So you want to work with diabetics, total joint replacements, arthritis, low back pain and other medical conditions? But you are wondering where to start, what to do and which medical professionals to approach? This is the start of a series titled the “7 Steps to Starting Your Medical Exercise Training Practice in Any Setting”. For the last 20 years, I have helped and educated fitness professionals and personal trainers around the world to “Bridge the Gap Between Health Care and Fitness”. In this series I will help you put these 7 steps into action.
First let me describe Medical Exercise Training (MET). MET is the development of safe and effective exercise programming for clients with medical conditions. MET does not provide any aspects of medical treatment. This new and growing arena is one of the keys in solving our health care crisis. MET is a great option for managing chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, total joint replacements, low back pain and arthritis. These conditions require the incorporation of exercise into the medical management plan. MET does just that…..it allows you to manage medical conditions with exercise in conjunction with physicians, physical therapists and other health care professionals. So let’s get started with step one.
Step One
Your first step is to establish a “target medical marketing list” of medical professionals with whom you would like to develop referral relationships. Simply put, make a list of doctors, therapists and chiropractors you want to get client referrals from. Establish a list of 3 medical professionals to approach initially. I recommend approaching: 1) a general practitioner or internist; 2) a chiropractor and 3) a sportsmed/physical therapy practice. We have found these three medical professionals have patients in need of MET services. These medical professionals are very receptive to medical exercise training.
To develop your target list review your current client files for their medical conditions, the names of their physician and/or physical therapist and the functional outcomes you have produced. If you have produced positive outcomes with these clients, such as reducing blood glucose and blood pressure levels, or improving strength, then you have a great opportunity to successful communicate with these clients’ physicians and/or therapists. Don’t try the shotgun approach to marketing to medical professionals. Initially focus on three medical professionals and expand to more as you add MET staff members.
This is the first in a series of blog posts you will see over the next couple of weeks leading up to our first Medical Exercise Profit$ and Protocols webinar. The first webinar is titled “The 7 Steps to Building a Medical Exercise Training Practice”. Join us on January 29, 2015 at 9pm ET/6pm PT for this 90-minute presentation. You will get more details on the 7 steps to build your MET practice.
If you would like more information on establishing a target medical marketing list check out the Medical Exercise Training podcast.
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