Last Updated Apr 2013
Defining a business niche of your own is just as important for a private physical therapy practice as it is for any business. The challenge is finding the right niche to fit your skills, experience and needs of patients.
How to Find a Physical Therapy Niche
One of the biggest mistakes any business makes is trying to be everything to everyone. By narrowing your focus, you can actually build your physical therapy business by targeting the specific needs of your potential clients.
Not sure where to get started? Take some time to jot down your experiences on a piece of paper. Try to be as specific as possible. Look for similarities and highlight the experiences that are similar. For instance, if much of your experience involves addressing knee injuries in young athletes. Consider building your physical therapy niche around treating and preventing knee injuries in young athletes.
Another approach to finding a niche for your physical therapy clinic is to ask yourself a few questions including:
- What type of physical therapy work do you enjoy doing?
- What is the market potential for the area you are interested in focusing on?
- What type of patients do you enjoy working with?
- What experience do you have that can help you be successful in your chosen niche? Are there other physical therapists who have built a successful practice in this niche?
The Benefits of Carving Out A Physical Therapy Niche
When Cindi Prentiss Lattanzio, MBA, PT, OCS, Cert. MDT, LMT opened her own physical therapy clinic eleven years ago, she knew she had to specialize in a particular area to set her clinic apart from the other clinics in the area. Because of her unique background, she chose to specialize in women’s health and back pain. She still cares for patients with general physical therapy needs, but has become known as the area expert in women’s health and back pain.
Her clinic, Physical Therapy and Beyond, focuses on addressing women’s health issues such as incontinence, pregnancy, low back pain and wellness. Lattanzio believes her clinic’s success ties back to being able to provide results while helping patients feel comfortable when dealing with sensitive health issues.
Marketing Your Physical Therapy Niche
Once you’ve defined your physical therapy niche, it’s time to promote it. One way Lattanzio promotes her unique niche is by holding monthly educational seminars at her clinic. Entitled “Helping You Help Yourself,” each monthly seminar features Lattanzio and another specialist. The seminars have provided two key benefits to her clinic. Not only do patients, learn more about ways physical therapy can improve their lives. But physicians also learn about the benefits physical therapy provides patients. Lattanzio says she still receives referrals from a seminar she participated in several years ago.
Another benefit of having a niche and becoming known as the expert in a particular area is referrals. Once area physicians and specialists hear from patients that the treatment you provide is working, then they’ll continue to send patients your way for similar issues.
Learn more about the benefits of defining your own niche for your physical therapy practice in a PT Talker podcast with Cindi Prentiss Lattanzio, PT and Owner of Physical Therapy and Beyond. She recently shared her tips for specializing in one area to successfully build her clinic with PT Talker at www.PTtalker.com.
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