Raising The Bar On Patient Outcomes
Do you really think 60–80% success rates over 2 weeks to 8 months is successful? I don’t.
In this episode of the Unreal Results podcast, I answer a great question someone recently asked me in the Missing Link Facebook group: what are my success rates? I break down why I think the industry average doesn’t cut it, and why I confidently guarantee results in just 1–3 visits.
I also dig into what “success” actually means, why context and nuance matter, and how clarity in assessment can shift outcomes, sharing real-life cases from pro athletes to clients with complex, long-haul health issues.
If you’re tired of mediocre results being considered “normal,” this episode will give you a fresh perspective on what’s possible for your clients and for you as a clinician.
Resources Mentioned In This Episode
Join the waitlist for the 2025 online LTAP™ LEVEL 1 course HERE!
Episode 42: The Fundamental Attribution Error and Why You May be the Problem, Not Your Client
Episode 119: Guaranteeing Results... Until You Can't
Episode 126: How Many Sessions Do Clients Really Need?
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 the Unreal Results Podcast. I'm still getting used to the lighting in my office. I can't decide what I like, and I'm trying to, I've been trying to use my camera instead of my, like my phone camera instead of the computer camera. So I don't know. We'll, we'll see in the audio.
We're still working things out. We still haven't hung photos. We're moved in, but we're like still, still settling, if that makes sense. Um. I am here. Did I even say welcome back to another episode of the Unreal Results podcast? I think I did. I dunno where my brain is right now. Um, I just walked to the local rec center, signed up for a little membership.
They have a little gym in a pool, like an actual, like real lap deep. Pool, um, for a ridiculous, good monthly membership price that is not even renewing like every month. If you, it's just like a pass. So you just buy a month pass and then another one and another one. You buy a year pass. I'm not that committed yet.
We'll see if I use it before I buy a year pass. It is just crazy 'cause it's like for access to the gym and the pool and the basketball and volleyball courts, y it's only $70 a month. And then also, um, if I could do a yearly membership, then it's like even less than that, which, you know, it's not like the hugest gym in the world, but it's got nice equipment.
It's got like three or four Woodway treadmills and then. Some really nice Nautilus machines and some dumbbells, a er, a stepmill, some ellipticals, like, there's like a Smith machine, and then there's a, I mean a lake press, like extension, hamstring curls. Um. And then also what other thing did they have in there?
Oh, like a stretch rack. And then also, oh, a cable machine. So I'm like, they got a lot of stuff. Um, it's just like all in one small room, kind of like a hotel, gym almost. Um, but it doesn't look to be like super busy. We'll see. We'll just give it a try. I mean, I've got like free weights at my house too, but it's just like nice sometimes to be in a gym. Honestly, it's nice to use some machines, especially for the old hammies in the quad and, um, just mix it up. So, and it's like super walkable. It's only like a 10 minute walk from my house. So built in walk, people are nice. Views are great. Views are are of Coronado Bay, San Diego Bay, and the Coronado Bridge.
So can't complain there. Um, anyways, I wasn't planning to fill a pod podcast episode today. Um, 'cause I have some actually that I have in the, in the archives, not archives, but in the like folder prerecorded. Um, but somebody asked me a really great question in our Facebook group for the missing link last night or today after watching the first live training.
And I was like, well, you know what? That's a good question. And I, I feel moved to speak on it. And so that's why I'm here because, you know, red-faced still from my workout, my walk, it's super humid outside today. So, um. But yeah, I was just like, you know what, let's talk about this. So the question was, I was, I was sharing about how industry standard is mediocre results, 60 to 80% success rates that take between two weeks and eight months on average.
And this is, I didn't make this up. This is like, if you Google it like chat GPT. You know, have Chatty G look at all the data across there on the internet interwebs. Whether it's accurate or not, I have no idea, but I'd say the accuracy seems right based on the feedback I hear from patients and the feedback I hear from family members and, um, people that are going through it.
And so, um, I think it's probably adequate and, and also from colleagues seeing what results their clients get were, and even what they get in, in their clinics. And, um, so the question was like, yeah, now, now what are my success rates? You know, because I have this, what I share with people is I have a guarantee that I tell my athletes like that I can help them in one to three visit.
And guarantee results. And so I've talked about this on some pod podcast episodes before, and I'll make sure Joe links them in the show notes. I can't remember the titles off the top of my head. But I mean, the last one. A couple weeks ago I shared it might might have even been, even last week. I shared like my current cases and like how often I'm seeing people. And so I think it's important to realize there's nuance in everything, right? Like, um, there's so much nuance because yes, do I guarantee results in one to three visits?
Absolutely. Everyone that I see, but do my. Athletes do. My clients sometimes see me for more than three visits. Yeah, of course. But their pain or initial complaint or injury makes significant changes in that one to three visits. Sometimes it's like completely resolved. And so I think it's important to sort of like remember that there's nuance and context always with that.
