EP154: "From Sports PT To Healthcare Provider: The Next Generation Of Clinicians"

[00:00:00] Are you a motivated healthcare fitness professional? Are you looking to work with more athletes,

[00:00:09] become a sports specialist, or even get a job in a sports setting so you can finally

[00:00:13] enjoy the career that you've always dreamed of? If so, you're in the right place.

[00:00:17] My name is Chris Garcia, physical therapist, business owner, entrepreneur, and residency

[00:00:21] training sports specialist. I've been fortunate to work in professional sports

[00:00:25] and travel around the world working with elite athletes throughout my career and I've

[00:00:28] learned a lot of lessons along the way. I created this podcast to share my experiences

[00:00:32] and give you everything you need to know to help you become a sports expert.

[00:00:37] Welcome to the Sports PT Academy.

[00:00:45] If you want to know how to go from Sports PT to a healthcare provider and become that

[00:00:50] next generation of clinicians and why it's important, you need to tune in to this episode.

[00:00:55] Hi everyone, welcome all new listeners and welcome back to those who heard my content

[00:00:59] in the past. I'm excited for today's podcast. Before I go on to the content, what is new,

[00:01:07] what is better? For those of you who follow me online, there's always something. There's

[00:01:11] always something and I know it's just not me, it's you whether it's your car, your

[00:01:16] house, your tooth, your something is always happening in our lives that is just blocking

[00:01:22] us from going to that next level and you all feel it and I'll share mine. So

[00:01:27] those who follow me online on Monday, January 22nd of 2024 when they were listening to this,

[00:01:35] I have a private practice at Cashbase, private practice. I have three locations and one of

[00:01:42] my locations flooded, absolutely flooded and it's not the first time, it's actually

[00:01:49] the second time. It happened again last year, February 25th of 2023 and it has been an incredible

[00:01:59] journey to get here today to do this podcast because there's been a lot of chaos and a lot

[00:02:06] of management. I've had my hand in water and junk and cleaning up and cleaning products

[00:02:11] and lifting things, my hands hurt, my feet hurt. I've been coming home at midnight,

[00:02:16] waking up at five and it has been a lot and for those of you who are out there, we all have

[00:02:22] those things and you've been listening to my podcast for the last few months. It's been tough

[00:02:30] from a health perspective in terms of my family and my extended family. I have family members

[00:02:38] on my wife's side, pass and I've had my immediate family also have challenges.

[00:02:47] There's just a lot of health conditions going around and I had somebody I know personally had

[00:02:51] their gallbladder removed or excuse me, their headaches removed, my daughter knocked her

[00:02:55] two teeth out in the front of her mouth and those are permanent. Now we have to wait till

[00:03:00] the big ones come in, the adult ones. Our dryer broke, our dishwasher is having an issue and

[00:03:08] just so much and the cool part about this is that it's not just me, right? It's all of us

[00:03:17] and I had part of the process to recover from the flood. I had a news reporter

[00:03:24] who showed up and they were able to help share our story of our business and

[00:03:29] if you're interested on that, you can follow me on Instagram. It'll be on there.

[00:03:33] But they asked me a good question. They said, how does this make you feel?

[00:03:37] And I was like, well, what emotions do you want? And it really just hit me all in one.

[00:03:44] The real struggles of being a small business owner, the real struggle of being a physical

[00:03:50] therapist, the real struggle of being a husband, the real struggle of being a dad,

[00:03:54] the real struggle of trying to stay fit and healthy and mentally stay sane through all of this

[00:04:01] stuff. And I just broke down. It was, that question was so great. It was how do you feel? And I was

[00:04:08] like, you know, I don't ask myself that question so much. And it was just tough to maintain

[00:04:13] composure. So it has been quite the week. But nonetheless, I'm here, I'm passionate,

[00:04:19] I'm excited to share with you what one of the deeper conversations I had with someone on my

[00:04:29] Kickstarter, eight-week online mentorship program. And that same conversation I had with a team

[00:04:34] Aromind at Sports Performance Physical Therapy. And then I also had that same conversation

[00:04:40] with a Zoom call that I had with a physical therapist that I'm mentoring with

[00:04:49] an expertise that I'm developing and sharing with the rest of PT's all over the US and actually

[00:04:57] all over the world that I'll be launching very, very soon, which I'm really excited about to

[00:05:02] be able to help you because these patients are coming to see you. But with stem cells. So

[00:05:07] and these three discussions I had all kind of spoke to the same message. And I'll share

[00:05:13] what this is. Today, we're going to talk about how Sports PT is an entry point for a lot of people.

