversation because you are not having the conversation because of the [00:12:30] money you're having because it leans into The why that you are doing this in the first place. And if you and I say to our clinicians, so the options are, you can explain how you can help them get from where they are now to where they want to be.

[00:12:45] Katie Bell: Yeah. In the most cost. Effective time. Effective way. 

[00:12:49] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Or 

[00:12:50] Katie Bell: you don't have the conversation and you facilitate ongoing pain. 

[00:12:54] Michael O'Riely: Yeah, 

[00:12:56] Katie Bell: So get out your own way and have a conversation now for [00:13:00] you and me, Michael, this is something we do all the time because we're so passionate about like, why I do what I do, why you do what you do.

[00:13:07] Katie Bell: It doesn't ever become about the money. It's never about the money, is it? It's about the. I know this is what they need to help them move forward to live better for longer, for all those things. 

[00:13:20] Michael O'Riely: Yep. 

[00:13:20] Katie Bell: And so that's when you really focus on that, you can then have these conversations easier.

[00:13:25] Katie Bell: But for you I know people struggle when they buy the wedge. They make the investment [00:13:30] to then be able to say to a patient, this is

[00:13:34] Michael O'Riely: yeah, for sure. For sure. And

[00:13:36] Katie Bell: do. Because I think that's a big player in it. Do you think that's one of the big reasons why we don't, why we might start and then stop?

[00:13:44] Katie Bell: Or why people reluctantly don't then get involved even if they were very excited about it at exhibition, for example? 

[00:13:51] Michael O'Riely: Yeah, it's a, it's an interesting thing 'cause I'm just thinking about like the practices that are really successful are really running with it and then knocking on my [00:14:00] door saying, can we have another eight?

[00:14:01] Michael O'Riely: Can we have another 16?

[00:14:03] Michael O'Riely: What probably helps is that it is driven by the practice owner in that they've had the personal experience of it. And that's, I think is the key thing is that, and where one of the USPS of the wedges is that once you've had that, oh, I feel so good. I can't wait to get on the wedge, then.

[00:14:21] Michael O'Riely: Then it just comes out of you. You've gone from that, oh, this is something I should do to, or a conversation I should have to, it's a conversation I want to have. [00:14:30] Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that I think is the really big thing. So it's about having personal experience because as you obviously know, the saying of sales is nothing other than a transfer of enthusiasm,

[00:14:43] Michael O'Riely: enthusiasm. You've gotta, you either have it for something or you don't like, or you can't sustainably manufacture enthusiasm. So I think that's one of the key things. I think another quite interesting thing is that a lot of the, a lot of things [00:15:00] have to do with age as well, I would say, or the aging process.

[00:15:04] Michael O'Riely: And that is when you have physios who are coming in who are 22, 23, 24, and they're super mobile and they flexible. They just don't get it. They'll get on the wedge and they'll be like, okay, I dunno what's what this is all about. Because they've blessed with young, flexible mobile systems.

[00:15:22] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. But then if you go into those who are a decade older and they're like, now, okay, I can feel [00:15:30] what it's like because now I'm starting to. Now I can do it. So I think I'm, I guess what I'm saying is it comes down to that personal experience and that thing that then creates the buy-in that's, that runs with it and it's, I think it's also really valuable.

[00:15:45] Michael O'Riely: I think one of the best things that can happen to us as physios is to have our own injuries and our. Because that really puts us in the position that the patient is experiencing, right? We can go, you go to uni, you go to the courses, you do all these [00:16:00] things, you learn all about it. But until you've been in the position of experiencing the emotions, not only the symptoms, but the emotions and the questions and the thoughts or whatever about it you don't truly understand.

[00:16:13] Michael O'Riely: And I found this when I had an a skiing crashes a few years ago and then had ended up having to have an ACL repair. And it was just such an informative process to be on the other side of the fence and 

[00:16:24] Katie Bell: Absolutely. 

[00:16:25] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. And that's what I always like driving with our team is put yourself in the other side of the fence, and only once [00:16:30] you've experienced those aches and pains.

[00:16:32] Michael O'Riely: Can you then experience the, oh, this has made so much difference to me and this is the, and the important thing is then is that you remember what sticks in your mind is the person that brought you that answer. And that is really valuable in the long term because this is the person who you then trust, and this is the person who you're going to go to when other things happen.

