The Health Gap: Why Modern Healthcare Needs to Be Transformed
Shifting from Standardization to Personalization in Physical Therapy and Fitness Training
Personalization has crept into almost every facet of modern-day life. From account customization with Spotify through Amazon’s product recommendations, it’s possible to create unique user experiences, services and products that cater to your specific needs and wants. Except, it would seem, in healthcare.
This exception to the rule is especially true in the realms of physical therapy and personal training. Ever visited a physical therapists or gym and been handed an exercise sheet from a stack of pre-printed copies?
This one-size-fits-all approach ignores the nuances of the individual. It also widens the health gap – the disparity between an individual’s current health and fitness and their potential. (We’ve even read a healthcare report from the UK that highlights the strategic objective of “Delivering the most effective and efficient treatment and care through standardization in the delivery and outcome of clinical services.”)
Here at Reload, we believe that a transformation in healthcare approach is well overdue. Your physical wellbeing deserves personal treatment, too, with performance fitness programs tailored to close your personal fitness gap and involving a range of perspectives.
In this article, Reload’s founder Dr. Ryan Chow discusses why it’s crucial for modern healthcare to be transformed.
Why a One-Size-Fits-All Approach Doesn’t Work in Performance Fitness
“You can have a hundred different people with the same medical diagnosis – let’s say, as an example, sciatica – but every single one of them has a completely different solution. Why? Because the context is different. What might work for you, might not work for another. You have different jobs, different responsibilities, different backgrounds, different bodies, different medical histories…”
In rehabilitation and performance enhancement, diverse contexts can – and should – result in different approaches to improvement, even with the same diagnosis. Take five athletes, each with the aim of running faster, and you’ll need to adopt five singular strategies to improve performance. Exercise may range from those designed to build strength to specific running techniques. But each athlete is different. A uniformed, standardized approach fails to address these differences. The result? The fitness gap is more likely to remain unbridged.
Having More Perspectives Is Better
Involving more people in your performance fitness journey can be immensely beneficial. Ideally, you want a group of people who cheer for you and support your goals. They should understand where you are coming from and where you are headed, establishing a clear starting point and an agreed-upon direction and expectations.
In rehab and performance contexts, being inadequately prepared for performance demands will lead to failure. Conversely, if a person is excelling in their performance but hurting themselves in the process, this is also a failure. This is why we recommend that you benefit from having both a rehab professional and a performance coach. If you’re lucky, you’ll find someone who is experienced in both.
Similarly, exceptional performance at the cost of one’s health is also not a success. Thus, it’s recommended to have both a rehab professional and a performance coach. If you’re lucky, you might find someone who excels in both roles!
Rethinking the Potential of Our Clients
We view fitness as an infinite journey. This concept is discussed at length in the book ‘The Infinite Game’ by Simon Sinek, David Mead, and Peter Docker.
“If you look at fitness as a journey with no end goal, you just trying to get better at it, you’ll never think of it as ‘I’m here and I need to get to there’. Embed the mentality of fitness being an infinite game, and you’ll develop a lifelong pursuit of continuous improvement. The process becomes part of your life.” says Ryan.
Many of our clients initially seek help without understanding the root cause of their pain or injury. Through fitness and performance training, not only do we alleviate their pain, but we also open new horizons for them.
We find that most clients might start with a goal of pain relief, but they soon aspire for more. They see that we’ve taken them from where they were to where they are now, and then they develop the belief that we can help them to go further (and we do).
Many people end up with what we call the gift of injury.
“When you commit to trying to learn about yourself and how your body functions, and how you got somewhere in the first place, as opposed to ‘I’m broken and I need to get fixed’, you learn that you are on a fitness spectrum, and that you have a guide who can help you move further.” Ryan explains.
This shift in perspective is crucial. Most people don’t realize they need guidance on how to use their body optimally for health and performance. Once they understand this, they see us as a lifelong support system.
The Bottom Line
Transforming modern healthcare means moving away from generalized solutions and embracing individualized care. It’s crucial to involve a multitude of perspectives, and to be constantly pushing the boundaries of what our clients believe they can achieve. This is especially crucial in performance fitness.
To redefine our profession, we need to look beyond temporary treatments. We aim to be more than a quick fix; we are guides in the journey of using one’s body to its fullest potential, bridging the ‘fitness gap’ and transforming lives in the process.
In a health journey, the first step is often the hardest. But once you’re on the treadmill, you’ll find that it isn’t so challenging to stay on the infinite health journey. Take that first step today: book a comprehensive 90-minute body evaluation with Reload.
