Health, wellness and fitness professionals aren’t always doing what’s best for you—or your wallet

Whether you’re here because you’re maybe looking for a new coach or you’re a longtime reader, I wanted to touch on an important topic I’m noticing crop up more and more in the wellness/fitness space: Professionals who want to get you on board with subscription-style services or book multiple appointments at once. While sometimes, that’s good and even necessary—there are plenty of physical therapy situations that warrant multiple bookings and follow-ups—some are definitely getting into predatory marketing tactic territory. And that makes me nervous for athletes who don’t have the benefit of living with a coach/kinesiologist to run things past!

Personal story: A few weeks ago, I was feeling ultra-stressed. We had a lot going on, I was a little sore and stiff, and generally, my mind was mush. So, I decided to keep my run short on Friday and book myself a massage in the afternoon. My go-to person never has last minute openings, so I ended up at a place downtown that did. Without giving any info about the place away, suffice to say it was more of a sports med situation than a relaxation type massage, which is what I wanted. So, I went to the appointment—but even before I got there, I had fielded a couple of calls from the clinic regarding a ‘consult,’ including one ‘check in’ five minutes before my appointment (I was parking at the time). I was already a little annoyed when I got there, to be honest.

The massage itself was fine. During it, there was much discussion of how ‘tight’ I was, naturally. Then, before it was even over, the talk of a follow up treatment plan began. Not exactly a way to unwind and end on a restful note. They had online booking, but as I was just trying to pay for my damn massage and get out of there, they were trying to get me to book a follow up. A little bit of that is understandable, but this was pushy/prolonged enough to make me feel claustrophobic. To be honest, I did end up swearing I would book my next appointment online as soon as I knew my schedule, because a ) I hate confrontation and b) I really, really wanted to get out of there. By the time I got home, two emails from the clinic. This morning, two days later? Another email following up about booking my next batch of appointments. (To be fair, since then, I haven’t heard anything. But I have heard from friends that they’ve had similar experiences.)

Honestly? It made me irate as a consumer. Now, having had exemplary massage therapists in the past, and being married to a coach and kinesiologist who I really respect, I am damn well aware that I am not as tight and wrecked as they made me out to be. I’m aware that a weekly massage isn’t going to cure all of my ills. And I know predatory behavior when I’m dealing with it.

On the flip side, I had a knee issue a month or so ago and I got a recommendation for a physio who does dry needling here in town. She made time in her schedule for me, worked on the issue, gave some recommendations, but left it to me to book again. After three sessions, she told me not to come back for a while because things were progressing nicely. I have a great massage therapist in town who does the same, and I’ve had a fantastic chiropractor in Toronto (shoutout to Kevin Jardin at Urban Athlete) actually make time to assess an issue I was having, do a quick adjustment, but then assure me that my issue—while an issue—wasn’t causing any damage.

I don’t necessarily blame the people working at the place I was at the other week: they have quotas to fill and a script to follow at behest of management (I assume). However, as a consumer, it’s also my job to NOT be bullied/pressured into spending thousands of dollars on treatments I don’t really need. I do worry that there are a lot of athletes out there, including some of you reading this, who’ve been in this situation and booked the followups, despite knowing that something was fishy about the whole thing. Or maybe you stayed with a coach you suspected wasn’t giving great advice, or pushed you to do testing you didn’t really feel like you needed.

After all of this, I came up with a few questions to ask whenever you’re in a situation like this:

Do I feel pressured?

It’s always okay to say that you need to think about it, that you’ll book later, that you want to get a second opinion first. Basically, if you feel like the pressure is on to BOOK NOW, to me, that is a sign to hit pause. Take a beat, and by all means, book the follow up, but don’t do it in that moment.

Is this actually something that I want?

Obviously in some situations like an injury and rehab, you don’t have much of a choice. But in the case I just mentioned, even if I did want a weekly massage, was that the place I really wanted to go? Or could I consider other options, even if I agreed with the premise that I could use weekly treatment?

Can I commit to it (really)?

I wanted to add this one because in the case I mentioned above, my committing to it wouldn’t just include making time for the massage once a week—was I willing to do the stretching and self-massage that she seemed so sure that I needed? Probably not.

Is there an alternative I should consider?

Again, that self-massage and stretching (and using my compression boots) would likely be as beneficial if not more beneficial… and free since I have the compression boots already. Plus, I can do that in pockets of free time more easily, or even use the compression boots while working!

Is it worth the spend, and what’s the total? Can I afford it?

At $140 a pop, the 12 sessions that were recommended to me would have cost over $1500. These packages/bundles are sneaky sometimes—because it’s a weekly spend, it doesn’t feel like a huge amount, but the total adds up. So it’s worth pausing and doing the math, then asking if you can actually afford it, if the cost will be a strain on your budget or will have to be made up elsewhere.

Who is this expert / how did they make me feel?

As far as the expert themselves goes, even if you concur that you need a follow-up, is that person actually right for you? Personally, these are my questions I like to think about:

• Did I feel like I was getting a hard sell during the treatment? (A little sales, I totally get. A hard sell? Not a fan.)
• Did I feel comfortable the whole time?
• Did I feel rushed / like my time was cut off? (The best people I’ve been to are usually a couple minutes over… not finishing up with 5 minutes to spare!)
• Did I feel like I was being judged? (I’m okay with advice or pointing out issues, but I find when coaches/health professionals are judgmental about whatever’s going on, it’s usually a sales tactic. In any case, I don’t want to pay money to feel judged, I do enough of that on my own.)
• Were they open about their pricing?
• Finally, the simple vibe check: Did I leave the appointment or finish the call feeling better than when I went in?