[00:16:53] Michael O'Riely: And they're going to be, they're basically going to be your go-to therapist or your go-to practice. So it's the thing of bring [00:17:00] something, I'm going off from a tangent here, but bring something unique. Give the, give patients the opportunity to experience something unique. But I think, what I'm learning is that there's things, I guess it's touching on what you were saying before.

[00:17:13] Michael O'Riely: There's things that are completely obvious to you and I that we don't even think about just because of our journeys and things that, that we focused on. And we make the mistake of assuming that they're completely obvious to everybody else. And so I then really have to remind myself of isn't it obvious that this is why you would do it and this is what [00:17:30] you would do in it?

[00:17:31] Michael O'Riely: But I need to think no, but that's because I've got the benefits of seeing thousands and thousands of patients like this. So I mustn't assume that it'll be obvious to you as well. So it's putting myself back to say, no. Go back and say the obvious. It's not obvious to everyone.

[00:17:46] Katie Bell: It's really not.

[00:17:47] Katie Bell: And Michael, we run a therapist transformation course and we do it twice a year. And that's for all of our clients on program who are clinic owners, who have team and the, or often the biggest challenges. [00:18:00] Why do my clinic owners and my team members not convert patients from new patient assessment to follow up like I do?

[00:18:07] Katie Bell: And why do they not? Why is the follow up rate crap? Why are they doing them like twice when mine might be eight, nine or whatever. And this is the biggest challenge. There is an age thing always that seems to happen. And so what the clinic owners do is they send them on our therapist transformation course.

[00:18:24] Katie Bell: So they get a whole day with me and then they get four weeks of support afterwards and follow up. And [00:18:30] this is for clinic owners who they can be great clinically. But they lack confidence and they have a set of limiting beliefs that were given to them growing up that means. Having a money conversation is extremely awkward for them, and they're, I'm going to be very judgmental here, but that all means testing their patients.

[00:18:54] Michael O'Riely: They're 

[00:18:55] Katie Bell: all making a decision on the patient's behalf, whether or not they can afford it before they've even had [00:19:00] the conversation. And they're focusing on the money rather than the outcome and the solution that they're able to provide and what that is going to do to their life. And we call it a transformation because they literally go through this.

[00:19:12] Katie Bell: Whole transformation of how they then talk to the patient, understand, be on that side of the fence and understand what they're going through, and then take them to the other side so that if they felt a balanced wedge, then was it absolutely going to optimize their treatment, their results [00:19:30] there, long lasting results.

[00:19:32] Katie Bell: Then there, there's no worry about saying. And this is how we work here. And I would like you to take one of these away with you because this is not only going to mean you get the benefit of seeing me once a week, but this is going to be like seven days worth of physio, seven days a week of physio, 

[00:19:48] Michael O'Riely: yeah. 

[00:19:48] Katie Bell: Comes easy because you're focusing on the outcome, the solution, the thing that the patient really needs rather than, so I think for you and I'd have to bring myself back and be like, why? [00:20:00] It's.

[00:20:00] Katie Bell: In my professional opinion and they'll either say yes or no. And if they say no, it's often 'cause they haven't associated the value of what you are going to deliver 'cause you've not communicated it well enough. So it's, I think it's interesting for you, Michael, with clinic owners coming on board, you clinic owners might well be great.

[00:20:20] Katie Bell: I could sell this all day long. I. 10, 15, 20 years clinical experience. And I'm, I know what my patients need. I'm happy to have that conversation, but the trickle [00:20:30] effect through the team is much, much harder. 

[00:20:32] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. No, absolutely. Absolutely. And that's, and so what we've been developing is application videos.

[00:20:37] Michael O'Riely: So not only we got the foundational exercise videos, which are all for dissemination to the end user. As in the patients and clients. But we've also been developing educational videos and and hands-on treatment videos just to introduce to that. 'cause it's, again it's, I've been quite surprised it's 'cause people say do I need to be trained on it?

[00:20:57] Michael O'Riely: So I'm like we can train you on, [00:21:00] but actually just have the confidence to, to do what you are already doing.

[00:21:05] Michael O'Riely: Interesting challenge and it's Andy of this is that.

[00:21:11] Michael O'Riely: Is the, how readily habits are formed. Positive corrective habits are formed on it because it's easy to use, it's immediately rewarding. It's you. Yeah, you, in 10 minutes you can even feel amazingly different, et cetera. Yeah. But the barrier to its [00:21:30] further dissemination is the habits of the clinician. And that the clinicians are gravitating back to what they've been doing for the last five years and 10 years.

