We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vikash Sharma a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Vikash, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.

The idea of Perfect Stride Physical Therapy came about in 2012 while I was fresh out of PT school working at a high volume practice in Manhattan. I had been a Physical Therapist for only a few months and already getting burnt out and thinking about a career change. I was regularly treating three or more patients at one time and not getting to be a physical therapist, instead I was learning how to be an expert multitasker.

It was at this time that I realized how broken our healthcare model is. It prioritizes profits for the healthcare companies while reimbursing healthcare providers poorly. Rather than emphasizing preventative care, there is an overwhelming focus on treatment only once the condition or disease process has progressed along to be symptomatic. As physical therapists we could not do what was best for our patients but instead we had to play by the insurance company’s rules, which meant seeing multiple (in some cases up to 4-5) patients at one time and also tailoring our treatment to ensure the insurance company would reimburse us, which meant not doing what was best for the patient.

Out of this frustration and need, Perfect Stride was born, with a vision to provide one-on-one care for a full hour to all of our patients. We wanted to get back to the basics, doing what was best for each and every unique individual that came through our doors and not what the insurance companies wanted us to do. In 2012 the cash pay and out of network practice was a novel idea and only a few physical therapy clinics were operating this way. However, it was very clear from the beginning that people valued this model and were willing to pay to receive the attention and quality care that they deserved. People valued being listened to and having a customized treatment approach based on their needs and goals, not what the insurance company wanted.

We began to niche into working with runners early. This really helped us establish ourselves in the NYC running community and become a go to provider for all things running rehab and performance related (run coaching, strength training, gait analysis). This is something that I think is essential for other young professionals who might be considering starting their own practices. You need to find out what you are passionate about and really establish yourself as the expert and go-to business for this specialty. There are a lot of other physical therapy clinics out there, so you really have to find your own lane and let your potential clients know that you understand them and have their needs covered best.

Now, 13 years later, there has been a change and there are countless physical therapy clinics that have adopted this model due to the fact that people value quality care and their health; they value having the highest level of care and someone that understands their specific needs and goals. While some would consider this shift bad for business, we consider it great for humanity has it is a positive shift towards improving people’s health!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

This is always tough for me, I am not the best at talking about myself but I will give it a try.

I will start with where my love for the human body, movement and health came from. To do that, we have to go back to middle school when I got injured, a torn calf muscle during outdoor track, and ended up in physical therapy. From the beginning I was drawn to how these healers were using their words and movement to get people back to doing the things that they loved most. Unlike other healthcare practitioners my physical therapist spent a lot of quality time with me, listening to my concerns and getting to the root of my injury, not just placing a band-aid on the symptoms.

This fascination stuck with me through numerous other injuries (multiple shoulder dislocations, fractures and sprains & strains) and trips to the physical therapist. Then in university, at Elon University, my decision was solidified during my cadaver based anatomy lab. Being able to see the magnificence of the human body inside and out was a life changing experience for me, I went all in and became a teaching assistant for the class. From here I went on to complete my Doctor of Physical Therapy degree at The George Washington University and I have not looked back since then. Each and everyday I know I am right where I need to be, doing exactly what I need to be doing, helping people move and feel better.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

There is a book titled “Unreasonable Hospitality” by Will Guidara and it talks about how Will changed the way Hospitality was thought of during his time at the restaurant Eleven Madison Park in New York City. His unrelentless pursuit of optimizing every detail of the patron’s experience is what set Eleven Madison apart from other restaurants and eventually landed it the distinction of being the best restaurant in the world. This really spoke to me as I grew up in the hospitality industry serving tables, cleaning dishes and setting tables from a very young age at my parent’s restaurant.

I worked very hard in the early part of my career to learn as much as I possibly could and develop my treatment philosophy which in turn became the treatment philosophy of Perfect Stride (which as greatly evolved over time). However, most physical therapy clinics would stop here, they wouldn’t go beyond this and think about all of the contact points that a client/potential client could have with their clinic and how to optimize these to ensure that they have an above and beyond experience. This is something that we spent a lot of time breaking down and incorporating into our company operating philosophy. This included things such as having hair ties easily available for those who need to tie their hair back during physical activity, the scent in the space, the words that we use and how we greet clients as well. This along with many other things that have been thought of and learned over the years have been implemented into our business philosophy to create a streamlined and optimized experience that has allowed for us to build our reputation.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The single most effective strategy that we have found for growing our clientele is simple, it is providing an above and beyond experience to each and every client that we interact with. There is nothing more impactful that you can do to build your business. At the end of the day if your product or service is flawed it does not matter how much marketing you are doing, people will not recommend you, return back to you, refer you to others or leave you positive reviews (more than likely they will leave you negative reviews). If you focus on mastering your service, all of the other growth strategies you choose to implement will be that much more powerful and effective!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://perfectstridept.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perfectstridept/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PerfectStridePT/?locale=lo_LA
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/perfect-stride-physical-therapy
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn_imFBdSUE-WQmZis-ZDxQ
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/perfect-stride-physical-therapy-manhattan-2