Physical therapy, a neglected business.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “GymSquare Refinement” (ID: GymSquare), author / Jie Jie.
In addition to fitness, some new terms are frequently mentioned in the gym, such as scoliosis, pelvic tilt, and pain management. After these nouns, the gym is strengthening muscles and reducing fat, and the world of physical therapy.
These physical treatments that deal with limited body size and pain problems have become popular vocabularies in China’s first-tier cities under the 996 work rhythm. Even with the national fitness, it has risen to the topic of the whole people.
Recently, the Office of the Health China Action Promotion Committee listed cervical spondylosis, frozen shoulder, low back pain, etc. as workers should prevent diseases. In the gym, according to statistics, nearly 500,000 people in the United States were injured in the use of fitness equipment in 2012.
The seemingly rehabilitative needs are spawned by modern lifestyles, but in fact the post-war damage 100 years ago and the emergence of polio have once promoted physical therapy that would improve the “scarring bones”. In 2014, the nation’s physical therapy market reached $30 billion, including US physical therapy, which has 593 rehabilitation stores across the United States.
The business behind this business is the physiotherapy industry that has matured in the United States, including a series of medical insurance systems, standardized rehabilitation institutions, and the implementation of quality assessment.
■US physical therapy
For example, the US medical prepaid system FGRs, based on the prepaid changes in patient rehabilitation needs, have greatly promoted the development of the US physical therapy industry. And as a basis for the introduction of rehabilitation talent, also through NPTEEThe National Physical Therapist Qualification Examination is certified and professionally guaranteed.
In contrast, the gap between the Chinese and American physiotherapy industries is nearly 100 billion yuan. The lack of talent for rehabilitation teachers and the lack of rehabilitation concepts are the main reasons for the gap.
■The proportion of rehabilitation doctors in China
According to the data of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, there are 62.8 rehabilitation teachers per 100,000 people in the United States, and the proportion of Chinese rehabilitation doctors is only 0.4:100,000. Professional talent is naturally not enough, but market demand has never been reduced, which provides a soil for many folk rehabilitation treatments that are difficult to justify.
Even if there are multiple problems, the sports fitness of nearly 40 million fitness populations and the sub-health trend of urban work population may mean new opportunities for physical therapy in China.
Physical therapy, it is possible to become a neglected business outside the Chinese gym.
Physiotherapy outside the gym
In addition to “reducing fat and shaping”, some “body corrections” that claim to improve the pelvic forward and upper cross syndrome may be another familiar and personal training course in the gym. Although the professionalism is still doubtful, this series combines the exercise methods of reinforcement, stability and stretching, as well as the relaxing and relaxing techniques of massage and relaxation, which constitute an important part of physical therapy.
Emphasizing the “physical” physiotherapy rehabilitation method, once broke the traditional post-injury retreat theory of “straining the bones for one hundred days, rest in bed”.
In contrast to the traditional concept of resting, the rehabilitation of combined sports has been shown to help restore athletic ability. Published by the American College of Internal MedicineAnnals of Internal Medicine has pointed out that physical therapy combined with exercise therapy can provide functional benefits to patients with knee osteoarthritis and even avoid surgery.
■Sports Therapy Research
Source: Annals of Internal Medicine
In addition to scientific argumentation, the origins of some physical therapy methods also show the characteristics of combining with exercise.
Perhenrik, the father of Swedish gymnastics, founded the Royal Central Gymnastics Academy in 1813 to provide massage, manual therapy and exercise training. That is, at this time, the concept of a physiotherapist appeared, and the Swedish word “sjukgymnast” means the person who performs the treatment of injuries with the help of gymnastics training.
■Gymnastics combined with injury treatment
Material treatment improves physical damage, and the sub-health status of urban office workers, as well as sports injuries, contribute to the development of physical therapy.
Legal Match, a US legal services agency, has counted criminal cases involving injuries in the gym and found that nearly 500,000 people were injured in the use of fitness equipment in the United States in 2012. In the DALY ranking of disability-adjusted life years, cervical pain jumped from the 21st in 1990 to the 9th in 2017, and the back pain increased from 17 to 13.
Although the physiotherapy audience is expanding. However, in contrast, the domestic physical therapy industry is still in its infancy.
According to the online data of China market research, the market value of the domestic physical therapy industry in 2015 was 20 billion yuan, while the United States exceeded 100 billion yuan in 2014.
The reasons behind the industry gap include the supply of physiotherapy professionals and the difficulty of the concept of rehabilitation.
■The proportion of rehabilitation doctors in China
According to the statistics of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, in 2015, the proportion of rehabilitation physicians in China was about 0.4:100,000. According to the statistics of the International Federation of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the number of rehabilitation therapists in developed countries such as Europe, America and Japan is generally 30 to 70 people per 100,000 population.
The lack of rehabilitation talents, resulting in the concept of scientific rehabilitation is difficult to get popular science, it has spawned a series of difficult to deepen the content of online science.
For example, “back pain, 1 action is done”, “three minutes, cervical spondylosis has no trace” and so on. But in fact, the anterior cervical posture is not caused by excessive tension in the single shoulder and neck muscles. Because from the top down, the curvature of the thoracic vertebrae straightened, even the pelvic anterior tilt caused by the high arch foot, is a potential factor causing the cervical spine to retreat.