[00:21:40] Michael O'Riely: And I'm as guilty as that, as anyone because that's just human nature. And, we go on a course, whatever the course may be. Yeah. One day we are like super excited. We're doing it with every single patient. Friday, we're doing it with every second patients. The next Friday down the line, we are doing 20% of it.

[00:21:57] Michael O'Riely: And in the end we may only keep [00:22:00] 10%. What we've learned, so that, that's just the way it is because we, you, in order to get through a busy clinical week, you need an element of autopilot. Yes. To help carry you through. As much as we hate to admit it, we need an element of autopilot because we would just burn our brains out completely if we Yeah, we didn't have that.

[00:22:16] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. So our challenge is to try and tweak those autopilots and be that for any sales conversation or the, and it's interesting that you talk about, your program for the therapist themselves. Because what I've realized [00:22:30] over the last few years is we've had a couple of physios who've joined us from the NHS and I've realized that there's a real art and skill to.

[00:22:38] Michael O'Riely: Private practice delivery that is completely not clinically related at all. Absolutely. It's all about confidence. It's all about having the goal. It's about taking charge. 'cause in the end, that's what patients want us to do. When you walk into somewhere, they want you to take the lead and say this is what you've got.

[00:22:57] Michael O'Riely: This is what we found, this is where we're going [00:23:00] and this is how we're going to get there. Yeah, that's what patients want. Yeah. But that's a skill that takes time to develop, so we've become a lot quicker at identifying that and saying we need to intervene here, not wait to see that, oh gosh, those retention numbers are only two appointments or three appointments.

[00:23:15] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. So yes, I think we might be sending some of our physios onto your course.

[00:23:19] Katie Bell: The results we get are amazing. We do a form before they join the program, Michael. And like they have to rate themselves and their clinical practice [00:23:30] owner or lead rates them in terms of certain, areas. And the one word that is on every single form, we have 19 on it in the last month every single one was said, I like confidence.

[00:23:42] Katie Bell: And I share with them the four Cs formula wasn't invented by me. It was met by a guy called Don Sullivan, but he talks about the four Cs. And the four Cs are commitment leads leads to capabilities that leads to courage or courage capabilities, and then confidence. And he said, and [00:24:00] what tends to happen is that everybody, 98% of the population wait to feel confident before they make the commitment to do it.

[00:24:08] Katie Bell: And then when they make the commitment capabilities and the courage shows up 

[00:24:12] Katie Bell: You are on the podcast, Michael. People will listen to it and they'll go, oh, okay I've got some new learning, I've got some new education. I'm going to go on this course. I'm going to find out ways I'm going to do it. But they'll wait to feel confident before they'll make the commitment to the patients.

[00:24:27] Katie Bell: They will say. I am really confident [00:24:30] that we can get you better. I'm really confident we can do something about that. I'm really confident you're in the right place. They don't want to do that. 

[00:24:38] Katie Bell: Because they're waiting to feel confident before they make the commitment. We've got a massive bunch of people out there that.

[00:24:46] Katie Bell: are fla, I'm going to say it flaky, vague. Don't lead in sessions, don't really know when it with patients. And the patients then leave very confused. They don't really feel like they know what the app, what, where they're going.

[00:24:58] Katie Bell: They might be being [00:25:00] seen very sporadically or too long between appointment times.

[00:25:03] Katie Bell: And that for me is a massive failure on those halfs in the first instance of seeing them the of. And I always say, you have to commit first. 

[00:25:16] Katie Bell: Have to make the commitment, the capabilities and the courage will then show up, and then you'll feel confident. And then when you feel confident, you will commit at a higher level next time. It's about stopping and holding yourself or [00:25:30] really reflecting and going, am I waiting to have used the wedge so many times before I feel confident to then say, okay, now I'm going to use it in this part of my practice all the time.

[00:25:43] Katie Bell: Or I think people was such an instant gratification society.

[00:25:48] Katie Bell: Patient one, session one. We think, oh, I'll change tact. I'll go onto this instead. And I remember from my training, Michael, I don't, about the same for you, my, my university lecturers, they used to say, [00:26:00] you do something and you do something consistently. And I'm sure they used to say four times where they got that evidence from.

[00:26:06] Katie Bell: I know. But it was like, don't change tact. Until you have done this for at least four sessions, you're never given anything, any time to work. 

[00:26:17] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:26:18] Katie Bell: But I guess with our younger physios coming through, our physios coming out the NHS into the private practice, this complete different skillset.

