We are on the verge of a serious breakthrough in the physio profession.
As a collective, as owners, as therapists and individuals, the grass is looking greener.
The collation of which is exactly why I recently launched Culture Of One.
We have, a lot of the right people on the proverbial bus right now.
Can you feel the but coming?
My Biggest Takeaway From FOCUS 24
Coming away from FOCUS24, I left so elevated from listening and speaking with fellow owners, coaches, academics and frontline practitioners.
I had some great chats with various innovators, entrepreneurs, owners, academics and APA staff.
Special shout out to the recently retired Jackie Robinson (sic)
(Robertson… – I had a joke with Jackie that she’s been at the APA longer than I’ve been alive, but they still spelled her name wrong on the website!)
We have some serious intellectual heavyweights in physio land, and this bus is about to spread it’s red bull style bus wings.
Earlier this week I posted my thoughts on the APA on the UP forum.
If you read on to the end you can view, a typically raw Sunday morning rant, post 3 hours of sleep… sometimes it takes a bit of chaos to find the clarity.
The point of this article is building on from this idea, however it’s not actually a very nice one.
It’s actually a bit confronting.
To get to where we want to go, just like in any business, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows.
We can’t take everyone to the next destination.
Sunshine, Rainbows and… Professionalism?
The reality is we are on the verge of being recognised within Medicare itself.
(Hopefully, I’m guilty of being very optimistic after watching the AMA embarrass themselves in front of 600 live viewers)
Irrespective of whether it happens sooner or later, the rubber is going to meet the road.
And a couple of things are going to be exposed.
One of which is the dirty laundry that hangs out the back of every profession.
I’m speaking to scope of practice and clinical governance.
ie. What some people who call themselves ‘physiotherapists’ are actually doing.
It’s a broad church (to quote from my least favourite political leader of all time) and we have sometimes diametrically opposed viewpoints.
This is a great strength, we shouldn’t change this.
But as Uncle Ben would say (Spiderman’s uncle), “with great power comes great responsibility”.
And with this comes our responsibility to begin the next evolution.
If you’ve ever sat in on a medical ward round, or worse, an orthopaedic list review, there’s something pretty amazing that happens.
It’s horrific, like watching a car crash at times, and I’m not necessarily advocating for this aspect.
But what they do, do, is hold each other to account.
The professional standing of medicine is held in such high regard, that they are willing to shoot their own down in the pursuit of elevating their profession.
This is partially true, a lot of this is about egos, patriarchy and toxic masculinity.
That’s the reality, but again, there is something to be said about one particular aspect if we can expunge this from a fairly archaic system.
Forget the physio philosophy stuff.
This is about the often dreaded word: accountability.
Accountability: What Physiotherapy Can Learn From Medicine
This is where physiotherapy doesn’t necessarily fall down, but is guilty of perhaps being a little too, how do I put this…
(It’s basically the only word you don’t want to be called as a footballer)
And we are perhaps guilty of acting in line with this, like a cushion covered in marshmallows…
Especially when giving feedback.
The reality is, there are times when we allow discourse from perhaps people who shouldn’t necessarily be in a position to offer discourse, into our clinical spaces.
Specifically I’m talking about examples like the APA Musculoskeletal Fb Group, where posts have run up and down all year suggesting we ought to sign up to learn something different (we shalt never speak it’s name).
At face value, we should let anyone try anything right? And be open minded, as my former and highly respected Podiatrist colleague, Ian Griffiths would say:
“We ought to always keep an open mind, but perhaps not so open that we risk our brains falling out.” (Griff, 2015)
I’m a pretty open minded person, I actually am.
I’d give anyone an opportunity.
But that’s the thing, a single opportunity to prove themselves is fair.
However the burden of proof remains that of the innovator.
It’s not a right to continue shovelling the proverbial down people’s throats.
And I think this is where we need to focus more attention.
It’s not just about what we let in to our field, it’s also about what we don’t.
We need to protect our brand, physiotherapy.
The one thing that binds us all together.
From those who are perhaps not so aligned from an ethical perspective.
The easiest way is to actually operate within the actual paradigms in which we have set for ourselves.
Professionalism Means Evidence Informed Practice
Nothing annoys me more than when people say ‘there is no evidence for anything’ to justify they’re lack of evidence-based practice.
It couldn’t be further from the truth.
Anyone who’s done a real post-graduate degree can attest to the weight of evidence, particularly in musculoskeletal care.
The dominant narrative we are taught comes from the evidence pyramid itself.
This is what I was taught at university, in 2007, and again in post-grad in 2014.
I don’t think much has changed in the pyramid in 10 years, I could be wrong.
There was one comment regarding the evidence base for this particular form of therapy (which I won’t name and or shame) that compared it with equivalence to CFT.
This in particular got my grill up… and you can go digging in the archives if you really want to know what I’m talking about – #doyourownresearch.
This is the kind of stuff that is perpetuated all over social media – and honestly, I’m fine with that.
If you want to stand on a soapbox and speak directly to the great one, great, go do it on social media.
If you can build a followership and make some sales in a capitalist, unregulated marketplace, go for your life…
The world needs more entrepreneuers.
But that’s not what’s happening.
How You Can Push For Professionalism In Physiotherapy
Unfortunately, there are people using our brand, physiotherapy, to elevate their own insignificance.
And that’s a major problem for the ‘physiotherapy’ collective.
Mainly because, alongside our beliefs in openness and fostering community engagement (I genuinely used the word fostering, this isn’t ChatGPT slop), we leave ourselves vulnerable.
We don’t need to become like Medicine and push out into silos.
We are stronger together.
But perhaps we need to be truly connected on what that togetherness really means.
The physio renaissance period is coming, and we need to step up to the challenges that we will face over the next 5 years.
We actually need to move faster, be prepared to question more and take the game on, like a Travis Head cut-shot straight off middle stump.
We will do this far better as a lean collective.
Aligned towards a common mission, raising the standards of everything.
I’ve said for a long time that the world of private practice needs to shrink first, and then expand second.
The APA is doing a brilliant job, but we can all be advocates for physiotherapy:
- Push for a higher quality of debate on clinical forums (do what you want on Instagram).
- Challenge people overtly, to produce evidence first and narratives second.
And perhaps less slandering of the very organisation who’s shoulders we all stand on…
If you’re a fan of Jim Collins Good to Great, like my friend James Schomburkgh, you’ve probably been waiting for the punch line.
We’ve got the right people on the bus in my opinion.
That’s part one of a two stage process.
It’s now time to get the WRONG people, off it… Ding.
PS. I’ve moved my business proper over to Culture Of One – but I will keep GPA active, as some of these more raw and confrontational messages need to be voiced too…
If you want to check out what I’m building, and perhaps get on that bus, I’d encourage you to join over 500 business owners by simply subscribing to my weekly newsletters here.
