Years ago I saw a woman with an acutely torn, locked meniscus. Classic mechanism. Classic presentation. No-brainer.
She didn't need a physio. She needed a surgeon.
The session took about 20 minutes. No rehab. No exercises. No hands-on heroics.
What she did get was my time, my ears and my little black book - and she was in front of the best surgeon the next day.
I charged her the full new patient fee.
Not for treatment - but for judgement. For not trying to treat something that didn't need treating.
I never saw her again.
A few months later someone walked in and said: "Sal sent me, she said you fixed her knee."
I hadn't. Not with my rehab skills anyway.
Then another came. And another. Five or six in total. Same line every time.
That's a Turbo Patient.
I touched on this tension between cost and value in Charlie Goodchild's podcast. This was the lived version.
Value is awkward to price. Until you see it work.