[00:05:20] And I'm writing some things down here. Sports PT is a lot of it's an entry point for a lot of us,

[00:05:25] right? We're so passionate about. I had a someone in my Sports PT Academy mention, I said,

[00:05:32] Chris, I love being in your Kickstarter mentorship course. And I said, why? They said,

[00:05:37] I feel like this is where I need to be. And I said, why? Because because I treat a lot of

[00:05:46] ortho patients inactive people, some athletes, active individuals, couch potatoes who want to

[00:05:52] stay active, high schoolers, ACLs and my co-workers don't really get passionate about that.

[00:06:01] Right? They don't think like me. They come in, they clock in, they clock out. They

[00:06:05] barely do their notes. They're not really passionate about doing things. If somebody

[00:06:08] cancels or excited, if somebody knows shows, they're on Instagram, they're on Facebook,

[00:06:13] they're on their phone. They're not really doing things. And he said, that's not who I am.

[00:06:18] And I really want to treat active people. I really want to make a difference in people's

[00:06:21] lives and I want to get them more fit. I want to get them performing at their best.

[00:06:25] I want to get them in the weight room. I want to get them stronger than before.

[00:06:27] And he said, being on your Sports PT Kickstarter where there's 38 physical

[00:06:34] therapists and healthcare providers from all over the US and Puerto Rico,

[00:06:39] you know, as an extension of the US, it really feels like I am with people that I should be.

[00:06:48] I feel like I should be there because this is where I belong. Listening to everybody in this

[00:06:52] call. Everyone's asking good questions. I wish my co-workers were like that. I wish I was working

[00:06:56] in an environment like that. And that's why I built all of my programs and all my courses

[00:07:01] because I know it's a rare instance to find that many people who are very passionate about Sports PT.

[00:07:06] And so all of us came in as an entry point to being a Sports PT. And then there's different

[00:07:11] struggles you have as a PT, as you enter the profession, your new grads, super pumped,

[00:07:17] super excited. And then you get into a job where maybe you work for insurance, a hospital

[00:07:24] setting, an ortho setting, maybe you're a hybrid clinic, maybe we're a cash based clinic,

[00:07:28] whatever it is. Then now you enter the workforce and now you have the constraints, the red tape on

[00:07:34] everything that we do as a company, as a profession, as whatever it is that you do.

[00:07:39] And now, you know, it's not that easy to see these athletes or, you know, see them as long

[00:07:44] as you want. And now you're realizing the real struggles will be in Sports PT. You care more

[00:07:50] than you can do. I'll say that again, you care way more than you can actually do. And

[00:07:56] that's frustrating. So Sports PT gets us passionate, we're excited, then we hit a wall.

[00:08:01] And then maybe you blame it on your company, maybe it's not the company for me. So you move on to

[00:08:04] a different company and that new company is going to solve all the problems and you realize it's

[00:08:08] still a struggle. And I truly believe as I mentor thousands of physical therapists now,

[00:08:16] I realize there's trends and it's not like just you or not just because you live in Virginia

[00:08:21] or Texas or Kansas or Oregon, and that's how they do it over there. No, you're just a human who has

[00:08:27] a profession. And those two things are very predictable. A lot of us as individuals were

[00:08:33] very right side of the brain dominant, you know, very analytical, very logical, very empathetic

[00:08:38] human beings who we enjoy doing certain things we want to help. That's the person who chooses

[00:08:43] a profession and that profession exists all over the state. So now we're not talking about

[00:08:48] all my state's different or my clinic's different. No, your profession, you're locked into the profession

[00:08:52] and that is a big deciding factor on your happiness and what you can do inside your career path.

