When is a physio not a physio?  When they are charging extra for the essence of what physio is!

So this week during my usual doom-scrolling through social media I came across a post from an exercise prescription software business advertising some webinars about how to monetise your rehab programmes… basically how to charge your clients extra for their rehab programmes!

Needless to say I commented on the post and said how horrified I am that this is even being suggested.. to be met with comments about how sometimes some clients don’t need a rehab programme and then others will need something more complex and take more of your time, and that you “need to charge your worth”…ugh.

As a Chartered Physiotherapist I trained to treat humans first and foremost, before adding animal therapy into my repertoire.  My professional body, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy defines physiotherapy:

“Physiotherapy is a science-based profession and takes a ‘whole person’ approach to health and wellbeing, which includes the patient’s general lifestyle.

At the core is the patient’s involvement in their own care, through education, awareness, empowerment and participation in their treatment.”

So how on earth anyone can even suggest charging for a rehab plan as extra is beyond me, and my own professional ethics (and possibly against those of the CSP by the looks of it).  Rehab is the absolute heart of what we do, and I’m not sure there are any clients I see that I don’t advise on rehab in some form or another, and I see this as core to what I do.  If I were to charge extra for anything it would be the ‘adjuncts’ such as electrotherapy, or acupuncture as these need additional equipment for.

Of all the Physiotherapy research into what truly works, exercise is the thing that comes out on top every time.  If exercise could be given as a pill we’d all be prescribed it because it is the single-most important thing we can do to protect against not just MSK issues, but also a host of other health conditions.  As the CSP states above we work holistically and exercise is a huge part of that: whether it’s a specific rehab programme or general advice around becoming more active.

As for “charging for your worth”, don’t get me wrong I understand this concept and I do feel that we often undervalue ourselves as physiotherapists, but ultimately we can end up pricing ourselves out of the market.  I love my job, and I love that I can help both humans and animals live their best lives.

Business practices can be personal and each to their own, but does charging extra for what should be our core practice go against our ethics, and as such, our professional code of conduct?

The image shown is taken from the CSPs current MSK service standards, available via https://www.csp.org.uk/system/files/publication_files/001900_MSK%20service%20standards_A4_Final4.pdf