[00:26:26] Katie Bell: Completely different skillset to be a private physio. Yeah. [00:26:30] And because we're so worried about people paying us, if we're not seeing quick wins day one, session one minute one we're panicking and thinking, I need something else. I need another tool, I need another course. And we go through this cycle then of never really owning what we do and being confident about what we do.

[00:26:45] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. Absolutely. It's such an interesting thing because yeah, even though it was my idea and I, and when I think back to when we had the first prototypes and I started using the patients, and I, and [00:27:00] this is why I'm really sympathetic to that whole habit change thing is, and what you're saying is.

[00:27:04] Michael O'Riely: Those four C's is the root of that, or product is habit, isn't it? And the confidence becomes a bit. Yeah. But so I'm sympathetic to that challenge because I had to force myself to start using my own idea and even now, it's, I've gotten to the point where I'll just. I'll say to patient, you need to buy one of those full stop.

[00:27:22] Michael O'Riely: Because I know, and I've had the confidence to know that you will love it. You may not love it immediately, but you will love it and you will be very [00:27:30] grateful for the fact that I've introduced you to it. Yeah. In five years and 10 years and 20 years time, you will be grateful for it. So it's, it is that, yeah, it's exactly as you say, you keep building on foundation around.

[00:27:42] Michael O'Riely: When you were talking there, it reminds me of the whole thing of you've gotta fake it until you become it 

[00:27:49] Katie Bell: Yeah, true. Oh, don't we just

[00:27:52] Michael O'Riely: yeah. 

[00:27:53] Katie Bell: That's, and there's so many times that I look at what you are doing, Michael and what I, we're doing in Thrive and, was [00:28:00] I absolutely confident to go and step on stage at clinic growth live, having never run anything like that before.

[00:28:04] Katie Bell: Absolutely not. But did I just make the commitment on that's what we're going to do because this is the reason why we do what we do. Yeah. We're so passionate about it. I had to get out of my own way. Yeah. And now, and we're thinking, okay, our next day is being set for next year. We're going for double numbers in the room because I committed.

[00:28:25] Katie Bell: My courage capability showed up, and now my confidence is higher. So I'm like, [00:28:30] okay, let's go bigger. Let's go to the next level. And that's what happens, isn't it? But you have to get outta your own way, first of all. 

[00:28:35] Michael O'Riely: Sure. Because there's, then you've also got the evidence of how much you're benefiting.

[00:28:40] Michael O'Riely: Your Thrive clients, isn't it? Yes. And that's the thing then. So it's reversing what we're saying. Like you have to try to build the confidence to do it where you should just it and then do it. But now that you've adding all that value. Yeah. And you are making difference to, to practice owners and it's, but the important thing then is that it's actually, I don't want to put words in [00:29:00] your mouth, but when I think about it, it's not about we're going back to what we were saying earlier. It's not about just flogging a wedge. It's about changing an existence. And so by, by empowering and optimizing your clinic owners, it's actually about making more of a difference to more patients, isn't it?

[00:29:19] Katie Bell: Yeah. Because I want to impact health on a massive level. 

[00:29:24] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:29:24] Katie Bell: And I can't do that being a clinic owner myself. Yeah. Because there's a an amount I probably [00:29:30] can reach. 

[00:29:30] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:29:31] Katie Bell: But I can empower my team. Okay. There's a bigger amount. But actually if I've got a network of clinic owners all over the UK and Ireland who are running extraordinary businesses, creating extra.

[00:29:42] Katie Bell: Community and their population. Yeah. On an extraordinary level. Yeah. And now we've just got that ripple effect where we are now working not just with a thousand people or 10,000 people, but hundreds of thousands of people are being impacted By what we do. 

[00:29:58] Michael O'Riely: Yep. 

[00:29:59] Katie Bell: And it's the same for [00:30:00] you, Michael. 

[00:30:00] Michael O'Riely: Yeah.

[00:30:01] Michael O'Riely: That's amazing. We've got who joined us? And actually it was during a team meeting yesterday that I was talking to the team about saying, what is our ideal patient, and from my view, our ideal patient, this is for our physio practice, is a self-referred self-funding patient. Yep.

[00:30:18] Michael O'Riely: Because we are not dependent on anyone else other than their decision to engage with our services or not. Yep. And. And when I was explaining it to the team, I was saying basically when you, your eggs are in a few consultant baskets or a few insurance [00:30:30] baskets you're really quite limited.