In general, the gap in domestic physical therapy talents and the lack of scientific rehabilitation concepts are the highly specialized rehabilitation methods of physical therapy, which are difficult to get attention in China.
■ATI physical therapy
American, physiotherapy big business
When referring to “physical therapy,” more people may be able to recover from self-care ability after a major illness in the hospital, or a professional logistics team for NBA basketball players. But in the United States, physical therapy has become a business for the masses.
According to US investment bank Harris Williams, the physiotherapy industry is expanding at an annual rate of 7% and will reach nearly $50 billion in 2019.
The sheer size of the 16,000 physiotherapy institutions in the United States and the highly fragmented market structure with a business share of less than 5% may also mean that competition is driving the business to expand rapidly.
■American Physical Therapy Industry Source: seeking alpha
Under intense competition, the two head physiotherapy institutions ATI physical therapy and US physical therapy have adopted different operational strategies.
As a rehabilitation sponsor for the Indiana Pacers, ATI physical therapy focuses on rehabilitation, exercise prescriptions, and emerging hand treatments and women’s health services. At the same time, focus on developing community clinics in the neighborhood neighborhood. ATI physical therapy has achieved good user stickiness through high-frequency contact with users, and has opened nearly 600 stores in 10 years.
■ATI physical therapy
Compared to ATI phySical therapy is a small community rehabilitation agency. US physical therapy will be located in densely populated office buildings and shopping malls. In addition to rehabilitation services, injury insurance and the acquisition of other institutions are its main business models. The physiotherapy company that completed the IPO in 2016 has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion.
It can be seen that the physiotherapy industry in the United States is presenting a diversified business model. However, on this basis, it is necessary to improve the rehabilitation process under the medical insurance system and the scientific rehabilitation concept brought by the formal talent training.
■US physicaltherapy market value
In 2002, the United States introduced the FGRs (Function-Related Groups), which calculated the rehabilitation cost quota based on the patient’s dysfunction level, age, and complications, and the medical insurance will pay the amount to the rehabilitation institution in advance. And if the patient transfers the treatment, the institution can only get a partial amount.
In addition to this, on-demand referral of the tertiary medical system has also promoted the efficient rehabilitation of patients. The doctor judges the damage level according to the Function Independent Measure and assigns the patient to an acute rehabilitation clinic, or a functional improvement, daily care facility.
There is a well-established rehabilitation process that allows patients in the US to recover and get the best physical therapy in the shortest possible time.
■FunctionIndependent Measure
Talents provide a strong guarantee for the physical therapy industry in the United States. In the United States, every graduate receiving physical therapy education must be practicable through the Physicist Qualifications Management Committee FSBPT’s Licensing Examination NPTE. In addition to the assessment of clinical analysis capabilities, NPTE also involvesNew technologies and new ideas in the field of physical therapy.
■NPTE Exam Category Source: Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine
Professional assessment ensures the quality of talent, and satisfactory salary treatment also avoids brain drain.
According to the US Department of Labor, the average salary of American physiotherapists in 2018 is $87,000 per year, and the hourly salary is $42. From 2016 to 2026, the employment rate of physiotherapists is expected to increase by 28%, much higher than the average of all occupations.
Overall, whether the physiotherapy industry is becoming a big business in the United States, a well-established medical insurance process system, and high-quality talent introduction, physiotherapy has become an important trend in the United States. .
■American Physical Therapist Salary Status
Physical therapy in China
A century-old physiotherapy has been proven to treat the limitations of movement and pain caused by illness or injury. And physiotherapy technology may have great potential for development in China, a country with a large population.
It can be seen that under the national fitness tide, the surge in sports injuries of nearly 40 million fitness populations and the sub-health trend of urban workers are the primary growth factors in the physical therapy industry.
After the emergence of the basic user needs, the rehabilitation institutions for people with sports injuries, shoulder and neck and back and other rehabilitation physiotherapy, present opportunities for development. In Shanghai, the search for “sports rehabilitation” has already found more than 10 rehabilitation institutions, providing rehabilitation procedures including “palp evaluation, program interpretation”.
Capital attention also allows us to see the possibility of expanding the physiotherapy market. For example, the German sports rehabilitation equipment and service company “Demei Medical” recently announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan in Series C financing. The ridge of the sports rehabilitation clinic was nearly perfect, and it had already completed 10 million grades of financing.
■Private Capital Management Policy
Based on market expansion, some favorable policies for social capital to enter the medical service industry, as well as incentives for physiotherapy talents have also been introduced.
In the past 10 years, China has issued program proposals to encourage social medical treatment to meet diversified medical needs. In terms of talents, since the Ministry of Health formulated the “Basic Standards for Rehabilitation Medicine in General Hospitals”, in addition to the increase in the enrollment ratio of rehabilitation majors in undergraduate colleges, there have also been incentives for rehabilitation training for on-the-job medical staff.
In general, physical therapy that may not be effective in general fitness may be an important new health trend. But before it becomes a business, some basic rehabilitation concepts, talent allocation, and policy orientation may be the focus of attention.