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How to structure a treatment plan that actually works

3 min read
By Adam Beaupeurt
🧠 Treatment Planning

Effective treatment planning involves starting with a diagnosis, structuring phases with clear goals, linking appointments to the plan, including manageable home exercises, setting exit criteria, and regularly revisiting the plan to adjust as needed, ensuring patient trust and better outcomes.

Let’s be honest. Most physios intend to plan well—but the grind of back-to-back consults, late notes, and follow-up fatigue makes it hard to move beyond “let’s see how you go.”

And the result? Vague planning, under-prescription, and a patient who quietly disappears.

Let’s change that.

This post breaks down a simple, evidence-aligned approach to treatment planning that improves patient confidence, boosts retention, and gives you the structure to do your best work—without the overwhelm.

1. Start with a diagnosis (or a hypothesis)

You don’t need perfect clarity on day one. You need a starting point.

Instead of stalling because you’re unsure if it’s gluteal tendinopathy or early hip OA, start with a working diagnosis and define the first phase based on what you do know.

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“Let’s treat this as tendon irritation and reassess loading tolerance over the next two weeks.”

Confidence, not certainty, moves treatment forward.

2. Phase the plan — don’t just count sessions

A good plan has structure. That doesn’t mean 6 weekly bookings—it means clearly defined phases with goals.

Think:

  • Phase 1: Settle symptoms + restore ROM
  • Phase 2: Build base strength
  • Phase 3: Load return-to-play
  • Phase 4: Prevent recurrence

    • Each phase needs:

  • A time range (e.g. 2–4 weeks)
  • Session frequency
  • Key objectives to progress

    • 3. Link appointments to the plan

    Phase-based booking works better than “see how it goes.”

  • It builds patient trust (“this is a plan, not a guess”)
  • It fills your diary with intent
  • It reduces cancellations (“we’re aiming to hit X by next Friday”)

    • Automated booking suggestions—or even booking all phase 1 upfront—are powerful levers for commitment.

    4. Always include home programming (but keep it tight)

    Too many physios either overload or under-prescribe. The sweet spot?

  • 2–3 meaningful exercises per phase
  • Clear written instructions (bonus: video or image)
  • A tight loop between clinic and home work

    • Remember: the best exercise is the one they’ll actually do.

    5. Set exit criteria

    Want to discharge with confidence—and avoid “just one more session syndrome”?

    Define the endpoint upfront:

  • Pain score on activity (e.g. ≤ 1/10 with 5k jog)
  • Performance outcome (e.g. SL hop test within 95% of uninjured side)
  • Strength metric (e.g. 10RM single-leg press at 1.5Ă— BW)

    • This makes discharge a milestone, not an awkward guess.

    6. Revisit and adjust (that’s the point)

    Treatment planning is not a one-and-done doc. It’s a living, editable scaffold.

  • Reassess phase progression as often as you need to
  • Update goals with the patient
  • Make change visible—this creates buy-in

    • Final thought

    A great treatment plan is like a roadmap—specific enough to give direction, flexible enough to adjust, and clear enough for the patient to trust the journey.

    It takes a bit of upfront work, but it pays off in outcomes, rebooking rates, and practitioner confidence.

    Want to automate plan creation without losing your clinical voice?

    Preve does the hard work for you. Every consult. It listens to your session and turns it into a structured, patient-ready plan—goals, exercises, clinical notes and all. Try it now →