[00:30:31] Michael O'Riely: 'cause those are your bottlenecks. Those are essentially for of a better word, your salespeople. But actually what you want to do is get to the point where every single one of your patients is your sales salesperson. So then rather than having been dependent on five or six. Different entities. You now your risk is spread across, in our case, like 22, 23,000 patients.

[00:30:52] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Yeah. And it's because, and we want every single one of those to be a salesperson. And that, and what I think for the wedge is that [00:31:00] the more wedges we can get people using every one of those wedges, wedge users is going to become a salesperson for our next one.

[00:31:09] Michael O'Riely: More and more of the purchases that are coming through are word of mouth, or I'm getting one from my daughter at university or a friend at work told me about this and they, and so it is, and this is what then encourages me because. At the times, like we spoke about in our last podcast when you just don't get replies to emails, nobody picks the phone, [00:31:30] et cetera, I then think, okay, but you know what?

[00:31:32] Michael O'Riely: The people who are using it are loving it, and they are sending other people in that direction. So I need to. Up my skin and just be prepared to get a few more, sorry, not in store, no time or you not expecting to be to, because some will, majority won't, but it's about what's the thing that drives you on.

[00:31:53] Michael O'Riely: What's the thing that fuels you? Yeah. And for me that is if we don't empower patients [00:32:00] with under the understanding and the tools to cope with living in the information age, we are going to have a massively decrepit society. In a very short space of time and the societal not only the individual quality of life cost, but the society cost for that is going to be huge.

[00:32:18] Michael O'Riely: And so I think I've been given the opportunity to take this really simple idea after the world and I feel a burning responsibility to do yeah. 

[00:32:27] Katie Bell: Yeah it's incredible. [00:32:30] This is about when you can pull yourself out of the day to day and the grind and the, ugh. You know what I'm hearing from this conversation, Michael, so much is we've got our eye on a much bigger picture than the day to day like, yes, patients are really important to us.

[00:32:45] Katie Bell: Of course there are bread and butter, but the, all the clinic owners listening to this podcast, I really want them to glean from this, that you've gotta pull yourself out. And you've we did this on some strategy days last week, and it was really thinking about [00:33:00] like the bigger reason that you exist.

[00:33:02] Katie Bell: Because it, it isn't just about rehabbing an ACL or whatever bullshit things that they say. You've just really said that you've got this burning desire, you've got a res, you feel like it's a responsibility. To impact societal change before it's too late and we're in a state where we can't really do anything about it.

[00:33:25] Katie Bell: And I think lots of clinic owners go into private practice because they do [00:33:30] have this fire. They don't have this like passion. And then what happens is life and business just comes in and treads all over that. 

[00:33:39] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:33:39] Katie Bell: It grounds you 

[00:33:40] Michael O'Riely: down, 

[00:33:40] Katie Bell: it grinds you down. And then you we have them and they ring us and they say, I'm overwhelmed, exhausted.

[00:33:47] Katie Bell: And I, we always go back to, okay, let's step back. Why? Why did you do this in the first place? 

[00:33:52] Katie Bell: And there's always a bigger picture. There's always a bigger reason. 

[00:33:55] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:33:55] Katie Bell: And it's aligning your business model to serve that, 

[00:33:59] Michael O'Riely: give that a [00:34:00] reason. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:34:00] Katie Bell: And I think that's so key for me in, in, when people invest in any technology, any equipment, and I want it to be the balance,

[00:34:10] Katie Bell: but it they've gotta pull themselves out of the day to day. 

[00:34:13] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:34:15] Katie Bell: To really go, does this align with our whole premises a company and our purpose, and why we do what we do? Because then they've got the passion behind it. Yeah. It then becomes how you work rather than just, oh, sometimes we do this and sometimes we [00:34:30] don't.

[00:34:30] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:34:31] Katie Bell: It just if I, I'm sure Michael, if we came into your clinic, every upper quadrant patient 

[00:34:37] Michael O'Riely: would. 

[00:34:39] Katie Bell: You would just treat them not in the same way, but you have a process and a method and the balance wedge would be probably in 90, 95% of your sessions. 

[00:34:47] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:34:48] Katie Bell: And it's 

[00:34:48] Michael O'Riely: just 

[00:34:49] Katie Bell: the way that you do 

[00:34:49] Michael O'Riely: it's 

[00:34:50] Katie Bell: become so it then becomes a very easy, this is how we work, this is what makes us different.

