How to Set Up a Physiotherapy Clinic for Successful Practice

How to set up a physiotherapy clinic for a successful practice?

Whether you are a fresher or just planning to set up your own physiotherapy centre, this piece of writing is going to clear all confusion regarding it. This could be the game-changer in your career if you apply the tips we are going to discuss here in this post.

We will try to understand how to arrange clinical setup so that you can attend to patients seamlessly without any hindrance.  And become the most sought-after physiotherapist in your town.

All this information I am going to share is an extract from my 15 years of invaluable experience. Read the article till the end to take advantage of my experience as an owner of a physiotherapy clinic for 12 years. 

#1: Separate treatment room for gents, ladies

An ideal physiotherapy centre setting should have a clear demarcation between male and female treatment areas. Female patients do not feel comfortable being in the presence of males, so ideally you should have a separate treatment area for male and female patients. If your financial status permits you should purchase two sets of equipment each for the different treatment areas.

Having two sets of equipment reduces the treatment time and load drastically. Imagine a situation where one patient is receiving interferential therapy and another patient is waiting for his turn in another treatment area. This would create chaos like conditions. 

This also reduces stress by reducing the time to transfer the machine from one room to another. But it is not always possible to add two sets of equipment to your financial constraints.

So, what can be done?

Recommended furniture modifications

During the initial days of my career, we too were not in a position to afford two sets, but we managed the situation by slightly modifying the furniture.

We installed wheels on the bottom of every stool on which the equipment where to be planted. This made it easy to transfer machines from one location to another reducing the physical stress of carrying it every time.

Initial equipment guide

If everything is fine one question may arise in your mind what basic equipment should one start his/her physiotherapy centre settings. The answer is simple, all the pain-relieving equipment and these are:

1. Ultrasonic therapy (UST)
2. Interferential Therapy (IFT)
3. TENS
4. Traction.

As you grow with your career, proceed to have more equipment installed.

1. Short Wave Diathermy
2. Infrared Lamps
3. Hydorcullator
4. Wax bath

You can place hydrocullator and wax bath at commonplace since it is not advisable to have a double set of this machine. They are expensive and they are very less often come in use. Also, you should have only one set of short wave diathermy machines. 

#2 Exclusive room for exercise

Exercise is a very integral part of the Physiotherapy treatment process you should have a separate area for exercise which is common to both males and females. There is a long list of equipment that can be installed in this area of the clinic.

The equipment I currently have is :

1. Quadriceps table
2. Shoulder wheel
3. Ladder board
4. Shoulder and pulley
5. Pronator supinator
6. Grip exerciser
7. Therabands
8. Dumbbells
9. Ankle exerciser
10. Therapy ball 

Confusion between newcomers or fresher

Around 12 years back I was also confused, there were lots of thoughts that would make a round in my brain.

• Should have someone guided me to start physiotherapy practice from scratch?
• Will I be able to find an ideal rental space for physiotherapy?
• How to market my physiotherapy practice?

After 3 years of job experience in Delhi, I finally quit the job to be my own boss. It was the year 2008 when with all the great enthusiasm and hope I shifted from Delhi to Rourkela to start my clinical setup journey. It was a mixture of excitement and confusion, confusion about how to search for an ideal house, how to arrange the equipment, and how to grow. I can understand that this is what you might also be going through.

Being a fresher this confusion is justified and a genuine one. After successfully running the clinic for 12 years I have zero into a perfect set-up plan that works for me. You can extract some ideas from this and can apply them to yours considering your condition. 

Secret#3: Designated room for office & consultation

The consultation room is the first place where your patients or client meets you. A place where a brief conversation between the patient and therapist occurs. They share their problem and concern and all the related x-ray and MRI reports with you. You take history by interviewing the patient, you should learn the impressive way to make history. History taking is an art, not science.

You should be careful while selecting the location for a consultation room. It should be away from all other rooms yet all rooms should be visible when you sit here. This is to make sure you can have brief supervision of what’s going on in each different room.

Many clinics have examination couch placed here but it’s not necessary. You can examine your patient in a treatment room itself.

Secret#4: How our clinic is arranged 

I have three branches of the clinic in three different geographical locations in our city. But I would like to share the one which I like the best. It is a 2BHK house with a huge glass Windows which makes it well lit with the natural light without the need of using electric bulbs.

It has a small garden on three sides making it a feel-good factor for our patients. Spread over 1200 square feet area our clinic has a treatment area and exercise area. Below is the map of our physiotherapy setup arrangement.

Bonus Tips#5 Impress your patient with an exercise chart

Finally, during the final session with your patient, you have an opportunity to create a lasting relationship with them. It is very important for a word of mouth to spread. This will add value to your service and physiotherapy centre setting.

This can be easily established by advising them on home exercise programs and handing over an exercise chart. I have designed beautiful exercise charts for common joint pain that you may download by visiting my store.

Final words

These principles as worked for me and I have found them to be more productive for me you can apply this to your clinic. What’s your take on this topic give your feedback by dropping a comment below.

The next crucial step is marketing and I advise you to please read this article: 4 secret tools to grow your physio practice.

Sunit. S. Ekka

Dr Sunit Sanjay Ekka is a physiotherapist in practice for the last 15 years. He has done his BPT from one of the premium Central Government physiotherapy colleges, ie, SVNIRTAR. The patient is his best teacher and whatever he gets to learn he loves to share it on his Youtube channel and blog.