A patient finishing a course of treatment is told about the rehab class. She hears a cheaper group session, assumes she is being moved off individual care because the interesting part is over, and declines.
Six weeks later she has stopped doing the exercises entirely and the progress has gone.
When a class is the right recommendation
It suits patients past the acute stage, those who need progression and supervision rather than hands-on treatment, those who will not exercise alone, and those for whom continuing individual sessions is unaffordable and stopping is the alternative.
When one to one remains necessary
It remains necessary in early or acute stages, where hands-on treatment is part of the plan, where a condition needs close monitoring, or where someone cannot safely exercise in a group setting.
Explain that classes are individually programmed
The most common misunderstanding. A good rehab class gives each person their own exercises with a physiotherapist supervising, rather than everybody doing the same thing.
Publish the class format
How many people, how long, who supervises, what equipment is used and how programmes are set and progressed. Patients cannot picture it otherwise.
Explain who is in the class
Roughly the range of conditions and ages. Patients worry about being the oldest, the least fit or the only one with their problem.
Publish the price comparison
A class against individual sessions, per session and over a course. Presented openly it reads as a genuine option rather than a downgrade.
Say why adherence matters
Most rehabilitation fails because people stop doing the exercises. A supervised weekly session is the mechanism that prevents it, and saying so explains the recommendation.
Explain the referral into a class
Whether an assessment is required first, whether patients can join directly and whether a physiotherapist decides. Most classes need an assessment and patients should know.
Never assess suitability on a website
Whether someone is ready for a class is a clinical judgement, which is the boundary in how to handle sensitive questions in your chatbot.
Publish the timetable properly
Classes run at fixed times and patients working full time need to know whether any of them are reachable. Showing the days, times, whether there is an evening option and how far ahead places are booked is what turns a recommendation into an attended session rather than a good idea somebody never acts on.
Say what equipment is provided
Patients arrive expecting a gym and find a room with mats, or expect a mat and find equipment they have never used. Describing what is there, what they should wear and whether they need to bring anything removes the low-level anxiety that stops people attending a first class.
Explain the commitment
Weekly, for how long, and what happens if they miss one. Patients treat classes casually and the value is in attending consistently.
Post-surgical patients follow protocols
They are covered in post surgery rehabilitation enquiries and referrals.
Funding affects the choice
It is covered in physio insurance and self-pay questions, and group formats raise similar questions in group class and ensemble questions from parents.
Getting started
Publish your class format, who it suits, the price comparison and how to join, then capture enquiries at any hour without assessing anyone. SpideyChat for physiotherapy clinics answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about answers on the features page.