Having a strong online presence is no longer just an option for physiotherapy clinics—it's a necessity. As we move into 2024, the competition for visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs) is fiercer than ever. At Strength By Numbers our purpose is to help everyday health and fitness professionals get better outcomes for both their clients AND their businesses through the use of technology and objective measures. So let’s enhance your clinic's digital footprint numbers and attract more clients through effective SEO strategies.

Understanding the Basics of SEO

SEO is the heartbeat of your online presence. It's what helps you stand out in a sea of search results and reach potential patients who are looking for the services you offer. But it's not just about keywords: it's about creating a user experience that search engines reward with higher rankings.

Your First Step: Google My Business

Optimising your Google My Business listing is your first step toward local SEO...

In the world of athletic development, speed and jumping performance are often key qualities that determine performance. Plyometric exercises, which are based on the science of the stretch-shortening cycle, play a key role in improving athletic performance and serve as important criteria for returning to sports after injury. These exercises use the body's natural elastic properties to create explosive movements, offering a dynamic approach to training. A solid grasp of plyometrics enables professionals to design programs that significantly boost physical capabilities, leading to improved health and performance outcomes for athletes and individuals alike.

In this article we will discuss how the use of smart force plates like AxIT Stomp-IT can be used to break down and understand the key elements of jumping.

1. What assessments can be employed?
2. Which metrics to look at?
3. Basic strategies for interventions.

Understanding the Stretch-Shortening Cycle (SSC)

The SSC is like the body's...

Balance is a fundamental component of physical well-being, and the maintenance of it is hugely important to society. It has often been attributed as an important factor in falls prevention programs which can have a dramatic influence on people's quality of life. In fact, in Australia alone, the cost of treatment of injuries from falls in older people came at a price tag of over $2.3 billion in 2020 including multiple flow-on effects for ambulance services, loss of independence by older people, and family impact. 

But it is not just older people that need balance, it also plays a vital role in daily activities and athletic performance. In this blog post, we'll explore the utility of static balance assessment in the form of measuring Centre Of Pressure (COP) using force plates such as AxIT Stomp-IT, the key metrics involved, and how health and fitness professionals can leverage this information for better client outcomes.

Why Balance Assessment is...

There’s an old saying that’s as true in health and fitness as it is in life: work smarter, not harder. This means maintaining maximum efficiency for the outcomes you produce. For many of us in service industries that means maximising our most precious commodity – time.
Managing your time effectively not only means that your days will flow easier, quicker, and with way less stress, but you will also generate the best possible financial return on it. Here are our 5 best tips for making your schedule work for you, and not the other way around.

1. Time Blocking – ‘Task switching’ is a term to describe the cognitive load required to move from one task to the next. Think of it as the ‘loading time’, making even simple tasks take longer than needed to complete. One effective way to reduce task switching inefficiencies is to block chunks of time around similar tasks, so as to keep yourself in a similar mindset when getting similar jobs done....

Imagine having an extra week to yourself each year. What would you do with that precious time? Take a well-deserved holiday or maybe dive into an exciting side project? For health and fitness professionals, time is a valuable resource. Between client care and endless administrative tasks, much of our working hours go uncompensated.

Now, picture this: even a small daily time-saving of 15 minutes can add up to a whole additional workweek per year. That's right, you could have that extra time for anything you desire! This is where AxIT comes in. It's not just an assessment tool to enhance your client interactions; it's a time-saver too.

Here are four ways AxIT can put back at least 15 minutes in your day, giving you an entire week of extra time per year:

AxIT Does the Math for You

Testing your clients' strength is crucial, but it's only valuable if you understand the context. Is your client strong enough? Do they have any imbalances? How has their progress been since the last...

Time is the one thing nobody can never find enough of. Everyone is looking for ways to maximise what they have, especially in their professional lives, and client-based professions like physiotherapy that rely on filling a schedule have it especially hard. How do you help your existing clients, get all your notes and admin done, keep up your professional development needs, bring in new work, stay physically and mentally healthy, and keep the clinic lights on all at once? If you’ve ever asked yourself questions like these, then read on for our practical time management tips designed just for busy physiotherapists.

The Most Common Time Management Challenges

Before we can talk about what helps, it’s good to look at what most commonly hinders our ability to effectively manage our time. Commonly, these challenges can include:

• Inefficient planning: While scheduling tools like Cliniko and Nookal can take a lot of the labour out of planning your day-to-day workload,...

In the world of health and fitness, the abundance of performance metrics has revolutionized the way we analyze client and athlete data, but determining which metrics truly matter in risk reduction and performance enhancement can remain a challenge. 

Muscle strength ratios are a testing metric that has gained significant attention from health professionals in recent times and are commonly assessed during pre-season fitness evaluations, general client management, and post-operative testing batteries.

Ratios are single-value metrics made up of two parts: a numerator and a denominator. Essentially, a ratio quantifies the relationship between two quantities, showing how many times one value contains or is contained by another. In sports science, when we talk about symmetry, we're usually comparing metrics between different sides or muscle groups. When looking at ratios, particularly with strength testing we are often looking at the relationship between agonist/antagonist muscle...

A physical therapist's primary goal is not only to help their clients achieve their health and wellness goals but also to create and maintain a loyal patient base that sustains the financial aspects of your practice. Building a strong brand and investing in marketing efforts are essential, but true success lies in retaining your patients over the long term. Patient retention is not only important for good patient outcomes, it plays a pivotal role in the growth and profitability of any practice. Long term patients will also become your   biggest advocates and end up referring more patients helping you become the go to professional in your community.

Understanding Patient Churn: The Opposite of Patient Retention

Before delving into patient retention, we must first grasp its opposite: patient churn. ‘Churn rate’ refers to the percentage of patients who discontinue therapy before completing their full course of care. Unfortunately, churn rates in the healthcare...

Rebooking rates. For many health care professionals this dirty work stirs up images of sleazy sales people, gouging their patients for every last dollar through dishonest, over servicing practices. 

As a reflex, many patients simply don’t receive enough care, often left to fend for themselves amongst guidance that is spread too thin and a myriad of confusing information.

The balance of course is somewhere in the middle, with consideration for the clients situation, where they are on their journey and what is meaningful to them in their goals.

In this blog post we will attempt to break down some of these variables including strategies and techniques for rebooking your clients honestly, and in a way that achieves the best outcomes for their health and your business alike.

The Initial Phase Of Care.

The initial phase of care is the first critical juncture for health care practitioners to establish a strong foundation for the patient's treatment journey, and a...

Introduction

A recent pilot study has shed light on a pressing issue – physical inactivity among adults. As many adults fail to meet recommended physical activity guidelines, researchers from the University of Canberra and QUT sought to explore a potential solution: the gentle involvement of physiotherapists. This study investigated whether frequent physical activity measurement and very brief advice provided by physiotherapists could positively impact physical activity levels in insufficiently active adults in Australia. In this article, we’ll break down how the study was conducted and what it means for practising physical therapists.

Methods

The study followed a randomised controlled trial design, dividing participants into two groups: lower-measurement-frequency (LMF) and higher-measurement-frequency (HMF). Eligible participants were aged between 18 and 64 years, insufficiently active, and had no medical conditions limiting moderate physical activity. The HMF...