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Business Talk
"If Exercise Alone Is The Solution, Why Are You Still In Pain?"
Dr. Dan takes us on a fascinating journey through his transformation from burned-out healthcare employee to successful physical therapy practice owner. After graduating during the height of the COVID pandemic, he experienced firsthand how the corporate medical system often prioritizes volume over quality, creating a hierarchy where patients receive "the least benefit out of the care they're receiving." This realization sparked his entrepreneurial journey with New Horizons Physical Therapy.
What sets Dr. Dan's approach apart is his detective-like methodology for solving persistent pain problems. Many of his patients come after being "chewed up and spit out by the medical system," dealing with injuries for months or even years. Rather than focusing solely on exercise, he investigates what patients are doing during "the 23 other hours" of their day. "If exercise alone is the solution, why are you still in pain?" he challenges, explaining how small behavioral modifications lead to incremental improvements. This holistic perspective acknowledges both the physical and psychological components of rehabilitation, emphasizing that the provider-patient relationship significantly impacts outcomes.
The conversation explores trending topics in healthcare, including the rise of cash-based practices that prioritize quality care over insurance constraints. Dr. Dan shares valuable entrepreneurial wisdom about building meaningful relationships and the principle that you must "give, give, give before you can receive." His patient success story—helping someone recover from a hip fracture in time for a family vacation—perfectly illustrates the profound impact personalized care can have on restoring not just physical function but life experiences. Whether you're dealing with persistent pain, considering a career in physical therapy, or building your own business, this episode offers invaluable insights into creating meaningful impact through patient-centered care.
Hey, welcome back everybody. I am excited to be joined with Dr Dan. He owns New Horizons Physical Therapy. We've got another great show for you guys, and before we start I just want to say good afternoon, dr Dan.
Speaker 2:How are you? I'm good? Thanks for having me on no-transcript.
Speaker 1:Please feel free to subscribe. Give us a comment. You know kind of share what you've learned from this episode as well. So, with that being said, let's go ahead and jump in. Dr Dan, tell our listeners, if you don't mind, share with our listeners a little bit about your background.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I've been a physical therapist for five years now. I've been in private practice for almost three years now. So I'm a UCF graduate. I went there for my bachelor's and for my doctorate and then graduated in COVID. It was 2020, the thick of it really and I always had my heart set on leaving Florida. But it didn't make sense at the time to leave Florida. So I took a job and the jobs were sparse at that time because of COVID and eventually I landed a gig with an outpatient clinic through Orlando Health.
Speaker 2:And this is not unique to physical therapy alone, but the burnout rate when it comes to healthcare, you get stuck in a position where you're just overworked and you're surrounded by co-workers that are overworked. And it kind of led me down the path of starting my own business. And you know I started as a side hustle. You know I was doing 100% mobile, seeing patients in my off hours, driving to their house, evenings, weekends and then it just kind of grew Eventually. Eventually I was able to move into an office and now kind of full-time my business.
Speaker 1:I love that and you know the transition of what you said going from corporate America, if you will, to starting your own business that transition. Tell us a little bit about that transition for our listeners yeah, I mean, it's completely different.
Speaker 2:Obviously there is burnout as an entrepreneur as well, like that you. It's not isolated to just working in a court atmosphere. But I would say when I was working for Orlando Health, it was very, very regimented as far as you know, getting patients in, getting patients out and kind of keeping the revolving door going. You know, now that I have my own practice, you know everything is done on my terms and the patient's terms and you know it's more of a collaborative process to get them better rather than having oversight by. You know, people who don't even know their name and you know it's just like top down approach where, like you know, the person at the top of the corporate realm is, you know, getting the most benefit and then everything kind of gets squeezed down to the bottom. And who's at the bottom? It's me, and then below me is the patient. So they're they're getting the least benefit out of the care they're receiving.
