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If you’re a physical therapist who’s great at what you do but exhausted by the traditional model, wondering whether there’s actually a sustainable way to practice long term, Lori’s story will feel very familiar. She’s a doctor of physical therapy who spent years in conventional care, switched to a cash-based practice, and still felt like something was missing…until she learned how to blend functional medicine for physical therapists with a high-touch, values-aligned business model.
Today, she runs a multi–six-figure hybrid practice, sees fewer patients per week, has 35% of her visits online, and no longer feels like she has to choose between helping people and taking care of herself. Here’s how she went from “there has to be more than this” to a business that finally matches her vision.
When Traditional Physical Therapy Wasn’t Enough
Lori entered the physical therapy profession with a deep desire to help people. Like many dedicated clinicians, she poured herself into learning everything she could. She worked in conventional settings for years, pursued the highest levels of training, and eventually became fellowship trained. From the outside, it looked like a career hitting all the milestones. But inside her day-to-day reality, something was off.
“I had worked in conventional practice for several 10 years… and just the whole time searching for something more. This isn’t the way I wanted to do patient care.”
Despite her advanced credentials, she felt boxed into a system where she could only go so deep with her patients. She could see the patterns (chronic stress, gut dysfunction, nervous system dysregulation) that were influencing their musculoskeletal concerns, but the traditional PT model left no room to address any of it. She was gathering information without having a structure to act on it.
Leaving the Insurance Treadmill
About three years before she found mentorship, Lori made her first big move: she left the insurance-based PT model and opened a cash-based practice. She drastically decreased her patient volume so she could:
- Spend more time with each person
- Deliver care the way she believed it should be delivered
- Get out of the constraints of insurance and productivity metrics
The patients who found her were a better fit, and the work felt more aligned, but it wasn’t the full answer.
“I was very happy, but still kind of discontented, like there’s more to this. I just kept searching.”
Even at the highest levels of physical therapy (fellowship trained, cash-based, boutique practice) she still felt like she couldn’t go as deep as she knew her patients needed.
Finding Functional Medicine for Physical Therapists and Seeing the Whole Picture
Lori’s introduction to functional medicine began, like many practitioners, through her own personal health journey. The deeper she went, the more she realized how profoundly interconnected systems are, and how often musculoskeletal issues are tied to stress, gut health, sleep, hormones, and emotional patterns. She began to see clearly what she’d always sensed in her PT work: her patients’ symptoms were rarely happening in isolation.
“I knew this recurrent back pain wasn’t just back pain,” she recalled. “Their gut was a mess. They were stressed out. I could see all the pieces, but I had no way to follow through on them.”
This was the crossroads. She didn’t want to abandon the PT skills she loved, but she couldn’t ignore the whole-person picture any longer. She needed a way to merge both worlds into a single, sustainable model. What she didn’t have was a structure to actually address the symptoms:
- No way to formally integrate lab testing
- No container to support deeper behavior change
- No framework for working across systems instead of in silos
She knew there had to be a way to bring functional medicine for physical therapists into her work. She just didn’t know what that model looked like or how to build it. That’s when she began exploring functional medicine mentorships and, eventually, found the one that felt aligned.
The Mentorship That Had to Be Different
By the time Lori discovered The WELLth Academy, she had already invested tens of thousands of dollars in previous mentorships that left her disappointed. She carried the sting of that experience and the hesitation that comes with it.
“I had burned, I think in total, something like 30K on mentors in the functional medicine space. I felt so betrayed.”
Because of that history, she approached the enrollment process differently. She asked sharper questions, trusted her intuition more, and wanted reassurance that this wasn’t just another program taking anyone and everyone who applied.
She distinctly remembered asking: “How many people do you turn away?” The answer mattered because it signaled whether she would be joining a mentorship rooted in discernment and integrity, or another catch-all container disguised as support. That transparency was the turning point. For the first time, she felt like she was entering a community that would protect her growth instead of dilute it.
The fact that the mentorship wasn’t trying to be “for everyone” was exactly what made it feel safe. And what she experienced on the inside matched what she’d been promised: a small, intentional cohort, deep support, and very practical business foundations.
Building a New Model From One-Off Sessions to a Six-Month Container
Once inside the mentorship, the first major shift Lori made was releasing the “hour-by-hour” PT model she had outgrown. Even with cash-based packages, her work was still built around sessions rather than outcomes, which made it difficult to support clients at the depth she wanted.
She transitioned into a six-month, all-inclusive functional wellness program. A container that honored the way she actually wanted to practice instead of nickel-and-diming. No more tracking minutes or resentment when patients needed support that didn’t fit neatly into a one-hour slot.
“It doesn’t even cross my mind if someone reaches out outside office hours,” she said. “When the structure supports you, you don’t have to think about the money. You finally get to show up from overflow.”
This shift didn’t just change the financial side of her practice. It expanded her clinical capacity. She could now integrate lab work, address root causes, support patients between sessions, and look at the entire system instead of one isolated piece. The more she supported clients in this holistic way, the more aligned everything felt including her schedule, values, revenue, and energy.