[00:09:00] And the more I get to understand those these phases, the first one or two maybe even three

[00:09:06] years, you're super passionate and then you may be finding another job because you don't

[00:09:09] like the one you have. Then you get to the five year mark and you're like, man, is this

[00:09:13] really worth it? Is this really what I thought I was going to do for the rest of my life? Do I

[00:09:19] really want to take home notes, you know, for two to three hours? Do I really want to

[00:09:24] give up my weekends for CEUs? Do I really want to deal with stinky feet? Do I really want to

[00:09:32] insert your challenge? Do I really want to do Medicare evals? Do I really want to do

[00:09:38] an hour session? Do whatever it is that you struggle with. That's the profession, right? That's

[00:09:45] what we do. And the more and more I see people doing these things, if you don't understand that

[00:09:52] getting out of the profession is not the problem or changing the job is not the problem,

[00:09:56] it's just how you see your skill set and what you do for people. Now ET has given us this

[00:10:02] box. You're supposed to do movement and manual therapy and corrective exercise. Like that's

[00:10:07] your toolbox, right? Like that's every toolbox, every CEU course and every PT instructor and

[00:10:12] every mentor has told you, you got to get good at manual. You got to get a good at your correctives.

[00:10:15] You got to get good at repeated movements. You got to get good at your movement assessment.

[00:10:19] You got to get good at your strength and conditioning, whatever it is. So if that's

[00:10:23] the toolbox, that's what you look at. You're like, well, that's the only toolbox I'm allowed

[00:10:27] to do. So that's what I got to do. And you only get good at that. Well, what that does,

[00:10:33] it narrows your lens. It narrows what you can do for people. And if you listen to my last podcast

[00:10:39] about the PT profession, I think that's a really big deal. And I think it's very critical

[00:10:45] that we start looking at other avenues. And this podcast is an extension of that.

[00:10:51] Sports PT is what we enter at. And I'm telling you right now, there's a lot of clinicians around

[00:10:59] the US that are now starting to think and see it differently. And let me share what this model

[00:11:05] looks like. Instead of being a sports PT, which you are through your license and your trade,

[00:11:12] and that's what you are. But what you will be and can be to get you out of this wormhole,

[00:11:21] this never ending cycle of frustration of being this provider who just is caught in this,

[00:11:28] doing the same thing all day every day and exhausted, is that you will no longer have

[00:11:33] to see yourself as a sports PT, you have to see yourself as a healthcare provider.

[00:11:37] And that's why I titled this podcast from sports PT to healthcare provider. It's the next

[00:11:43] evolution, the next generation of clinicians. And how is that important? How is that different

[00:11:48] from what I do, Chris? I do these things. I blah, blah, blah, right? You insert your,

[00:11:53] how you're special. But the challenge is you don't practice it. You don't live it. You

[00:11:59] don't breathe it. I helped somebody create a wellness program for their clinic. And there

[00:12:08] was one thing they wanted to work on was, well, Chris, how do I make myself more marketable? How

[00:12:11] do I help my community more? How do I get more athletes? The original question was, how do I

[00:12:16] get more athletes on the schedule? That was the question, right? And they're like, well,

[00:12:20] I can go to gyms. I can do all these things. I can ask people. I can do those things.

[00:12:24] I was like, you know, why don't you just take a different approach? Why don't you become

[00:12:27] the expert? And I said, why don't you design something? So we went through and we designed

[00:12:32] a wellness program that they would do, bring in people. They would create a monthly

[00:12:41] program for individuals 40 to 60 years old or 30 to 50, whatever it is, and provide a wellness

[00:12:49] service where they can use their clinic with a huge square footage as a gym that they come in,

[00:12:56] three times a week, and it'll be a pre-templated program. And they can do it at a very low price,

[00:13:01] so it's affordable and that patient can stay active. And what I said was make that available

[00:13:08] to your active patients who want to stay more active where your couch potatoes, your 10% of the

[00:13:12] bell curve, will now come towards the center and you want to keep them more active and maybe

[00:13:15] they're done with their visits and you don't know the next phase. Why don't you just build

[00:13:19] programs for them that every month that they can go in and do, and maybe advance them,

[00:13:22] and no one has to oversee it. Now that gets them more active, now you have more active people on

[00:13:26] your schedule and you know they're going to get hurt, so now you have patients who trust you,

[00:13:30] value you, and you know just normal life aches and pains, you become, they're referring like

[00:13:35] they just know that they'll need you, they're right there and then. So now you have an active

[00:13:40] person who is even more active and they'll stay on your schedule. And then you can bring

[00:13:44] some speakers from all over your local town and maybe there's an attritionist or dietician

[00:13:49] that you want to bring on and now you bring somebody else with a unique skill set and helps

[00:13:53] educate these people on a Tuesday night and it's free. Now patients will come in for sure for

[00:13:57] free for education or through Zoom and now you make connections with your local community and

