Functional tape – you know, the crazy colored tape that became an overnight phenomenon in the healthcare industry. There is a reason why this type of tape is loved by patients of all genres. From athletes to desk-letes, patients love functional tape.
There are multiple reasons why patients love the utilization of Functional Tape, and why so many doctors have joined the trend and offer it as a treatment option in their offices. In fact, there are five main reasons why the utilization of Functional Tape will help grow your practice!
Functional Tape, when applied correctly and in alignment with the Unique Expert Position of your practice can increase your Profit per X. In this case, the Profit per X is the amount collected per patient. Adding an additional modality – that works – and is appropriate for the clinical objectives that you are trying to achieve, is an ethical practice growth strategy.
Be congruent with what you are trying to achieve with your patients. Once we started utilizing Functional Tape for a specific purpose at the American Posture Institute, in our case for Posture Habit Re-education, it changed everything.
Why? Because we had a clear clinical objective when applying the tape and knew exactly when to use it and with what patients to use it for.
That’s the difference.
The application of Functional Tape is really NOT about having the coolest colors and craziest patterns – it’s about knowing what your clinical objective is, deciding what type of application of Functional Tape will help you meet that objective, and then deciding at what tension to apply the tape.
Expert application is specific. When it is specific, it works. When it gets results your patients are happy. When your patients are happy they keep coming in and continue to refer their friends and families to your practice!
It’s that simple.
5 Reasons Why Functional Tape will Grow Your Practice
1) Small Investment, High Return
When you understand how and when to utilize the tape, it is an extremely beneficial tool that can easily be added to your practice. Functional Taping is not one of those things you learn then need to buy a bunch of new equipment to implement. It’s just the opposite.
The materials needed and the time required by the doctor to apply the Tape is very minimal! To try Functional Tape in your office, all you need is a nice pair of scissors and a couple of rolls of tape! You can get these tools for less than $50!
2) Immediate Results for Patients who have “Tried everything else before!”
Functional Taping really is a win-win addition to your practice, because your patients can get therapeutic, performance, and structural correction benefits based upon their unique case presentations. According to research (Detsky, 2011), the highest priorities for patients worldwide are to achieve relief from symptoms in a timely manner.
Functional Tape provides immediate results. The same tape has many functions based upon the amount of tension that is applied to the tape and the skin upon application. By understanding what clinical objective you want to achieve with each patient, you can provide specific, patient-centered results! Even to the patients who have already “tried everything else before!”
3) Practice Growth Formula
Let’s work out the equation that provides exponential practice growth for your patients. We know we want practice growth, this is the ultimate goal as practitioners. For our practices to grow, we have two options…
To increase new patient visits, and or to increase retention.
The option that costs a lot less money is to improve retention because it costs so much less – in terms of financial commitment and time spent- to keep an old patient versus getting a new one. Statistically speaking, the cost of acquiring a new customer costs five to ten times more than retaining an existing one. Not only that, but repeat customers spend, on average, 67% more.
In order to improve retention we need to get predictable, objective clinical results with our patients every single time. When utilized correctly, Functional Tape does just that!
4) Great Advertisement and Safe Referral
Let’s face it, when your patients walk out the door wearing neon colored tape, it draws attention and is a great conversation topic! Without doubt, the patient’s family member will ask about the tape and be curious why it was applied and how it works.
You can arm your patients with the knowledge to make a safe referral by providing them with patient education information about the Functional Tape that they can take home with them. Now, they have a way of answering the questions that their friends and family have, and can safely refer them to your office to see if Functional Tape and postural corrective care is something that will help them.
5) Increased Patient Compliance
To get better results we need reliable, effective correction strategies…. That the patient actually does. Patient Compliance, for many of you, is the main factor holding your patients back from getting the correction results we know they are capable of.
Functional Tape is an “easy” therapy for the patient. They simply wear it, and receive therapeutic or performance benefits! Plus, it helps them train their bodies to sustain the proper postural position through conscious posture habit re-education.
Functional tapes are acrylic tape, not latex, meaning that there is rarely skin irritation so patients are more likely to leave it connected to the skin, allowing it to work 24/7. The 100% cotton fibers allow for evaporation and quicker drying. This allows Functional tape to be worn in the shower or pool without having to be reapplied.
Functional tape can be applied to virtually any muscle or joint in the body, and is recommended for usage for 3-4 days after the initial application. Patients in our office also report wearing the tape before it came off for up to 7-day intervals. Plus, they can perform all of their normal activities with the tape on.
If patients are non-compliant to other aspects of their complete postural correction treatment plan, Posture Taping is a good therapy to use that is simple for the patient to be compliant to.
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