Guaranteeing Results… Until You Can’t
What happens when you don’t get results in 1–3 visits?
In this episode of the Unreal Results podcast, I get honest about some recent challenging cases and how they’ve affected my confidence and creativity. While I often talk about guaranteeing results in just a few visits, this week is a reminder of what it really means when that doesn’t happen and why that’s not a failure, but a signal to dig deeper.
You’ll hear me break down two challenging client cases that pushed me to reassess everything from visceral and neural inputs, to collaborative care with the medical team, and lean on trusted peers for perspective. I also share what helped me stay grounded when self-doubt crept in and how you can apply those same strategies in your own practice.
If you've ever second-guessed your skills when a case didn’t progress as expected, this episode is a must-listen.
Resources Mentioned In This Episode
Episode 42: The Fundamental Attribution Error and Why You May Be The Problem, Not Your Client
Check Out the Sailing With Phoenix Instagram Page
Learn the LTAP™ In-Person in one of my upcoming courses
Considering the viscera as a source of musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction is a great way to ensure a more true whole body approach to care, however it can be a bit overwhelming on where to start, which is exactly why I created the Visceral Referral Cheat Sheet. This FREE download will help you to learn the most common visceral referral patterns affecting the musculoskeletal system. Download it at www.unrealresultspod.com
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Anna Hartman: Hey there and welcome. I'm Anna Hartman and this is Unreal Results, a podcast where I help you get better outcomes and gain the confidence that you can help anyone, even the most complex cases. Join me as I teach about the influence of the visceral organs in the nervous system on movement, pain and injuries, all while shifting the paradigm of what whole body assessment and treatment really looks like.
I'm glad you're here. Let's dive in.
Hello. Hello. Welcome back to another episode of Unreal Results Podcast. I was like, I forgot where I'm at. I also was reading my shirt at the same time, which is, uh, a Sailing with Phoenix shirt. Shout out jt, the a t, um, who first told me about this human being on Instagram. Um. And I was obsessed When he was sailing from Oregon to Hawaii, he would wear this Britney Spear shirt always.
And so they made him merch with the same design. So of course I had to buy it. Um, anyways, I'm like, why can't I think of his name right now? I don't know, I can't think of his name right now, but his boat's named Phoenix. He has a cat on the boat. It's named Phoenix, that's why it's sailing with Phoenix. And, uh, 10 of 10 recommend his account.
I'll have Joe link in the show notes because he did turn all of his stories over the 21 days. It took him to sail to Hawaii into a highlight, into, or like multiple highlights and it was very entertaining and he is just a really interesting guy. So anyways. Very much not what I wanted to talk about today.
Uh, it feels weird to be recording and, um. Just 'cause I've taken some time off. Also feels weird to be back at home in San Diego. Um, in my office, I haven't been in my office much yet since I've been home. One 'cause it's a little bit of a disaster. And then two, because summer is summering and, uh, I don't have air conditioning in my house.
And so my office gets really hot during the day, so I sort of like move my workstation to the main area. Um, but. It's still my preferred spot to have calls and stuff at, so I might just have to clean it up and cool it down for good. Um, other than that, yeah, I took some time off. I just, um, I still am feeling a little, just like stagnant, um, creatively, um, tired creatively.
Because I do like pouring a lot into my rehab clients right now who I love very much, but have been challenging cases for me and, um, I feel like I, it needs to be said out loud to you all, whoever listens that oftentimes, right? Like when I talk about the LTAP and I talk about unreal results, right? The whole name of this podcast.
Um, I talk a lot about guaranteeing results for your clients in one to three visits, and for the majority of the time, that's really what it is. Obviously with a rehab athlete, it's different. They're post-surgical or post major injury, like there's a lot to be done and just like a lot of strengthening and like that kind of work to be done, which you're not gonna change somebody's.
Atrophied quad in three visits. Like that's just, you know, duh. Um, so those things take time too. But you know, and oftentimes when I talk about the need for guaranteeing results in one to three visits for the majority of your patients is to have the confidence that you can. So then when you're not getting results that quick it is the yellow flag. It is the reason that you're like, shoot, what else am I missing? It forces you to go back to the drawing board and look at the situation, whole organism, right? Maybe if you weren't considering the viscera and the central nervous system or the peripheral nervous system before, or even the autonomic nervous system, you're thinking about that.