[00:14:02] now you have a dietician you can work with, maybe bring in a personal trainer who can help them

[00:14:06] and you now work with them and now you have more active people, more people in your network

[00:14:12] who can help you develop more skills not just in your musculoskeletal domain because

[00:14:18] that's what we do, but what about everything else that this person does outside of the clinic and

[00:14:23] you know that's increasing their injury risk? For instance, does somebody sleep

[00:14:29] you know six to eight hours? What's their nutrition or diet like that impacts how much

[00:14:34] they weigh which impacts how much stress is going across their knees. So instead of saying hey

[00:14:38] lose weight why don't we look at was there anything else we can do from a consulting

[00:14:42] perspective maybe getting a certification in diet or a dietetics or nutrition online or through a

[00:14:50] course that we can service those people or learn from somebody bring somebody in or maybe you get

[00:14:55] a CSCS and you look at strength conditioning or being in a personal trainer or a strength coach

[00:15:00] to help you guide your patients and ultimately you're trying to figure out

[00:15:03] what is it besides PT that I can offer and help people within my scope of practice

[00:15:08] that's the question you have to be asking yourself. So are there things that your patients

[00:15:14] are needing or wanting to do that you can't do right now because of your lack of skill set and

[00:15:21] maybe you're too zoned in on learning how to tape when the patient wants to know what I should

[00:15:27] do from a running mechanic or what shoes I should wear or running progressions or a return to

[00:15:34] marathon progressions or a monthly strength conditioning program template or a in-house

[00:15:42] gym that they can use or a better sleep protocol. I mean what you have to realize is that

[00:15:54] what our profession sells what we offer there's a cap on musculoskeletal health meaning

[00:16:01] musculoskeletal health is if it's insidious onset it's 100% preventable meaning that

[00:16:12] let's assume take out trauma right someone's a car accident somebody is on a soccer field and they

[00:16:16] got contacted hit and they tore their ACL that's contact I get that but if it's insidious onset

[00:16:21] it's 100% preventable try and disagree with that try and disagree that anything musculoskeletal

[00:16:28] insidious onset over time is not preventable osteoarthritis lose weight improve bone health

[00:16:36] be active learn how to control what not you know doing too much or too little wear good shoes stretch

[00:16:43] mobilize get good sleep and it minimizes them from developing pain but nobody wants to put

[00:16:49] that whole package together instead we get the aftermath the after effect oh you didn't sleep

[00:16:55] you didn't eat right you didn't stretch you didn't have a strength program you didn't know

[00:17:00] how to exercise you were overweight oh now I got to clean that all up with some magical exercise

[00:17:06] or magical manual therapy and send you back out to the wolves with you being overweight inactive

[00:17:12] not knowing what to sleep eat or do anything else it's just a never-in-cycle so we're

[00:17:16] actually doing something that really doesn't do any good for anybody long term it just gets

[00:17:21] a matter of pain temporarily but we haven't fixed the root of the problem how about their health

[00:17:25] how about actually getting them in better health not just musculoskeletal health

[00:17:30] looking at their nutrition looking at their sleep looking at their strength conditioning

[00:17:34] look at their fitness levels helping guide them making better decisions in life and health

[00:17:39] why because it then reduces how much musculoskeletal junk we have to do

[00:17:44] and that's called a healthcare provider if you want to be a sports PT

[00:17:48] you're probably in your first five years and you love it if you love doing sports PT

[00:17:53] and you're 20 years out good for you but you're probably behind your head as I say this you've

[00:17:58] always been thinking gosh there's got to be something else I can do there's got to be

[00:18:02] and whether you were looking at another profession or something completely different

[00:18:06] you were looking there's got to be more that I can do for people not just quad sets

[00:18:11] clam shells hip abductors the stretchy bandy thingy the the great what is blade blades pods

[00:18:18] all those things are great because you're repairing people because you're broken

[00:18:23] how about you fix people and not allow them to get broken from a health perspective

[00:18:29] and now I love sports PT believe me I love helping people but I love helping people

[00:18:36] across a continuum not in a section of that continuum that continuum starts with everything

[00:18:45] they do to recover sleep nutrition hydration all of those things are then then determine

[00:18:54] how well their body feels and reacts the rest of the day then they stay in a they they work

[00:19:00] on a computer because they have no education on what to do from ergonomics or whatever it is

[00:19:04] that's a solution we can provide ergonomics great then they go to a gym in that same slouch