And what I mean with the one to three visits to guarantee results is like. And, and how it compares to the gold standard, or like the industry standard, I don't wanna say the gold standard. The industry standard right now is someone comes in for rehab and let's say they have knee pain and the person sees them and they may or may not make progress within that first assessment and treatment, and then the person will likely be coming back two to three times a week.
They'll just plan on like two to three times a week for eight weeks or whatever. Um, which is wild to me. Like I would never plan on that for someone. I plan to be like done with them in three visits, unless it's someone who is like a professional athlete who wants to then transition into a maintenance program or unless they are rehabbing an actual surgery or major injury that I also know needs strength training and actual time for healing. And that's a little different though. I say a little different because also still within those one to three visits, they're noticing great improvement. So like I shared, one of my guys I'm seeing right now is post-op meniscus repair.
And it's like every time he sees me. His knee feels better and he makes significant progress in his strength or like mobility just within that session. Whereas when he goes to the regular physical therapist that he has to for work, they're just giving him exercises and telling him like he'll feel better over time once he gets stronger.
You see the difference there. So do I agree that he needs exercises and he needs to get stronger? Yes. But can we make things feel better in the interim and like have a better success with him in one to three visits? Absolutely. So, um, it's crazy, again, like going back to this question from the person in the course.
It was just like, I mean, honestly. My success right now is like close to a hundred percent, which is kind of wild to say that, but like even my complex patients, complex cases, like I would say like our. Like it's tough, right? Because some complex cases, like I have a patient who's a fellow colleague actually that has some significant like health issues and like transient pain in his body from long haul COVID.
But since he's been working with me, he's had, and we, we just. We just passed three visits, and in those three visits we already kind of narrowed down. He's been seeing other professionals, like really good professionals and like feeling better, but kind of being stuck in a cycle of like feeling better, but still pretty painful.
And then he came and saw me and within these three visits we've like targeted like a, a big huge move, a dial mover in his symptoms, um, being, you know. Tapping into actually the swelling reduction protocol and, um, supporting his lymphatic and bachelor system and nervous system. And he has had more days of feeling good than he's had in a while.
So like I consider that of success. Does it mean that the three visits is all he'll need? No, but in three visits I was able to give him some new and more clear insight on like, maybe how to get out of this long haul pain and like, like challenge health issue. And so I'm gonna count that as a success. I'm gonna count that as, um, like.
Helping someone, right? Like and will I continue to see him regularly? Yeah, absolutely. Because he sees the value in keeping on top of things and wants my insight and also is afraid that things are gonna go backwards. Um, but I really feel like, yeah, complex patient, complex case, complex patient, complex case, but I made a significant impact.
And getting to the root or a driver of his problem in those one to three visits. So yeah, as advertised, one to three visits. I shared about in that last podcast, the military athlete that I was working with, that I actually had to see like 45 to 60 visits. Our goal though, was getting him through hell week.
Without Shin splint pain. And like he completed hell week two weeks ago and had zero shin splint pain. In fact, he had no pain in his shins at all. And then the other little knick nki things we were dealing with also felt really good through hell. Week is like, yep, success. So, and honestly, he's been the most challenging patient I've had in a while.
Um. So it's a little bit of like, the context of the question is like, I feel like, I feel like weird about saying it, but like I kind of, I think I get a hundred percent percent outcomes, a hundred percent success. It's been a long time.
Well a hundred percent success. And then I like think about like, oh my gosh, I have like an athlete who just is having a challenge, getting back to his level of competition, his level of professional athleticism. And this is where, again, context is key because his injury, we rehabbed successfully. I would sayre rehab successfully, but he is not back to his original self.
But then we look at somebody once upon one of my friends told me, who was also a professional athlete one at one time. So like I value his opinion on this. You know, I was feeling really bad one time about one of my baseball players who, you know, he had this. Well ended up being a career ending injury.
And so I felt like a failure because I wasn't able to help him and I felt like I let him down. And I've had a couple athletes since then at, you know, at the end of their careers, basically like I feel like I let them down because it was eventually an injury that sort of held them back in a way of getting back to their sport and I, I mean, held them back in a way because sometimes it's not physical. Sometimes the, the injury, the, the physicalness of the injury isn't the thing that holds them back from returning to their career as an athlete. It's the effort and the emotional state and the like. All the other stuff that goes into getting back to that level that sometimes after an athlete's been a professional athlete for over a decade, they're sort of like over it.
Like they're sort of like, Hmm, I don't wanna work that hard anymore. Like, I don't, you know, I don't have the love, you know, it's one thing to love the game. Um. But it is a whole nother thing to love the game so much that you love everything that goes into preparing for the game. And so eventually that's what happens when people decide to retire.
And so sometimes it is an injury that leads to that, and that becomes a career ending injury. And. My, so what my athlete and friend told me one time when I was telling him that I feel like I let my athlete down because they didn't return to this like high level that we wanted them to. He said, you do realize, Anna, that every single athlete you work with at the end of their career probably will have something going on in their body that they just can't overcome.
