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Meet Lisa Wilcox of Solstice Physical Therapy in Westminster

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Wilcox.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska and was introduced to physical therapy when I accompanied my mom to an appointment for her knee pain. I was in 8th grade and being in that PT clinic felt like home – I was absolutely mesmerized and I ended up becoming a volunteer and later a PT aide and I never looked back. I went to the University of Montana where I completed my Bachelor of Science in Health and Human Performance in 2003 and continued on to receive my Doctor of Physical Therapy degree in 2006. It was great to be in a place somewhat similar to where I grew up and I loved all of the outdoor activities and milder weather! During one of my internships, I came to Broomfield, Colorado, where I met my future husband, Cory. I moved from Montana to Colorado as soon as I was done with school and was able to start my career and finally be in the same state as Cory!

I started working in a fast-paced outpatient clinic in Wheat Ridge, where I learned how to see a high number of patients and at the same time adhere to all of the insurance requirements and restrictions – I spent hours each night doing paperwork, but it was a great learning experience! In 2008, I was promoted to manage a clinic within the same company but in Golden. I loved working in Golden, but managing a clinic was not my cup of tea, as it meant more paperwork and less time with my patients. After one year, I stepped down and found a position at a private practice in Thornton. It was an amazing experience to go from a fast-paced, high volume clinic to the more laid-back atmosphere of private practice. We still dealt with all of the insurance issues, but it was a much more relaxed environment and I loved it! In 2013, I started a contracting company for outpatient clinics in the Denver Metro area. It allowed me to be flexible with my schedule and help out clinics that were in need of coverage for when their PTs were out of the office. It was incredible! I learned so much in the four years that I ran the company, as I filled in for many different PTs with many different treatment styles and was able to work with so many wonderful patients. I was very busy, which was great but also very time-consuming with the traffic in Denver getting worse and my commute times getting much longer. Also, insurance restrictions were limiting my ability to treat patients the way that would help them the most, and I couldn’t live with that.

In August of 2017, I opened my own private PT practice. The reason that my practice is unique is that I am not in-network with any insurance company, and therefore, I can treat my patients in whatever way I feel is the best for them and I can also have much longer treatment sessions, which yields faster results. For three years, I have been providing a form of Myofascial Release (the John F. Barnes method) that has literally changed the lives of myself and my patients. I believe that it is truly the missing piece to so many patient’s recoveries and once I incorporated that into my work, it was a game-changer!

In August of 2018, we welcomed our daughter, Emma, to the world and she is the light of our lives. She has brought me an entirely new perspective and has taught me so many things about life, the growth and development of the human body and functional development – she’s making me a better person and a better PT! I work 3 days a week now – I absolutely love working with my patients and I am also able to enjoy being a mother. It’s the best of both worlds!

Has it been a smooth road?
I truly feel that everything happens for a reason and at the time that it’s meant to happen. Even if things seemed like struggles at the time, they have led me to the amazing place that I’m at now. When I first started my contracting business, many people told me that there was no way that it would work and that I should just stay with my stable job. I was motivated by my love of travel, need for a flexible schedule and was blessed to have an incredibly supportive husband.

My business was successful, but we were thinking about starting a family and I knew that my schedule was not sustainable as a new mother. I was also struggling with the ethical dilemma of not being able to treat my patients the way that I knew they deserved to be treated in the insurance-based clinics. I made the HUGE decision to start my own private practice that did not take insurance. This time, everyone in my life was very skeptical, as this clinic model was very unique and relied on patients being motivated to pay out-of-pocket for more personalized healthcare experience. I was told over and over that no one would want to see me if I didn’t take their insurance, but I didn’t believe it. I knew that I could provide a much higher level of treatment than anyone would get in an insurance-based clinic and I knew that there were people that appreciated and needed that level of care. It was true! My practice grew quicker than anticipated!

Throughout the years that I was completing contract PT, we had many struggles with trying to start a family, and it was looking like it would not be possible for us. I’m not sure, but I believe that once I started my own clinic and was so happy with my ability to treat my clients the way that I knew was best, my body was finally ready to take on its next challenge. Three months after starting my clinic I found out that I was pregnant, and exactly 1 year after my opening I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I was petrified!!! I had no one to cover my absence during maternity leave, as my work is so different from any other PTs and I didn’t know of anyone that could fill-in. I had just built my practice up to a full caseload, and then I was going to be gone for eight weeks! Also, how in the world was having a baby going to change my time, schedule, flexibility, etc? It hasn’t been easy, as before Emma, my practice was my baby and I was able to put in unlimited time and effort. Now, my time is very limited and I have minimal flexibility due to childcare hours. I would not change it for the world – Emma is the best thing that has ever happened to me! Being a mother and a business owner is a daily struggle. As I’m learning from many of my peers that are in the same boat, there is no such thing as perfect work/life balance as a mother. But I feel so incredibly blessed at the same time to have such a wonderful little family and be able to be passionate about my work and change people’s lives.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Solstice Physical Therapy story. Tell us more about it.
At Solstice Physical Therapy, we specialize in taking the time to listen to our patients and treat them as a whole person, not just an injury or symptom. We evaluate and treat the entire body instead of focusing just on the area of pain. The symptoms and the source of the pain are not usually in the same area, and if the entire system is not addressed, it is unlikely that the patient will find true and sustained healing. We are one-on-one with our patients in a comfortable private office, so there are no other distractions and we are able to completely focus our attention on the patient and give them the time and attention that they deserve.

We complete many specialty techniques like gentle dry needling and cupping, but the method that we are most known for and that we incorporate into every treatment is myofascial release. We are trained in the John F. Barnes style of myofascial release and it is truly life-changing. It allows us to treat the entire body, release trauma that has been held and has been restricting the body most likely for years and is very gentle yet extremely effective. We are able to get results with our patients when they were not able to find relief through other kinds of treatments and often see people that feel like they have tried everything and are losing hope. We feel so blessed to be able to provide hope and get results with most of these patients!

We are unique in the fact that we are able to really listen to our patients throughout all of their treatments and accommodate our techniques based on their feedback and how their body is responding. We are able to take the time to listen to each individual’s body and let it guide us towards true healing, not just using a cookie-cutter approach. Lastly, we are passionate about helping people to get out of pain and be able to live their best life and we are personally invested in each patient.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see more physical therapists starting to branch out on their own in a similar way that we have at Solstice PT. There are more and more out-of-network practices opening in the Denver Metro area and I think that it’s because as healers, we want to provide the absolute best care that we possibly can, and that is extremely difficult with the current state of insurance-based healthcare. It’s not just in physical therapy either – my daughter’s pediatrician is a “concierge” medical practice, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the care that she receives that I know would not occur if we were utilizing insurance. Many of us in healthcare know that it can be done so much better, so we are taking the initiative to give our patients the best care possible and feel good about our work!

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Image Credit:
Lisa Wilcox

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