Denise Campbell is one of the most respected, well-known, and clinically successful physical therapists in the world. In her career, she has ALWAYS put patient care first and helped her build a $5 million business with patients in high demand for her care. This past year, Denise converted her three clinics to FYZICAL. Why would a successful, multi-practice, multi-million dollar business owner join a franchise? Even Denise will admit that all of the clinical knowledge in the world doesn’t make you a great business owner.
“I started out as an athletic trainer, which was my first degree, and a teacher in physical education, chemistry and biology. I was completely interested in sports medicine for physical therapy.
I have a passion in helping athletes, preventing injuries and helping actually witnessing true recoveries. I was awarded an opportunity to work with the Dallas Cowboys, and had the pleasure of working with a handful of professional sports teams.
After my second child, I hurt my back pretty badly. I saw all these sports medicine gurus and no one could fix me. Most of them told me I would never work again. So I set out to find the answer, and stumbled across the McKenzie course. I was able to take this course and learn how to fix myself in about 7 days. It was then I realized how many people I was NOT helping, and possibly even hurting by not treating spine, so I followed the McKenzie Method.
I went through credentialing in the U.S. and then moved my family. I was able to train directly under Robin McKenzie in New Zealand in the ‘90s and got my diploma. Upon arrival back to the States, my new methods doubled, then tripled the size of the practice for the practice owner I was working under.
I then climbed the corporate structure in one of the largest healthcare companies in the world, but I never saw eye-to-eye with a lot of their practices, so I finally went out on my own. I started SW Sport and Spine Center in 2000 in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
One of my goals was to be a regional training center, so I went on to get my OCS and fellowship and Master’s in Cognitive Behavioral Sciences and created a university related to Capnometry… and just kept growing my practice.”
"Today, I have three clinics in two states, employing around 60 people, 50 FTEs. I’ve been in private practice for 17 years, and have built a $5 million business. I joined FYZICAL as a franchisee in May of this year.”
Denise is one of the few people to have studied under Robin McKenzie. “The McKenzie Method has significantly increased my demand as a therapist because so many people want that treatment, it’s different, reputable and it’s created a niche,” she said. “Because back pain is 50- 60% of orthopedics, it’s now easy for me to distinguish when it’s not mechanical low back pain. I can see the other problems and not just funnel everyone in the same category. This took me down the path of learning so much more after that.”
“I realized there were lots of treatment specialties I was currently not offering my patients that may be hurting them. In fact, I came across one accidentally. A therapist of mine was running one day, the next morning, she could hardly walk. A few weeks later she ended up in a wheelchair. I worked with her for a very long time, and I’d like to say I’m a pretty good spine therapist… but she wasn’t really getting better. So, we went to see a therapist in Canada, Diane Lee. From the front of the room, she told us, ‘Well you’re not going to be able to help her because she’s over breathing.’ I was shocked. My therapist was sitting right next to me and I couldn’t see this, but Diane saw it from across the room. Sure enough, she was breathing about 28 breaths per minute—normal breathing is between 8 and 14. This was around 12 years ago and set me on another journey. It was eye-opening all the things I had been missing in my patients.”
“My team and I worked to find a solution to her breathing issue. We conducted practice-based research, and knew we had the incidence of something to address that no one (as far as I knew) was addressing in our field. It snowballed from there and developed a great interest. There were no practitioners that knew how to do this so we started working with Better Physiology and created a certification program. We then created an online university for therapists to get certifications, as well as cognitive behavioral therapies and use of the capnometer. We are now working to take this program to the rest of the world and help more people help their patients.”
Without question, Denise is a visionary, forward-looking person. “I’ve been in the business long enough to see lots of changes in physical therapy. We’ve been striving to become primary care providers and not be too far downstream from physicians, unable to control our destiny. We have a lot against us,” she explained.
Denise has faced the struggles of owning a private practice. Reimbursements were being cut, and competition from hospitals and physical therapy constantly changing. Being the forward thinker she is, she’s been in pursuit of solutions to these problems. She says, “Man cannot live on bread alone, just like physical therapists can’t live on insurance alone.”
“This broken healthcare system affects business. I needed to differentiate myself. As I continued seeking the best treatment protocols across the world, I was on the hunt for balance expertise. I decided that three years ago, I needed balance because of the baby boomer population. That’s how I found FYZICAL. I needed something for my practice that would set me apart, and also meet the needs of my community. Since I’m on the tail-end of the Baby Boomer generation, my career has followed that group. I realized there are different needs for this generation.”
FYZICAL’s proprietary Balance Paradigm and Sensory Mismatch Theory give PTs the ability to do what they couldn’t before. These groundbreaking services separate her practice from the competition with the industry-leading fall-prevention solutions and holistic approach to treating patients. She explained most PTs know they should be doing certain things, but now there is a WAY to provide balance and vestibular therapy in a better way without reinventing the wheel.
“I haven’t been this excited about something since I saw what the McKenzie Method could do for low back pain and neck pain,” Denise says.
“After meeting FYZICAL, I was blown away. My goals and ambitions aligned perfectly with the vision of FYZICAL. This was the solution to the challenges in healthcare that would ensure survival in private practice, without requiring to sell out.”
Denise has survived many years in private practice but knew there was a risk it may not last. “I think I’m a pretty good business owner but only out of pure survival. I lost money due to a billing issue years ago, and I grew so fast that I didn’t have the infrastructure to handle it. I’m very aware of how important managing your practice is, especially as you get larger.”
“Clinical skills don’t give you the tools to deal with the changing landscape of healthcare. I’ve got all types of clinical awards and certifications, but that doesn’t help you make it in this industry. We need a collective. I didn’t want to sell out to a big corporation... I didn’t want to align with one hospital… so FYZICAL was a great opportunity for me. It gave me a lot of efficiencies and the structure and operations that I could teach my team, while remaining 100% independent owner of my business.”
Denise understands what physical therapists have right now is not going to work into the future of physical therapy. “Unfortunately, a lot of people wait until they’re desperate. If you can look forward enough and see that… you can own your own business and partner with business experts, clinical experts, and take advantage of cooperative benefits, it ends up being a win-win.”
“FYZICAL will play a huge part in the future of physical therapy and the future of healthcare, because FYZICAL has the answers for the challenges private practice owners face every day. I was excited to become part of a company that saw the same challenges, but with a vision and solution for the future.”
Whether your practice is big or small, growing fast or slow… the time is now if you want to be a part of something bigger and join the top physical therapists in the country in changing the profession forever.
“The sooner you recognize what’s taking place in our profession, the more opportunity you have. If you wait… you may not have the same opportunities,” says Campbell.
Take Denise’s expert advice—don’t wait! Click here to explore the FYZICAL opportunity or call 941-227-4308 and discover if it’s right for you.