“I’ll see you in a month”... My 6 most hated words in Pelvic Health

How many times have you heard clients say ‘I’ve done “pelvic floor physio” and it didn’t help’. 

As a clinician, this statement can leave us feeling defensive, bemused and frustrated because we have the skills and we know the evidence so the client must be doing something wrong. Right?

One other much bemoaned characteristic of a pelvic health caseload is that this population is notorious for high cancelation rates - much to the ire of both treating physios and clinic owners. 

Maintaining a pelvic health caseload is challenging and when we started to dig deeper on this, to understand these pain points and the reasons behind them, one reason became more and more apparent.  

But first, let’s go back a step… When your patient first booked in with you, they prioritized their condition and arrived (and probably finished that first consult) full of motivation to work on achieving their health outcomes. So why does this enthusiasm wane once they leave the clinic and start their treatment journey? What happens between visits that causes them to cancel and delay or discontinue treatment. 

In the past we’ve pinned blame on patient factors such as carer roles, work stress, finances, sick kids and typical female caregivers putting their own needs last. However, we also wanted to know what we, as a physio team, could be doing to facilitate better engagement with the treatment plan. 

Through observation, interviews with high performing therapists, audits, knowing the numbers and patient feedback - the most crucial factor enabling successful delivery of the treatment plan that we uncovered was - the art of nailing treatment cadence (aka frequency and timing of appointments). 

In our next blog, I’ll explain what I believe to be an optimal treatment cadence for pelvic health clients and why I believe this is critical to properly treating and helping your pelvic health caseload achieve their goals and in return watch your KPIs and patient retention skyrocket! 

Rebecca is the co-founder and mentor on the Pregnancy and Pelvic Physio Mentor Program. She also co-directs two successful Pelvic Health Clinics in Melbourne North West. Rebecca strongly believes in mentoring physio’s in not only the clinical skills but to be skilled educators who are familiar with their patient’s needs.