[00:34:56] Katie Bell: And I'm going off, I am going off on a tangent here. Indulge me for a second. We [00:35:00] get a lot of clinic owners worrying about competition. 

[00:35:02] Katie Bell: And they worry about, oh, there's another physio down the road or whatever.

[00:35:06] Michael O'Riely: I've 

[00:35:06] Katie Bell: got competitors and I just never see it like that because I think everybody works differently, but you need to be able to.

[00:35:14] Katie Bell: Showcase that and market that so that you can't be compared. And there is always enough work to go around

[00:35:23] Katie Bell: and I think that's what clinic owners can do so much more of. 

[00:35:28] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Yeah, [00:35:30] absolutely. 

[00:35:30] Katie Bell: And that ultimately Michael then means that when they do invest in equipment like yours, you are going to see that repeat business. You're going to see that commitment, you're going to see, they're going to see the reoccurring revenue.

[00:35:41] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:35:41] Katie Bell: Or increase the in income increase from it. 

[00:35:44] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:35:44] Katie Bell: And that's what I think, is some of the biggest barriers that we see. When people do make this investment at exhibitions, there's a list of things they come away with, don't they? Yeah. These wheat bags, I'm going to invest in his compression stockings.

[00:35:57] Katie Bell: I'm going to buy them, the [00:36:00] lightest tech art therapy? Yeah. 

[00:36:02] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Great. 

[00:36:02] Katie Bell: Great. But. Don't try and do it all at once. 

[00:36:06] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:36:08] Katie Bell: And don't dilute yourself too quickly as a clinic owner. They've got a bazillion things they're trying to do at once. And then they buy the wedge off you, Michael, they get 25 in the clinic.

[00:36:16] Katie Bell: And nothing really happens or it has a little bit of momentum and then it stops. And 

[00:36:21] Michael O'Riely: I 

[00:36:21] Katie Bell: think part of this is because they're trying to do too many things at once. 

[00:36:24] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. Absolutely. I can imagine my practice. [00:36:30] Practice owner. I'm, yeah, really quite well aware of that, but I've also, I guess I've I'm probably a little bit wise at that, so whenever requests come in for more equipment and this, that, and the other, I'm like, okay, how much, how does this align with what we're doing as you say, and and how much is this going to be?

[00:36:46] Michael O'Riely: And for how long is it going to be used? And then just going to be cash that's then sitting in the corner progressively draining away until on eBay and sell it for a [00:37:00]10th of what we paid for. So 

[00:37:01] Katie Bell: the reality isn't it, there will be clinics across the country with stock cupboards full of crap.

[00:37:08] Katie Bell: What we don't want is this to be another one of those things. Yeah. So the key thing I want really want Clear Co is for me, and I'm going to ask you the same Michael to take from this, is pull yourself out of the day to day whenever you are looking at. Investing in something different or new in your clinic or finding a new way of working.

[00:37:26] Katie Bell: Pull yourself out of the day to day and really think about the why, the [00:37:30]bigger picture, the purpose, why you exist as a clinic and who you're trying to serve. 

[00:37:35] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Does 

[00:37:36] Katie Bell: this product align with that? 

[00:37:37] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:37:38] Katie Bell: Can it optimize what you do? 

[00:37:40] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:37:40] Katie Bell: And then put a process in place to ensure that your team are on board.

[00:37:44] Katie Bell: That there easy way, easy to implement. They get rewarded by implementing it. 

[00:37:50] Katie Bell: And it's ever present, like you said, you need ever present cues to ensure that you consistently use it in your practice. 

[00:37:57] Michael O'Riely: Yeah, no absolutely. And that's the thing that I'll say for any practice that's coming [00:38:00] on board, I'll say what you really want to do is have one in every treatment room and make sure it's no further than arms length away.

[00:38:06] Michael O'Riely: Because if it's in another room or if it's in the gym, I get it. You'll do it a couple of times. And then we talk about faff factor, what is, what's the faff factor involved in doing that? And for anything that's, it's basically probably one of the most important things I look at when it comes to new equipment and all the rest, or software, whatever it is.

[00:38:23] Michael O'Riely: I think.

[00:38:28] Michael O'Riely: As humans, we're all about conserving [00:38:30] energy. And so we are going to then be what's the path of least resistance? 

[00:38:35] Katie Bell: Yeah. You're so right. And only yesterday in my clinic I don't do much clinical anymore, Michael, but we have one in every treatment room that they literally in the basket next to the bed.