Not, you know, and again, sometimes it's just 'cause they just don't wanna work that hard. And sometimes it's, it is like a, a situation where you have to have a surgery that you need a repair that is, does not go bode well back into like, high velocity sports. Um, high velocity contact sports. And so he's like,
you can't frame your worth and your success over if the athlete gets back to their high level of activity, especially the ones like technically at the end of their career that he's like, you gotta look at like for, you know, and these athletes that I'm talking about, like the ones that I felt like at the time, I was feeling like I failed them and that we failed and we were successful is like they were, one of 'em was in major league baseball for like 14 years. One of 'em was in the NFL for like 16 years. Another one was in the NFL for eight years. And they're like, Anna ha, like before that last injury, how many major injuries did they have? And I'm like, none. And they're like, yeah, okay. So that's what you should like. Look at like there's your success.
They're like, your athletes had like no major injuries their entire career until the end. And it's like nothing against you. It is just like eventually an athlete's body does not keep up with their skill and does not keep up with the level of competition and the level of performance they need and recovery they need and and, and yes, sometimes it's the physicalness of their body, but also it's the mentalness that goes with it.
And so it's like, oh, that's really interesting. So I think that, I think that whole story though is to tell you that it's like. Technically those, I mean, I think are still unsuccessful helping people in their injury and pain. So it's like, I guess if you count those guys, it wouldn't be a hundred percent.
But I'm also like in the scheme of like if they were coming in a normal physical therapy clinic after their surgery. Like what would be considered success? Like, they definitely achieved that, that level of return to activity and return to, um, performance. That it just, they couldn't return to the elite high level performance.
So it's like, yeah, I wanna say if it's not, I mean, a hundred thing seems crazy 'cause that seems like everyone, but it also kind of feels like that. And like. Some of the coaches and doctors and stuff work with me. They're like, Hmm, I don't know. That seems right because we send people to you and every, they fail everybody else, and then you help them.
And so, I mean, it sounds cocky and it sounds even kind of wild to my brain, but I'm like, yeah, I feel like my outcomes are close to a hundred percent now. Whereas I told them in the lecture, even though the. Industry standard is 60 to 80, I think. I feel like before I, before I considered the whole organism paradigm and before I, um, learned an assessment to be able to listen to the body and let the body guide me for treatment, which is, you know, the whole point of the locator test assessment protocol.
Before that, I felt like I did get really good results with people. I probably was on that upper end, that 80% because there were still people I couldn't get results for. Those were, that's what frustrated me. That's what led me to continue to learn and continue to find what I was missing. Right. And, um, I got good results.
I knew, I, I remember early in my career basically telling an athlete like, gimme two weeks. You come into treatment four to five times a week for two weeks? We'll, we'll knock this out. So already I was guaranteeing results in a certain timeline and knowing I could get the results. But yeah, my outcomes were probably more closer to around 80% then and now they're closer to a hundred percent.
So. But as I'm saying, you know, it's nuance. It depends on what you consider. Success, like what you're trying to do. But the majority of the people that come in, like the, you know, the majority of the people come in, they're like, I have this problem. Nobody's been able to help me. Can you help me? And then it takes me one to three visits and I don't have to see them again.
Do I see them again? Yes. Because then when something else comes up, they're like, Anna, I need you again. And it's something different. And then we knock it out in like one to three visits. If it's a long-term rehab, we do a long-term rehab, but every time I see them, we're making progress. There's never a ton of stagnation.
And if there is stagnation, to me, that's a red flag that I need to go back to the drawing board, or I need to refer them back to the doctor for possible surgical intervention or possible injection or possible medicine or possible like. Maybe I don't refer them to a doctor, but I refer them to a different type of specialist.
So I don't allow a lot of time for that up to eight months. What? That's a crazy stat to me. Eight months of rehab, and this is not for like postsurgical rehab. This is this, this is what happens when somebody comes in with shoulder pain. Sometimes it takes 'em like eight months to get better. What. That's wild.
That should, I hope you've had surgery. That's only when it, when things are taking months, I really hope it's a surgical intervention or a major injury with like torn things, not just pain. So anyways, I hope this is a helpful episode for you and for me to share. Um, and it's again, like not even to like.
Toot my own horn, but it, like, I was like, wow, that's a really good question and like, let's talk about it because it has context and nuance and, and, um, I would, obviously, I, integrity is really important to me. Transparency is really important to me, and so it's like I don't flippantly say one to three visits.
Uh, I don't, I was like, so when I say that, I mean it, and I mean it because it's happening. It's not like I decided let's get results in one to three visits. It's like, I noticed that's what was happening and then it was happening to everyone. And so then I was like, I can guarantee this. So, um, yeah. Hope that, thank you for the question.
Um, I hope it is helpful to hear. Have a great rest of your day, whatever you're doing, and, uh, oh. Actually, I should just, I have no idea when this podcast is going to come out, but the doors are opening to the online course September 29th. Through October 2nd and the online cohort of the LTAP level one starts October 6th.
So if you've been interested and wanna join us for the online course, keep your eyes peeled, get on the email list, make sure you're following me on social media, turn on notifications. I only open up the doors to register for like four days and I'd only do it twice a year. So I would love for you to join.