Speaker 1:And I think, if I hear you correctly, you're building more of a relationship through your business practices compared to corporate America where, like you mentioned, it's kind of, you know, bring the client in and move on without really getting to know them on a one on one basis, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. Everything I do is one on one and in physical therapy that's that's not, that's not common, like a lot of clinics. You know they're stacking the schedule three to four patients an hour per therapist and you know you really can't develop that alliance and that relationship, which is a huge part of helping someone rehab an injury. I mean there's a psychological component to it as well. And if you don't like your healthcare provider, it's like are you going to actually be accountable with the things they tell you to do? Are you going to show up for appointments and are you going to follow the plan of care all the way through? Not if you don't like the person.
Speaker 1:Exactly so when you're talking about rehabbing a client, or a patient, if you will, what does that look like, you know, to someone who's listening?
Speaker 2:yeah. So a lot of my patients like I'm not first resort, like they they've been chewed up and spit out by the medical system a lot of the time and a lot of them have tried physical therapy elsewhere before um, so they've been dealing with their injury for months, if not years, and a lot of times it comes down to figuring out not only like, what are their impairments when it comes to, like, their mobility and their strength, but also figuring out like, what are the things that they're doing on an everyday, like on their 24 hour clock, what are the things they're doing that are contributing to, you know, their pain? Because a lot of times, like my patients are pretty active. I see a lot of people that go to the gym, do group fitness classes or are involved in some type of sport. So I usually tell them, like, if exercise alone is the solution, why are you still in pain?
Speaker 2:Because other things that are going on the 23 other hours of the things that we need to temporarily change, modify these behaviors, these habits, so that we can slowly start getting these small wins back, so that you're less bad, you're less bad, you're less bad until you're better. It's not a quick fix. True, rehab is not a quick fix. I don't think quick fixes really exist. Band-aids exists, but I wouldn't say that anything that you know is worth having takes time and dedication, and you know accountability and discipline to actually get there.
Speaker 1:I agree with you. And then I like the word which you use in terms of Dr Dan detective, the word detective. You're kind of like Sherlock Holmes, you know You're kind of doing that research with your patient to kind of really hone in on what the issues are correct. Yeah, that's the bottom line. You know, when I was looking at your website, I know you do physical therapy, you offer sports massage, you offer cupping and dry kneading. Can you define cupping? What is that?
Speaker 2:So cupping is a modality where, um, I got really popular during the. I think it was like the 2016 olympics when michael phelps kind of was in the pool and everyone saw those red dots on his back um, so those are from cupping. So it's a type of therapy where these little suction cups and it can be done, um, in different manners there can. It can be done with fire, it can be done with just manners, it can be done with fire, it can be done with just suction but essentially you're creating negative pressure underneath this cup and it creates a vacuum on the skin. And then what it does is it kind of lifts up the soft tissue underneath. So, in theory, what it does is supposed to allow for better circulation, which can bring all the good inflammatory cells to that area and kind of drive out whatever is kind of lingering in that area. And that's in theory.
Speaker 2:So I always set expectations when it comes to any kind of manual therapy or any kind of thing where I'm using my hands. I tell people that all this stuff is kind of theorized. What it's actually doing and what the research supports is more so. I don't know if I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but like, say, you stub your toe on something really hard and then you go rub your knee, you know you get distracted from that toe pain. That's kind of how manual therapy works, whether it be cupping, acupuncture, massage, like it's providing your nervous system with a temporary distraction, so to speak, so that all these signals from these different pressure receptors or vibration receptors, they're overriding the pain receptors temporarily.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's interesting. I would have never known that. You know there are listeners that are going through, you know, wanting to know how to do some preventive maintenance. Any tips on that that you can give any of our?
Speaker 2:listeners. Yeah, I would say. I mean, in this country we have a low back pain epidemic just because the amount of time people spend sitting at their jobs. A lot of people have sedentary desk work and you know there's nothing wrong with sitting, but if you're sitting for eight hours a day and really not taking breaks or you know, utilizing a standing desk, yeah, I would say. Now that I'm talking about standing desk, I would say everyone should invest in a standing desk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I do actually have one as well that I'm speaking to you from right now that I can. I can stand up and you know just kind of stretch, and I can stand up and just kind of stretch because it's so important to do that for your bones and for flexibility, and of course, you know all this as well. So are there any types of trends that are shaping your industry?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I think to healthcare in general, I think the whole paying out of pocket for a higher quality service. So I have a performance cash based physical therapy practice. I'm out of network with most commercial insurances.