Um, if you haven't asked about red flag things, it's that, um, if you haven't had them getting diagnostic tests with the doctors, it's that, it's this, it's the emphasis on getting results in one to three visits is not actually the results, but the confidence to know when you need more information and the confidence to know that this is not typical.
And, um, because the whole point is to not settle for mediocrity. There is such a mediocrity in the industry that people go weeks, months, years, even with the same symptoms and therapists, doctors doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result, or just chalking it up to can't fix everyone, can't help everyone.
You know, we talked about in previous podcast episodes. And I'll have Joe link it in the show notes, the fundamental attribution error for like ba blaming the patient. And, um, that, that's really why I think it's so important to be able to guarantee results quickly and know that you can, and know that most, the majority of everyone should fit in that box Now, um,
I'd say, um, nine outta 10 times. Probably even more than nine outta 10 times. That's just how it works with most of my clients. Um, lately I've had some difficult cases, and it's why I'm even talking about this is because it's like, it's one of the things that's been like just wearing on me. My confidence, my creativity, my bandwidth for sharing is because I am just like stuck in this like, i'm an idiot. I dunno what I'm doing. Like I'm such a fraud. I hate the, I hate the term like imposter syndrome 'cause I don't feel like an imposter at all. But there I am only human and there are times that cases are difficult. Patients are difficult and you question how good you are. That's just normal human being stuff.
And, um.
I just thought I would share that because I think some of you hear me talk and hear me teach and you just think that I don't ever feel that way and that's just not true. I feel that way, you know, not as often as I used to, but I still have moments where I feel that way and it, it is harder to show up and it is harder to like, um, yeah, just.
Yeah, show up for yourself. I will say what was really helpful in the, in the span of these challenging clients is number one, um, knowing that I am fully confident that. I'm doing all the things to not miss anything, and if they were with somebody else, they would probably be worth off, worse off, because I am checking all the boxes, right? We're doing musculoskeletal stuff, we're doing neural stuff, we're doing visceral stuff. We're considering the autonomic nervous system and the other like low hanging fruit lifestyle stuff.
I've been in constant conversation with the person's doctor. We've gotten imaging he had to have another surgery, you know, like. Uh, I know we're doing all the things we've, we've considered different modalities that might be supportive to, um, our case and things like that. So I do know that at the end of the day, I'm still being a really good advocate for the patient, for the situation and navigating it, um, maybe better than, well, not, maybe better than the, the average and then like, still like, as one of the best.
And so, um. It's a constant reminder of like, yep, I'm doing all those things. Like, yep, maybe other people wouldn't be considering these things. So there's that. Um, number two, uh, the other case I am working on, like it's a newer person to me, and they've gone over a year with this and seen multiple doctors, multiple physical therapists, acupuncturists, um, athlete or trainers.
Um. Gotten all the diagnostic tests had like different, you know, real basic procedures done and no relief. And I started working with him a month ago and the, within the first three visits, it was more progress than he had made in a year. And then, you know, now we're, now we're in it a little bit in terms of like, it's not going as quick as I would like, but at least we're significantly changing his pain better than he has had in the last.
Year. And um, but again, like, because it's exceeded my one to three visits rule, I am like, damn, what am I missing? And but, but again, checking all the boxes. Visceral, neural central nervous system. Autonomic nervous system. Peripheral nervous system. Talking to the doctors, studying the anatomy every day, reading different articles on different possible diagnoses.
'cause that's the thing too, is like. You just don't really know what's causing the problem. And, um, and ultimately too, like making progress and I think two i the other or not two, the three, the other thing that has been really helpful for me is, um,
what was really helpful for me is. Kind of a combination of things, seeing other clients during this time, you know, and most of you, you know, see a billion clients every week, so that's not this. You're gonna be like, Anna, are you serious? But you know, sometimes when I'm traveling with a client, like they're the only person I see.
