We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dave Candy. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dave below.

Dave, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

At More 4 Life, we focus on helping St. Louis women age 40 and above stay active, mobile, and healthy without relying on pain medications, injections, or surgeries. We’re quite different from the standard physical therapy office that you see in healthcare these days. In fact, most of our patients have tried and failed physical therapy somewhere else before coming to us.

What sets us apart from the industry standard is the time we take to get to know and understand our patients. We don’t just treat their knee problem, their back problem, or whatever other physical problem they have. We get to know them as a whole person, and we focus on making them happier and healthier all around. In most cases, part of that process involves getting them out of pain and back to doing the things they love.

To that end, we don’t just do exercises like many physical therapy places. We start with the end-goal in mind and work on improving that first.

For example if a patient wants to be able to go for walks in the evening with their spouse but their back pain is stopping them from doing that, we first help them find ways to walk more comfortably so that they can get back to doing that meaningful activity that brings joy to their life. If there’s an exercise that can assist in that process, we may ask them to do it, but the exercise isn’t the focus of the treatment.

Bottom line: We focus on making happy patients, not giving people exercises.

Dave, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve been a certified athletic trainer since 2005 and a doctor of physical therapy since 2008. When I first got into the field, I thought I wanted to work with athletes because I was an athlete myself.

However, after being in the field for a few years, I came upon a few realizations:
1) The things you learn in school don’t help every person
2) I got more joy out of helping normal people get back to doing things that are important in their lives rather than helping athletes get back on the field
3) I got the MOST joy out of helping people that other people hadn’t been able to help.

So I sought out extensive continuing education to further my knowledge of how to help the people that “fail” traditional physical therapy or other treatments. Now I specialize in helping people who others haven’t been able to help.

Additionally, I’ve been on a mission in recent years to create resources for people outside of St. Louis who need help but may never be able to see me as a patient. I’ve written a book called “Chronic Pain: You’re Not Just Getting Older, You’re Not Crazy, And It’s Not All In Your Head”. The book teaches people about the complex topic that is chronic pain as well as gives some self-help tips to help people suffering from chronic pain.

I’ve also got a growing blog and YouTube that has reach internationally, and it’s fulfilling to know that I’m helping people that I’d never be able to help in person.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson that I had to unlearn is that pain isn’t always linear. In fact, life isn’t always linear.

If your back or knee hurts, doesn’t mean that all of the pain is coming from the back or the knee. Pain is both a sensory and an emotional experience and your thoughts and beliefs can affect your physical pain. That’s not to say that people make the pain up or that the pain is in their head. All pain is real. But something that might normally only be a little painful can be a lot painful if you’re worried, anxious, or depressed about it.

The good thing about that is that your mind can do a lot to ease or heal pain.

The parallel extends to business as well. If you think and act like a successful business owner thinks and acts, eventually you’ll become a successful business owner.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think what helped me build a reputation is the way we treat people.

I’ve been a great, highly credentialed therapist for years, but I don’t think those things matter most. I have board-certifications and fellowships that only a very small percent of PT’s have. However, when I just treated conditions, not as many people got better. When I started focusing on people first and the condition second, that’s when the magic happened.

When people come to our office, we treat them like family. We listen to them, give them out full attention, and treat them with respect. It’s not your typical healthcare experience. People notice that, and they tell other people about it as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://m4lpt.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/more4lifept/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/M4LPT/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/m4lpt/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/more4lifept
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/more4life