[00:19:10] posture perform deadlifts they haven't done it since high school and now they just go out with a bang

[00:19:16] and let's try it again let's lift heavy poor mechanics perfect now we actually can help with

[00:19:21] mechanics and helping people figure out is this the lift that you need to be doing how about

[00:19:25] we outline something different and revamp the whole thing well now if you have some sports

[00:19:29] PT you know what they're gonna say is well let's just do more clamshells this is just

[00:19:33] do more weight I can say that I'll improve your strength program and everything else I actually

[00:19:37] don't know how to do it but I'll just say that I can and I'll add more reps more sets more load

[00:19:42] more more exercises more everything when there's no strategy involved so now don't say that you

[00:19:49] can't help them you can it's just developing the skills how much does they sleep what position

[00:19:54] is best what about their nutrition I don't know Chris how much should they learn what about

[00:19:59] water intake how can they do what can they do to minimize their risk of being a junk based patient

[00:20:05] you know they're all junky they're all injured and everything else so what would you do if they

[00:20:09] it was a perfect model from the beginning you'd work on those things help them lose weight figure

[00:20:14] it out improve their exercise regimen keep them motivated put them in better shoes help them

[00:20:19] understand what running progressions are helping understand what fitness progressions are you

[00:20:23] can't go from zero to seven days in one week help them understand that guide them but this is a long

[00:20:29] game that requires that people are your patients for a year that's why i'm not putting them into the

[00:20:33] context of a sports bt because they're patients they're hurt that's not the continuum now how

[00:20:38] can you be a healthcare provider that manages their care across a year a lifespan it is within

[00:20:44] our context it is within our scuba practice why not musco-eskeletal health reduce the risk

[00:20:52] via weight loss health uh lifestyle modifications you can't recommend those things well i don't know

[00:20:58] the liability legality how about you just be a good human and ask and direct them in the right

[00:21:06] place then tell them where to go but you won't even go that far because you want to stay so laser

[00:21:12] focused in on the repair mode and if you need to be able to go from this small lens of a sports

[00:21:19] pt i'm doing it great i'm mobilizing you're mobilizing problems that could have been prevented

[00:21:24] that's the frustrating part to me now why am i so passionate about if you can't hear this in my tone

[00:21:29] why am i so passionate because i've lived the life i've lived it and i've seen the dark side

[00:21:34] and it is amazing to live on this side now um it's not has nothing to do with my cash base

[00:21:42] setting people say like well it's easier when you're cashed no no no don't don't don't

[00:21:45] do that don't do that um the same struggle exists i learned it because i worked in pro sports without

[00:21:52] restrictions i traveled around the world with athletes as their main provider and i figured

[00:21:59] out real fast exercise doesn't get them better when i travel with them seven days a week four to

[00:22:05] six months at a time that doesn't work exercise is not the solution your hands are not the

[00:22:10] solution repeated exercise are not the solution tapings of solution it's understanding what they

[00:22:14] do on a day-to-day basis weekly basis all right well let's take take a step back what's your day look

[00:22:18] like well i wake up at seven i go eat breakfast what do you eat for breakfast uh cereal ah let's

[00:22:25] change that that way we can change up your recovery process let's switch it up to something a

[00:22:28] little more wholesome eggs whatever whatever you design great and then what do you do well i go

[00:22:33] and i get ready for practice all right what do you do well i put my shoes on and i start

[00:22:37] warming up okay great how about we do a total body warm up let's do get your your heart rate up

[00:22:43] and then we'll do some dynamic stretching then we'll move forward great we worked on your

[00:22:47] your stretches great and then what do you do well during my technical practice here's all my drills

[00:22:51] perfect now i can work with your coach understand what you do that's not my side but if i understand

[00:22:55] it that helps me great what do you do afterwards oh i just i go back and i go to my room perfect

[00:23:00] here's what i do we're into a five minute cool down and then we're going to do some recovery

[00:23:02] processes uh we'll get you on a cold plunge and if we have saunas or whatever it is or norma

[00:23:09] tax or recovery whatever it is we'll get you on that so you're making smart decisions oh great i

[00:23:13] didn't know that great what would you do afterwards uh i don't know i just watch netflix for a couple

[00:23:16] hours got it why don't you uh let's focus on getting you a 30 minute nap so you can have

[00:23:22] some recovery and then what would you do after that well i go eat lunch burger once you