[00:38:45] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:38:46] Katie Bell: And my first patient came in and for whatever reason, probably, 'cause I'm talking to you today, I was like we used. 

[00:38:54] Michael O'Riely: Wow. 

[00:38:56] Katie Bell: Yeah. Now the Tuesday before, I don't even know if I got it out because it [00:39:00] wasn't ever present in my head. Yeah. But then and then two of them took them home. Somebody else we have one that people can borrow and they just trial it for a week and then, because sometimes they need that.

[00:39:12] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Fly on.

[00:39:14] Katie Bell: Yeah. And they inevitably just say, oh, I'll just keep it,

[00:39:18] Michael O'Riely: yeah. 

[00:39:18] Katie Bell: It's great. 

[00:39:19] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:39:19] Katie Bell: So it's just having that, it, having it at the forefront of your mind and as a, I guess as a new clinician as well. I remember when I was first qualified, I was training in [00:39:30]acupuncture, I was training in Pilates.

[00:39:31] Katie Bell: Did skills you feel like you need as a practitioner.

[00:39:36] Katie Bell: I was running the risk of trying to do too many things and learn to, and then I didn't know how to treat my patients anymore. 

[00:39:43] Michael O'Riely: Yes. I was like, 

[00:39:44] Katie Bell: oh, should I be acupuncture them? Shall I put them on the wed? Shall I do this? Shall I move them? Shall, yeah. And I was overwhelmed. So I think it's recognizing as clinic owners where your therapies are in their journey of learning.

[00:39:54] Michael O'Riely: Yes. 

[00:39:55] Katie Bell: And how this becomes a tool in their toolbox. Yeah. But not [00:40:00] just another thing that's going to confuse them. 

[00:40:01] Michael O'Riely: Yes, for sure, for sure. 

[00:40:03] Katie Bell: Yeah. 

[00:40:04] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. And so that's the end. We I've so got what I call the ratchets and wedges concept, which is, yeah, I love it. Basically, fundamentally finally that filing governance coming over and and so we going we've got some resources coming out about that.

[00:40:18] Michael O'Riely: What we found really useful in our clinic and in other clinics is we've just created the little, little laminate diagram of it to explain, picture the filing cabinet, picture the bowling wall. And that's, over time we get short and tied to the [00:40:30] front. We get stiff at the back and that keeps our filing cabinet til forward.

[00:40:33] Michael O'Riely: But just having that little educational resource in the treatment room is so easy. You pick it up, show the patient like, this is what's going on. This is why you got this back, because your filing cabinet is.

[00:40:44] Michael O'Riely: Because and why I mention this is because it's coming back to those more newly qualified therapists and getting them to say, okay let's just make this really simple, right? When it comes to neck pain, when it comes to all these things, you've got all these [00:41:00] other modalities that you can be using, but fundamentally.

[00:41:03] Michael O'Riely: The first domino in this whole process is this trunk imbalance. Yeah. So just start doing that. Yeah. And get that corrected. Yeah. As thick. And now you can go on to be doing the other bits of this. Yeah. But without correcting that fundamental, that patient is not going to progress the way that they could.

[00:41:21] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:41:22] Katie Bell: That's a way of looking at it because like the tools almost now in my mind. Once you've got the foundation laid, [00:41:30] the other tools that you might be using acupuncture for pain relief or soft tissue work or mobilizations, all then layer on the top of that, don't they? 

[00:41:37] Michael O'Riely: Yep, for sure. But 

[00:41:38] Katie Bell: they're not necessarily going to fix the problem.

[00:41:40] Michael O'Riely: Yep. 

[00:41:40] Katie Bell: It's just going to treat the symptoms. Whereas this is let's put that. Foundation in, and then we can do all of this other stuff over the top. 

[00:41:48] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. Because if we're not correcting, it comes back to that analogy of the prevailing wind is that every day we're all being drawn into our screens.

[00:41:56] Michael O'Riely: Either mobile phones, laptops, whatever, over [00:42:00] steering wheels. We're all being drawn into flexion all the time. So that is just driving the problem. So if we are not equipping patients with the ability to restore that balance on a regular basis, we can spend the rest of our professional lives treating the upper traps, treating the, trying to strengthen deep flexes, which will never strengthen if the whole thing is.

[00:42:19] Michael O'Riely: Don't do that, do this. It's do this so that everything else you then do becomes far more effective. Because otherwise, if you don't do this first thing, you just keep feeding that problem. [00:42:30] The moment they walk out, the moment they get back on their phone, they're feeding the problem again. So give them and I think this is why.

