Side hustles. Everyone seems to have one these days. Often, they are the perfect income supplement to your regular day job, or they allow you to make money from the hobbies you love or the skills and talents you don’t always get the opportunity to utilize at your 9-5. Side hustles typically take a back seat to your primary job, and are the thing to go when you are crunched for time.
The Health Lab…is it just a side hustle? We don’t take insurance, and our hours are limited. We operate differently than typical Physical Therapy clinics, creating a Physical Therapy experience more conducive to healthy, active people. The differences between The Health Lab and traditional Physical Therapy offices have led some to assume that we are operating as “just a side hustle.” This belief infers that we are just trying this out, won’t be around for long, or that our practice is not at the top of our priority list. This assumption is wrong, but understandable, and we want to clear it up and share the mission of The Health Lab.
Stop and think about your past experiences with Physical Therapy. Likely, you went into the Physical Therapist, experienced some hands on work, and then had someone show you exercises and count your reps for you. Each visit probably results in much the same experience, with more high rep, low weight exercises while someone counts for you nearby or directs you to the next exercise. In addition, the person directing you in the exercises usually has multiple people they are seeing at once.
The thing about this is that for most of the population, this works. Our society is by-and-large full of sick and unhealthy people. Many people NEED someone to walk them through exercises and reps. So, what happens when a healthy and physically active person needs help with their injury? Nothing changes-the prescription is the same. Why?
Reimbursement rates are so poor, that to turn profit, therapists need to see multiple people at a time or a high volume of people throughout the day. This fatigues the physical therapist, reduces their ability to evaluate and complete clinical reasoning, and results in the same care for everyone. It’s hard for the therapist to shift their focus from the sick population to the more active population, which requires different needs.
The Health Lab exists to give care and therapy to active and healthy people. The standard model of treatment doesn’t work for our goals and mission, meaning we have to do things differently than the norm. We can’t take insurance because it will inhibit the care we can give, in the way you (as the patient) deserve to receive it. You’ve worked hard on your fitness and health goals, and we want to support you in your journey. We’ve found that the reimbursement rates tied to Physical Therapy do not support our goals of supporting YOU, and therefore, it had to go.
Businesses often start small, and The Health Lab is no different. As we continue to grow to get the word out about what we are doing, we will continue to expand our hours and availability to help as many Northern Nevada’s as possible.
The Health Lab is the answer to your needs for quality Physical Therapy, clinical reasoning, interactive, and hands on care that someone like you needs. The system has not been built for this, but The Health Lab is flipping that script. In order for The Health Lab to treat healthy, fit people, which is more rare than sick people, we need a clinic that is more rare than the typical clinic; this is what we aim to achieve.
We are not a side hustle, but we are definitely different.
If you are ready to take the plunge into physical therapy with a whole different approach, schedule your free 30-minutes discovery visit to see how we can help you in your health and fitness journey!