[00:23:25] would you eat for lunch grilled cheese let's clean that up after that what'd you do

[00:23:30] oh perfect all right you go to the weight room awesome let me go in the weight room

[00:23:33] understand what your lifts are you've been struggling with back pain how about we don't

[00:23:37] do full squats uh how about we don't do pulling from the ground we do it from a block we use dumbbells

[00:23:42] we modify these things great didn't know that and would you do after that perfect i didn't do anything

[00:23:46] perfect let's sit you over for massage or rehab or stretch and get you a fine tune so that you're

[00:23:51] ready to go for the next day now when you're controlling all of these variables on a day to

[00:23:55] day basis now you're understanding oh my gosh they're not fueling properly so they're already

[00:24:01] in a hole from a nutrition standpoint and now you are now are modifying all their lifts you're

[00:24:08] modifying their technical practices so they reduced the risk of injury so you refueled them and improved

[00:24:12] their recovery process decreased their injury risk and now they can withstand a whole week of training

[00:24:18] versus if you did the opposite and did none of that guess what they pulled their hand me on

[00:24:23] friday and now you're the super sports bt to come in and say oh don't worry i have all the

[00:24:27] magical tricks you're going to be out for four weeks but i'm going to have a really good time

[00:24:30] for the next four weeks helping you out or you could prevent it those four weeks of injury

[00:24:35] which one do you want to be somebody who gets people out of a hole and takes pride in that

[00:24:40] or somebody who keeps people healthier than ever keeps them away from injury happens to know

[00:24:48] how to fix them in case they do or is just managing them closer to their baseline and above

[00:24:53] i love being baseline and above because it's so much easier to be a provider i don't have

[00:24:57] to dig so many of a hole and i don't have a timeline to reach and this is the reality with

[00:25:01] pro sports that you don't have these timelines if lebron james or tom brady gets hurt they don't

[00:25:07] have a lot of time they're paid a lot of money and they got to get them fast that's a lot of

[00:25:10] pressure or you do all the work on the front end to avoid them from getting injured and that's

[00:25:16] not being a sports bt that's been a healthcare provider working on all the aspects of what

[00:25:21] else can add stress to their body or to that local area that has a history of pain

[00:25:27] that can reduce the risk of it developing or flaring up that is the art which requires so much

[00:25:34] background on understanding what their day to day is their week to week their month to month

[00:25:39] the counter to this is that you have a sports physical therapist who have a you have a patient

[00:25:45] who has four weeks of pain they come in with knee pain and they have lateral knee pain

[00:25:49] is what you do you look at the impairment you watch him squat you watch him kneel

[00:25:52] you're like oh knee valgus poor ankle mobility poor hip mobility awesome i'll figure it out

[00:25:57] let's get you on your way and um you work on the hip mobility work on the knee mobility do the

[00:26:02] manual you do all these things in the fancy exercise stretchy bandy thingy and um it takes

[00:26:08] you four weeks you're like oh i did it but then that's four weeks that person's deconditioned

[00:26:13] they're out of shape you didn't consider all the variables they couldn't go to back to

[00:26:16] practice the coach doesn't like you the strength coach doesn't like you why because you were

[00:26:20] so narrow focused on what the injury was that you forgot to ask oh my goodness do you have practice

[00:26:27] when do you have practice when do you recover oh i didn't realize you were in the strength

[00:26:32] weight room wait when were you in there oh you had a competition coming up i didn't manage those

[00:26:37] things but i got your knee pain better but you missed two important tournaments and the

[00:26:40] strength coach is not in line with what i did and now they don't like me well no wonder why

[00:26:45] sports bts can't get along with other professions or it's harder for you to develop those

[00:26:48] relationships you're not considering them and what they do for the athlete they're at the center of it

[00:26:54] and so what you have to do is take a a nice step back and understand you service athletes and by

[00:27:00] managing their health and if you can't manage them all by yourself you're now part of a spider web

[00:27:05] a venn diagram of professionals that all have their hands on this you just have to understand

[00:27:09] what context you're playing within what role so if you have an athlete who's hurt you take

[00:27:16] precedence once they're not hurt strength coach and coach take precedence and you're just there to

[00:27:22] support in case they fall now if that athlete has none of that and no resources now you get to play

[00:27:28] now you get to play on where all of those hats the problem is you don't have the skills or

[00:27:33] you're scared to do it or you're hesitant or you don't even know what you can do that is a