[00:42:36] Michael O'Riely: Patients are so enthusiastic and excited about the wedges because it's, they really can feel that it's correcting the fundamental issue. Yeah. And then when we treating, we're actually able to take good steps forwards because we just treating the cons, the, when we treating soft tissue and all, and joints and the rest of it, we treating the consequence of it, but we stopping the feeding of the fire in the first place.

[00:42:59] Michael O'Riely: And then we [00:43:00] get to the point where we've dealt with those things. They're in the habits of restoring that balance and bringing the sustainability, and then they're able to achieve a much better long-term outcome. Like I talk about, I use this analogy whenever I see patients, I say we're at a fork in the road.

[00:43:14] Michael O'Riely: We're here. And now, if we don't help you to change your habits and we don't help you to change what's going into your day, the further forwards we go, so two years, three years, five years, 10 years, you are going to be in, potentially in a very different place. [00:43:30] Now if we go on this road than we would've been otherwise.

[00:43:33] Michael O'Riely: Wow. Because it's on this road that got you to see me in the first place. So now the only way, it's not just about patching you up on, on the road and sending you, carrying on the road that you're on. It's about, say. Take the things and implement these habits, use these tools to make that small degree change now, which as the years go by, it's just going to become bigger and bigger.

[00:43:53] Michael O'Riely: And that's the other thing we talk about. I want to make better 80 year olds. 

[00:43:57] Katie Bell: Oh, I love it. [00:44:00]

[00:44:01] Katie Bell: You can definitely tell Michael we are two visionaries. Episode together. It's fabulous. So Michael, we're going to have some listeners that have heard about this for the first time, and I'm going to tell them the first thing that they need to do is just go and buy one for themselves.

[00:44:17] Katie Bell: Yes. And use it. 'cause they're all leaning over a plinth all day if they're not there at a desk. If they're not there, bent over with young kids or we were all this full action. So first thing I'm going to say is go and buy a wedge. How do they do that? 

[00:44:29] Michael O'Riely: So if you go [00:44:30] to optineck.com/shop there's, you can buy on there.

[00:44:35] Michael O'Riely: If you are a rehab professional, we do have a discount code, which will get you, they're normally 45, but the discount code will get you two for two for 60 basically. So 30 each. Reason why we do that is because you want one for home and you'll want one to start using in the clinic.

[00:44:53] Michael O'Riely: An order of eight soon follows, because once you've experienced it, then it's okay. I'll have a box of eight. Yep. And we'll have them in the clinic and away we go. [00:45:00]Nice. So either to email me directly, it's info@opticneck.com or just go to the optineck.com and contact us via the website.

[00:45:08] Michael O'Riely: And and then also just follow on insta its opticneck_balance_wedge. And my handle is the neck physio and we've got loads coming out through there. And actually just this morning there was like I said earlier, another Pilates teacher was put up a reel about how well she's using it on the reformer and how much space.

[00:45:29] Michael O'Riely: Wow. And loving it. And also, oh, [00:45:30] so.

[00:45:34] Katie Bell: advice those people who are, who have been re renew, have renewed optimism and excitement about this spoken to you before. Yes. They need reach out directly to you, Michael, don't, and restart conversation. 

[00:45:46] Michael O'Riely: Yes. Yes, absolutely. And and as I said, we've got videos coming out over the next few weeks and months.

[00:45:52] Michael O'Riely: And just to, because of, like I was saying earlier before, I thought isn't it obvious that you would do this? But it's [00:46:00] not and. Because I've been doing it for as long as I have, and I need to remember that not everybody's had that opportunity. 

[00:46:06] Katie Bell: Yeah. 

[00:46:07] Michael O'Riely: Yeah. 

[00:46:07] Katie Bell: Oh, Michael, I've loved this conversation.

[00:46:10] Michael O'Riely: Oh, thank you. So have I, so have I. It's always so inspiring talking to you. 

[00:46:13] Katie Bell: Yeah. And you, and I know that. What I really love is that all our of our listeners are also always inspired by these sort of conversations because it allows them to just get out the day to day and think bigger.

[00:46:26] Katie Bell: They're being able to think of at the moment, which is great. So [00:46:30] let's do another one. Do another one. Michael, thank you again on behalf of me and all the listeners for your 

[00:46:38] Michael O'Riely: Oh, thank you very much. Lovely to see you as always.

[00:46:41]

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