Speaker 2:insurance provides and you know that's coming into more to light into in the news, more like more recently. Um, I think more people are just appreciating the fact that, like you can, you can decide what cert, what you know, what service you get and you're not locked into what the insurance company kind of tells you you have to go through and what your doctor prescribes to you. Um, so I think that paying out of pocket for a higher quality service more and more people are learning that's a possibility, but there's still a lot of work to be done with educating the public.
Speaker 1:That's interesting too, and it seems like the industry in general not yours, but the medical industry in general there's a lot that are going towards, just, you know, stepping away from that practice correct and doing it on your own, which is interesting. You know we do have listeners here that are listening and you know they're aspiring to be entrepreneurs. Maybe they are business owners right now, kind of struggling and trying to figure out, you know, how to get over that hump. You know, from a positive standpoint, anything that you can share with them, maybe one or two tips that you can share with them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it's all about relationships. You know you have to plant seeds and you know nurture them and water them frequently, and it's about quality over quantity. And that's a mistake I made early on. I think I was just trying to build volume of relationships without realizing that, like, not everyone is going to be a good partner for my business and you've got to find the people that really support your vision and that you can support their vision as well and have kind of that giver's gain mentality. But, yeah, got to get out there and build relationships, put yourself in uncomfortable situations because of like for someone who's introverted like me. You know, like networking was not something I was doing before and I think that being an entrepreneur over the past three years has completely changed my personal life and my professional life as to who I am as a person and my character. But, yeah, got to go out and build relationships and don't expect anything in return. You know you got to give, give, give before you can receive.
Speaker 1:Receive. Very good, I like that you got to give, give, give before you can receive. I want to kind of share, want you to share a story of a patient and don't you don't don't say the name, yeah, but a patient that recalls like top of mind that you was so excited about the treatment that you provided for them yeah, um.
Speaker 2:So I treated someone last year.
Speaker 2:Um, this patient had fractured her hip, um, and she was.
Speaker 2:She was actually just visiting america from another country because she was visiting her family and her grandchildren and they had planned a vacation that they were going to go on a couple of months from when the hip fracture had happened and it was already planned and this was like a giant wrench in their plan.
Speaker 2:And I saw her first at home for a couple of visits until she was able to come to the clinic. Um, I saw her first at home for a couple of visits until she was able to come to the clinic and she was in better shape after the treatment than she was before. Like she learned a bunch of exercise that she's going to be implementing when she goes back home. And, um, she was able to go on vacation and, you know, go up and down stairs and go on all these hikes with her family. And they thought that was not going to be possible, like they were trying to find a way to still go on the vacation, but maybe not being able to modify things so it better fits her. But they were able to do everything they planned.
Speaker 1:That's got to make you feel great, don't it? You can tell, I mean, because that story just came right out of you. So you remember and you kind of put yourself back in that situation. I could tell. You kind of put yourself back in that situation, I could tell, and just you know, hearing that can inspire others to say, hey, what you do really, you know, helps people, which is great. So, as we wrap up here, can you provide our listeners a phone number as well as a website to get a hold of you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the phone number is 407-708-9918. And then the website is New Horizons Rehabilitation. So the practice's name is New Horizons Physical Therapy, but the website is NewHorizonsRehabilitationcom.
Speaker 1:Dr Dan, thank you so much for providing valuable insight, you know, for our listeners about your business and we're so excited and, you know, wish you much success, continued success in the in the future. Thank you. Thanks for having me on. You're very welcome. Thank you for tuning in to First Media Consulting Podcast. If you enjoyed the podcast, subscribe today To nominate a business you would like to recommend to be on our show. Go to firstmediaconsultingcom or call. Thank you for listening.