[00:27:40] healthcare provider so ideal world there will be a new generation of sports bts usually around

[00:27:47] their three to five year mark where they're like yeah this is not what i envisioned as a sports bt

[00:27:53] i wanted to do more exercise and do all these things when you're going to realize is

[00:27:58] you're not getting the outcomes you want and you can't but the short lived where they have

[00:28:01] flare-ups so they keep coming back your goal is can you keep people at baseline or above and

[00:28:07] that requires that you understand your role and how to develop more skills so that you can help people

[00:28:12] across a lifespan not just across impairments and if you can process that you will move on

[00:28:20] to that next level the next goal is where do you learn all this stuff how do i where should i

[00:28:25] pay attention i think the biggest thing is all right and i did this with my my academy members

[00:28:31] you know you look at you can plan for the next year what's the skill set you want to

[00:28:35] develop what's the thing that you're seeing a lot of that you don't feel very comfortable with or

[00:28:41] that you're not seeing a lot but you want to develop relationships or you want to develop a skill set

[00:28:46] this is where you have to look at okay what over the next year what skills do you want to develop

[00:28:51] what skills do you lack what do you want to develop and what would make you more enjoyable

[00:28:55] and more marketable inside your clinic so if you work at an outpatient ortho and and

[00:29:00] you're looking at well how do i get better at providing wellness service on one more active

[00:29:06] people maybe it's doing this gym program maybe it's doing strength conditioning programs maybe it's

[00:29:10] doing injured prevention screen maybe it's doing a year of care plan now you have to take

[00:29:16] courses to find those but you have to figure out what what do you want from the top down

[00:29:20] instead of looking at what skill do i want it's what's the outcome i want and then develop

[00:29:24] the skills to achieve that most people do the opposite they don't look at the outcome there's

[00:29:29] like let me just develop more skills oh that's a taping course let me just take that

[00:29:32] it's a neat course let me take that that's a back course let me take that

[00:29:36] but never do we develop an understanding of what do we want at the next out of the end

[00:29:40] of this year what's the solution you want what if you ask yourself what in one year would make

[00:29:45] the biggest difference to my professional development and my personal happiness at work

[00:29:50] what courses would help me do that well first you have to figure out what that problem is

[00:29:53] so instead of looking at more knees and more ankles more backs more necks

[00:29:57] what is that that you can do to figure out as a healthcare provider what skills do i want to do

[00:30:02] on the recovery side the injured prevention side the strength conditioning side what aspect do i

[00:30:06] want to enhance and then figure out the courses from there this is what i do with my team this

[00:30:11] is what i do with myself uh and it helps now you see exponential growth versus the clinician

[00:30:16] who has worked one year five times over so you hear people say hey i've been practicing

[00:30:21] five years no you haven't you've been practicing one year five times versus exponential growth oh

[00:30:27] i'm a different physical therapist got it i understand i can now do injury prevention

[00:30:30] programs i can now do strength condition programs i can now manage acute injuries i can

[00:30:34] now do you know nutrition i can now do sleep i can now manage anything that people throw at me

[00:30:38] within my purview within my scope and that is the dream and it's not under a sports bt it is

[00:30:47] truly a healthcare provider i'm very very passionate about this it is the next generation

[00:30:52] i've been doing this for about a decade now my first five years were a little different as i

[00:30:57] became a healthcare provider and working at the united stateslympic training center that's

[00:31:01] really like changed my vision it changed my view of what what i do and the minute i applied it

[00:31:05] to my community that's why i say it's not cash based business i have three locations as

[00:31:09] cash based business i mentor physical therapists i see the struggle that people have even if you

[00:31:13] had unlimited resources and that you had all the time in the world you had the best equipment you

[00:31:18] still couldn't do this why because you still need the skill set and the view of what you do gain

[00:31:23] that first has nothing to do with the setting you're in it's not insurance limiting that

[00:31:27] you can still have those conversations you just need to develop a skill offered to the person

[00:31:31] and then find the next struggle them seeing the value in that why would i need that

[00:31:36] oh i see i haven't even discussed the benefit to you perfect it actually so you don't have to

[00:31:41] see me in six weeks of your games so this would ensure that if i just see you monthly or every

[00:31:46] other month this reduces your risk i think i'd rather see somebody six months six sessions every

[00:31:51] other month across a year with no injuries then three times a year with the same hamstring

