I don’t do this that often but after a webinar I held last week I totally disagreed with one statement that was made.

It was during the question and answer session I held where one therapist said…

‘’Your level of experience directly relates to your ability to get great patients results.’’

Usually I can see and respect a different viewpoint but this one I completely disagree with. 

If this was true then how can new grads that are a few months or years out of University get the same results, and often better results, than therapists that have 10+ years experience?

Why is it that some therapists get top sports jobs or accelerate through the ranks in either the NHS or private practice settings and get roles way before anyone imagined…

All ahead of these so called ‘experienced’ therapists?

I have no doubt you have seen those therapists that have experience, but could also be said to be ‘stuck in their ways.’

I remember having one of these therapists on one of my student placements.

She was a Band 7 physio, a supposed ‘expert’ and at the time I believed that she was.

Until I had another placement the year after in a similar field to realise she was pretty bang average.

Then a few months after that I got my first chance in sport, a placement at the Leeds Rhinos and I saw the physio’s there take things to another level.

One of the best physio’s there was a guy who was barely out of Uni himself but was getting results with the players he was working with, results those other ‘experienced’ physio’s could only dream of.

That was when I realised experience is not all it is cracked up to be.

Maybe you didn’t get that job offer or are maybe struggling to get consistent results with your patients and use experience, or the lack of it, as an excuse.

You do this because it is easy.

You think that in a year or two you will be much better at your patient assessments, treatments and rehab…

But unfortunately that does not always happen.

You maybe think you just needed to see more patients, see some different pathologies, get experience in different areas or get a few more years under your belt…

Before you can really start to get consistent patient results and start progressing your career.

But this is where you are wrong.

Which ever way you look at it you don’t magically become a better physio after a set time point.

Whether this is 2, 3 or 5 years…

When you hit this level of experience you do not just happen to become good.

You become a better therapist by actually learning how to find your patients real problem…

And knowing how to fix it.

This is irrespective of the how many years ago you finished Uni.

I just employed a new therapist in my clinic and she is smashing it.

She qualified in early 2020 and had barely started working when covid hit.

Fast forward 18 months, 12 months of this where she barely worked, she is dealing with complex caseloads in the clinic and has also secured work in elite netball and rugby.

She has even been asked by the rugby’s first team physio to travel with them to an upcoming overseas fixture in France!

She has barely 6 months of experience but is already working at the highest level of sport, in two different sports, and is managing complex pathologies and patients that even some senior physio’s would not know where to start with.

Working with therapists like this excites me…

Helping them grow and improve at such a rapid rate, and knowing how much better they will get too with the right support!

If you want to follow the crowd and spend the next 5 or so years bouncing around different jobs gaining ‘experience,’ feeling lost and feeling that your career is not really heading anywhere, then go for it.

But if you want to learn how to get patient results well beyond your years then click here.

Andy 

PS. The fastest way to the top is by getting top results and this has nothing to do with whether you are 1 month, 1 year or 10 years qualified.

 Click here to see if you ready to fast-track your career.