I received a few pictures from the install team who were out in Malaysia last week. This is the latest IDD Therapy Disc Clinic in Penang.

When you walk around, do you notice the number of people with wireless white headphones.

Or if you cast your mind back a bit further, do you remember when you first started to see white headphones which heralded the arrival of the ipod?

Your subconscious probably saw the first few and then before you knew it, it seemed that everyone was wearing them!

As I meet people, they often tell me, I am seeing more things about IDD Therapy.

It’s like the ipod effect.

The reality is that as more clinics become Disc Clinics, the more patients and practitioners will become aware of IDD Therapy.

September

I don’t know about you, but at the end of July, my thoughts start to turn to September. It’s like at the end of Jan when there is a sense that spring is around the corner.

If this September is going to look much like last September for your practice, or even the September before that , then like my friends in Penang, have you thought about adding a new dimension to your clinic?

Expanding your spine services for the mid ground of back and neck pain sufferers will be a catalyst for your clinic.

I don’t know who said it but the saying goes that growth happens just outside our comfort zones.

I leapt out of my comfort zone when I had a career hand break turn after a visit to an IDD clinic in Cairo.

It was all or nothing.

I won’t lie. Many times I have thought, why on earth did I do that?! But, the outcomes caused me to persist and now I see the transformations of the clinics who were prepared to do things differently to their neighbours.

The difference between me and you, was that I was introducing a completely unknown new therapy, which people perceived to be the same as something they knew didn’t work (traction) and did I happen to say that back in the day before economies of scale, the kit cost £90,000!

I don’t care how good you are, that is not an easy change to make!

Fortunately a lot has changed in my world, and for clinics, with over 1,000 clinics now using IDD Therapy, the paths have been well trodden. Which is why IDD Therapy is expanding.

If you have a bigger vision for your clinic, I haven’t seen anything in MSK which gives greater growth potential. If you would like current deals, let me know.

Enjoy the rest of summer!

Author: Stephen Small, Heads up the expansion of the IDD Therapy Disc Clinic network helping clinics do more patients and in turn to grow their practices.  To request more information, use the form below:

 

 

Saturday 6th April saw the IDD Therapy provider network meet at Toynbee Hall in London to discuss all things IDD Therapy Disc Treatment.

With practitioners coming from all over the UK, it was a great opportunity to get insights into where and how IDD Therapy can help patients with chronic back and neck pain.

The day began with case studies from Naval Mair, Neil Velleman, John Yeboah and Tim Hanwell.  This is always a useful way to open up questions about the evolution of IDD Therapy treatment plans.

It also looked at the times when patients do not respond to treatment and to examine if there are things that anyone might do differently.The main objective of the day was to discuss and agree a protocol for the collection of data across clinics. Stephen Small of IDD Therapy Disc Clinics presented a spreadsheet with a series of outcome measures which the group discussed.

The group wanted to create a standard benchmark of data points that every clinic would collect.  This would enable clinics to not only audit their own outcomes without fuss, but also to enable the group to look at data from all of the clinics as a collective.

Various outcome measures were discussed (PROMS) as well as the increasing use of movement sensor technology amongst IDD Therapy providers.  The conversation was lively because there are many variables when treating different types of back pain!

The day included an expert panel discussion with Richard Hughes, Steve Morris and James Sneddon taking questions from the group.  Topics included pathology variables and altering the application of decompression forces at different angles to affect desired outcomes.

All in all it was an enriching day and a great way for practitioners from a variety of backgrounds to forge closer relationships and share ideas.

As a group the practitioners the IDD Therapy providers are changing spine care and it is inspiring to see the evolution of the possibilities for conservative spine care.

This is Toynbee Hall in East London, 2 minutes from Aldgate East tube.  A charity with conference facilities.

Last week I wrote about how to make and use a simple video to share your message.  A question arose about how to actually insert a video into a wordpress website.

The principles are similar for most blogs and webpages, this actual site is wordpress so here are the simple steps.

In the editing area of your pages, click the line where you want the video.