[00:31:56] there was time money effort motivation you get frustrated so everyone would be happier if

[00:32:03] you just saw him less in pain that's a healthcare provider and that's uh that's what

[00:32:09] what we will be doing differently and for those who keep getting stuck in the rat race

[00:32:13] the same knee the same back the same ankle whatever it is you'll see that man like is it me

[00:32:19] is it my job is it this is it that let me take a knee course let me take a back course

[00:32:25] i'll change the job let me take a knee course let me take a taping court like it's just a circle

[00:32:29] so if you're looking at how do i expand the circle so i have more things that i can control

[00:32:36] my variables that's looking at how do you become a healthcare provider so there you have it i really

[00:32:41] wanted to get that in your brain it's numerous conversations i was having in the person i was

[00:32:47] discussing with was asking about stem cells and in stem cells the first week excuse me the first

[00:32:52] month of having stem cells you're actually doing minimal progressive overload and they asked well

[00:32:58] then what am i doing and i said you know what there's still value in coming to see you

[00:33:02] because your job is to protect all the other stressors to a little life that can minimize the

[00:33:06] the healing to the stress to the stem cells so for instance if it was a knee injection you're

[00:33:11] trying to minimize the stress to the knee and they said well can i do step ups or anything else

[00:33:15] no no i don't want any weight-bearing things and he said well then what am i doing i was like

[00:33:18] you're protecting everything else so what are they doing at work what are they doing for a

[00:33:23] fitment standpoint uh what do they do for sleep what are they doing for nutrition what

[00:33:27] are they do hydration all these other things and he said wow so i'm actually not progressing them

[00:33:33] i'm minimizing the risk of injury or flaring things up for the first weeks that's exactly it

[00:33:38] but it's not how we think as clinicians what we think of is how do we push more how do we progress

[00:33:42] how do we do more how do we do these but there's individuals or cases where you have to you

[00:33:46] have to control the external stressors it's more important than what you're doing inside

[00:33:50] it for like and that is mind blowing to a lot of us and you have to be able to switch that

[00:33:55] zone to being a healthcare provider so i'll release more of the stem cell things i have a

[00:33:59] home study mini course coming out to be able to help support physical therapists who are seeing them

[00:34:05] we are a huge network for individuals who are undergoing stem cells so the question and

[00:34:13] and uh challenge people have is i don't even know what to do with them do i treat them like a

[00:34:16] prp no do i treat them like post op no they are their own unique case uh case where they

[00:34:22] still follow healing timelines but they are adjusted based on the type of stem cells and

[00:34:26] everything else they're doing you don't want to miss these things up they're very expensive

[00:34:30] many many zeros uh in in that dollar amount so i'll come out with that later probably the next

[00:34:37] month or two um and share that with you so i hope you guys are doing amazing i hope this really

[00:34:42] gets you in the mindset of man what what does my career look like in the next year

[00:34:47] is it a sports fatigue is it a healthcare provider what is it that i'm doing that's

[00:34:50] going to make me happy and fulfilled over the next five 10 15 20 years instead of looking for

[00:34:55] another career another path start considering is this uh is this is it my view of what i do

[00:35:02] and what's the skills that i need to do to change that view so i hope that helps and um

[00:35:07] i hope you guys are doing well thank you all for those who reached out and asked

[00:35:11] we need any help with uh with our flood i truly support you truly appreciate the support

[00:35:16] i didn't realize how much of a community um we have inside sports pt and across the country so

[00:35:23] i absolutely love you guys you guys are amazing thank you for the support and

[00:35:28] i'll see you guys on next episode take it thanks for tuning in to the sports pt academy

[00:35:33] podcast it means the absolute world to me if you enjoy my content subscribe to the podcast so

[00:35:37] you know exactly when new episodes come out next help me help others by giving me a five

[00:35:42] star review on apple podcast i personally read all the reviews and i appreciate your support

[00:35:46] this gives me an opportunity to provide healthcare professionals and fitness professionals just like

[00:35:50] you with great information to become sports experts if you have any questions reach out to my team at

[00:35:56] dr chris at dr chris garcia dot com and tell us exactly what you're looking for do you want

[00:36:01] more head over to my website dr chris garcia dot com and sign up for my vip email list to

[00:36:06] stay in touch with my latest updates on courses and mentorship programs if you know someone who

[00:36:11] benefit from my content please share this episode with them until next time have an incredible day