Less Time, More Revenue, and a Multi–Six-Figure Practice
One of the most striking parts of Lori’s story is how quickly her numbers changed once her structure changed. Before joining the mentorship, her financial goal was consistent $10K months. It was a level she was proud of, but one that still left her feeling capped in terms of comfort, freedom, and margin.
“I was very happy where I was at financially. I was able to live the life I wanted, but I could be a little more comfortable.”
After restructuring her model and integrating her functional wellness work, her numbers shifted dramatically. Across the six months following her graduation, she averaged $18K per month, nearly doubling her previous numbers. When she pulled her Profit & Loss statements, she realized her year-to-date revenue was double what it had been at the same point the year before. And the best part is that she was seeing fewer clients.
“I went from 24 patient visits per week to around 16,” she said. “It feels like I got my life back.”
More revenue, fewer sessions, higher-quality care, and a schedule that finally had room for her own well-being…that’s the structure she had been searching for all along. This is the difference between survival and sustainable practice structure.
Building Virtual Freedom Into a Hands-On Profession
Lori didn’t want to abandon in-person physical therapy. She’s a manual therapist, and she still loves the clinical work. But she also knew that tying her entire income to being physically present five days a week wasn’t sustainable.
Adding the functional medicine arm of her practice changed everything. Today, 35% of her visits are virtual, which is ****a massive increase from only a year ago, when her virtual caseload was around 5%. That shift has given her the kind of freedom that simply isn’t available in the traditional PT model.
“Now I can come off a ski run, hop online for a call, and go right back out,” she explained. “I don’t have to be in the clinic to make money. I get to choose.”
That word—choose—is the heart of her transformation. As she puts it, freedom is about the ability to decide how, where, and when you work without sacrificing your income or integrity. That hybrid model is what makes functional medicine for physical therapists so powerful:
- You keep what you love clinically
- You add in systems and virtual capacity
- You stop trading every dollar for an in-person hour
Better Structure = Better Clinical Results
From a clinical standpoint, shifting into a functional medicine–informed model has changed both how she practices and the results she can help clients achieve. Before, she could see the bigger picture (nervous system, gut, stress, emotional layers) but had no container to address it. Now, she can:
- Order and interpret labs
- Look at multiple systems together (not in silos)
- Address stress, nervous system regulation, gut health, and biomechanics in one integrated plan
- Support patients over time instead of “putting out fires”
“It’s profound, the things people say now. The unsolicited outcomes and gratitude. When you stop treating in silos and actually look at the whole person, the results are drastically different.”
And because her six-month program is designed for depth, her clients are more invested, more engaged, and more likely to follow through.
What Her Life and Practice Look Like Now
Six months after graduating from mentorship, Lori has created the kind of practice many physical therapists dream of but don’t know how to build:
- Runs a multi–six-figure hybrid practice
- Averages $18K/month in revenue
- Sees fewer patients per week (16 vs. 24)
- Has 35% of her visits online
- Works with clients who are fully invested and aligned
- Feels proud (not apologetic) about how she’s structured her time and energy
“It’s done nothing but open up opportunity for me. I’m making more, seeing fewer people, and I have the freedom to choose how I spend my days.”
She’s also built her own program that weaves in the exact lessons she had to learn the hard way: showing up for yourself first, structuring your life and business around your needs, and refusing to apologize for designing work that’s sustainable.
Your Next Steps Exploring Functional Medicine for Physical Therapists
Lori’s story isn’t luck or because she had a massive following or a unique specialty. It’s because she did the brave thing so few practitioners ever do: She changed the structure instead of working harder inside a broken one.
If you’re a physical therapist (or similar practitioner) who’s been quietly thinking:
- “There has to be more than this.”
- “I want to go deeper with patients, but I don’t see how in this structure.”
- “I’m already burnt out and I’m not even where I want to be financially.”
…then you’re exactly the kind of practitioner this mentorship was created for. Because learning how to start a functional medicine practice as a physical therapist is the doorway to building the kind of life and business that actually feels sustainable. You don’t have to abandon your profession to find freedom. You may just need a different structure and a new way of practicing that finally makes room for all of who you are as a clinician.
Ready to Fast-Track Your Online Practice Transition?
If you’re a health practitioner (licensed or non-licensed) ready to create premium offers that give you freedom while amplifying your impact, I’d love to support you. Inside The WELLth Academy, I teach the exact frameworks that helped me go from burned-out primary care provider to creating multiple 6-figure programs working less than 25 hours/week.
My students learn to create premium offers ranging from $5K-$15K+ and build sustainable online practices that align with their desired lifestyle. Learn more about The WELLth Academy. Because your expertise deserves to be well-compensated, and your life deserves to feel nourishing instead of depleting.
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About the Author: Michelle Rogers, ND, MSAOM, FDN-P, is a clinical mentor and founder of The WELLthy Woman™ movement. A practicing clinician since 2012, she pivoted to mentoring fellow practitioners in 2019 after experiencing her own transformation from clinic burnout to online business success. She has since guided hundreds of health professionals to build profitable online practices using her unique integration of functional medicine expertise and scalable business strategies.
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