Select “Add Media”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click “Insert from url”

 

 

 

 

In another window, find your youtube video and copy the url

 

 

 

 

 

Paste into the “insert url” and click insert

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the actual video I am inserting in the post (I might as well showcase what we do!) and voilà:

In youtube, you can also click the “share” icon and copy paste get the url that way (webpage) – easy for facebook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can physically embed html code but most people freak out at that prospect!, fortunately most website platforms are much easier now and you just insert the “video” link as I just did.

I hope this helps.

About: Stephen Small heads up the IDD Therapy Disc Clinic network.  IDD Therapy is the non surgical spinal decompression treatment which address the failings of tradition traction to treat targeted spinal segments. To get information about how clinics can provide IDD Therapy, get some info CLICK HERE

There is growing competition in healthcare, quite simply the number of clinics in private practice is expanding and competition is getting more fierce.

​​​​​​​Patients are more discerning and also more overwhelmed.  We have less attention and a large proportion of content is consumed with video.

If you have read this far, you have higher attention span than most or maybe you are acutely aware that the competition is getting serious.

To build relationships with new patients, it used to be said that there are three pillars – know, like and trust.  I heard someone say this has changed to Know, LOVE and trust.  That just shows that all clinics now have to work harder, because you can be sure that your competitors, some of them at least, aren’t thinking, they are taking action.

I encourage all of the IDD Therapy Disc Clinics to use video.  To start using their phones and recording snippets.  And my message is, it’s not so much Quality, it’s Quantity.

If you make a video, congratulations.  But that’s the start.

Here is a video I was sent by Dan Smith of Sports and Spinal Physio in Brentwood, Essex.  A classic example of putting yourself in front of the camera so people can get to know you.

The Like/Love is a bonus, in healthcare the main thing is trust, but before you get trust, people need to know you.  I have some tips below on how to get started.

How to get started if you haven’t already:

Go to youtube, set up an account in the name of the clinic

Record a video on your phone.  I would recommend LANDSCAPE so that you don’t get the side strips. 

Get yourself a backdrop in keeping with your subject and get someone else to hold the phone

Each video you record can be an answer to a common question

e.g what is sciatica, how to relieve sciatica, how to treat a herniated disc etc 

Once recorded, you go to your phone video library, select and upload to youtube. 

(IDD clinics typically start by sending me the video by whatsapp and I upload it for them, then they get used to it and start doing it for themselves in their own accounts.)

You need to give your video a title and description.  I suggest you put in something basic (if using your phone), then log in to your youtube account from a pc/laptop, then edit.  You will see how I start the description with a link to Dan’s website.  Then include some keywords e.g physio clinic (town) or a condition and try to make it interesting.

I confess, sometimes I struggle for inspiration. But it isn’t so much that everyone will watch all of your videos, as much as anything they just see that you have a lot … which serves to bolster credibility.

Once you have a video on your phone, you can also upload it in facebook or put it in a blog piece on your website. Content is king. With Facebook, a growing trend is to “boost” videos to people in your community. eg I live in Bishops Stortford. I could target people aged 45 to 75 who like running and only these people would see my running injury/exercise video. With facebook, you need to focus on feel good rather than pain, otherwise your ad/ boosted post will not be allowed.

On the IDD Therapy website, I add videos and there are well over 100 now.  You can get a plug in for your website and add videos from youtube very easily.

Here is what I have done at the idd website 

https://iddtherapy.co.uk/videos/ 

 

Here is another video from an IDD Therapy clinic talking about IDD. This was done with a camcorder. You will see this has a different kind of display image.

Youtube lets you select a thumbnail, that is, the still from the video you see in the youtube results. At the bottom of the settings when you edit the title and description of your video, you can see “custom thumbnail”.

This is a still that you can make. In this example I add a custom thumbnail. I do this in the free site www.canva.com. Custom dimensions you need to make your thumbnail image are 1280 x 720. You then add images and text, if you can use powerpoint you can use Canva to create your thumbnails.

It seems daunting at first, but once you start, you progress over time. 

Most clinics fail to start because they think it needs to be perfect … and so they never get going on the learning curve.  We only get better and grow by doing … not thinking about doing. 

About: Stephen Small heads up the IDD Therapy Disc Clinic network.  IDD Therapy is the non surgical spinal decompression treatment which address the failings of tradition traction to treat targeted spinal segments. To get information about providing IDD Therapy CLICK HERE