And so like when you're in the weeds with somebody and it's the only person you're seeing, then it just feels very all consuming because you. Then start missing evidence that you do get really good results with everybody else. And so it has been nice during this time to like see other people, um, and get some real easy wins and have people feel a little bit like, oh, you're magic.
Um. You know, to validate and remind yourself of like, oh yeah, like, I still got it. I'm good at it. Um, so that's been really helpful. And then two, you know, shout out to my friend and colleague, um, Basier Ramsey. He, um, I've known him forever. He, I, I first met him as an athlete, um, back early in my career, and then he became a track coach and we've stayed connected both.
Professionally and personally. And, um, he is one of those people that is always like singing my praises to other people and I really appreciate it. And the other day we were talking about this case in particular that I actually have him helping me on some running mechanic stuff on and um, he said, Anna.
I know you're, he's basically like, Anna, I know you're having a hard time with this, and I know it's like wearing on you. He's like, but just a reminder. He's like, I have full faith that you will figure it out and you're probably the only person who can figure it out and don't get discouraged. Like, I'm sure you're about to like break through.
And it was like he, he had, I don't know. It was just really nice of him to say that to me and remind me, and then like the next day, like sure enough, like that was the, like just the reminder that I needed to like go back to square one and be like, okay. How have I been approaching this so far? What could I be missing?
And like, let's start checking off the boxes. And when I did that, I did finally do something that significantly shifted this client's pain and disability. And I was like, okay. And then from then on we had a great week and um, I actually told him yesterday, I was like, man, I was like, Brasier thank you so much for saying that to me last week.
I was like, I really needed to hear it. And, um. I appreciate it and uh, so it's nice to, I, I think that whole, why I wanted to share it is because, well, one, I wanted you all to know that I'm normal too, and I feel these ways too. Two, I wanted to remind you that, um, to look for evidence of all the great results you get from all the rest of the patients, like this is like life, right?
We tend to like dwell on the negative, which. All these other positive things are happening and gathering evidence of what we're capable of. And we can't tend to ignore that. So like doing a mental or even like physical writing down inventory of all the great results that you're getting the rest of the time.
Right. And then also remind yourself that like it's never too late to like sit down, write out the. What you've been doing and like to see the holes of what you're missing. The other thing that helped was I wrote down his whole timeline for the doctors because I was like, listen, like this has been going on for so long.
When you speak to the doctors, especially when they haven't been with you this whole time, I was like, they kind of can get lost in the weeds too. I was like, so let's write down the timeline of events that. Started this and then what you've gone through, you know, from a pain standpoint, from a function standpoint, from a diagnostic test standpoint, from a um, treatment standpoint.
Just to like make sure one, everybody's on the same page, but it's just like, let's get in the weeds a little bit of like, what has been done, what hasn't been done, what would be helpful, what are we missing, sort of thing. And it was really like that step plus. My friend Bashir's like reminder to me, um, that there's no one else that he would want in his corner figuring it out because if anybody can figure it out, it's me, which I appreciated.
Um, yeah, those are just good reor reminders and for that it's like surround yourself with people who are like that, that like notice when you're having a hard time and like are quick to be like, dude, look at all the evidence. You get great results and you'll figure this out and like, take a step back, take a deep breath and like comb through it again, and I'm sure you'll find it.
So, um, that this, that whole this thing, I guess this is just gonna be an episode because, um, I want my other thing so. I usually do take part of the summer off anyways from podcasting 'cause it's like, I'd rather be outside than inside working. But, um, this year I did a poll on Instagram and asked everybody like what they wanted.
And, you know, in the past one year I just totally took it off. Another year I did like, um. Replay some, some of my favorite episodes, some of the popular episodes. Um, this year I'm going to stick to a little podcast snack and do 15 minute episodes. Um, just real quick snippets. So this one I guess is a little bit more of like, Hey, I'm human too.
And um, it's times like these. That we have real difficult cases, that it's even more important that we know we can guarantee results in one to three visits because that is the stimulus that is gonna get us to continue to dig and, and comb through it and figure it out and pull people in to collaborate, which is often what is needed.
So hopefully this was helpful for you. Um, and we'll see you next week.