It has been a sad couple of weeks for me making some hard decisions- but that is life – it is full of hard decisions at times.
I have included below an email that I had to send to all our lovely clients at Studio 194 – the studio I created over 3 years ago to refer patients on for further rehabilitation after their initial assessment and treatment phase. So many times, the answer we get when we ask our patients at their initial consultation to write down 3 or 4 goals they hope to achieve from their consultation with us at Sue Croft Physiotherapy, is for advice regarding exercise which is suitable for THEIR pelvic floor. Many times they have significant prolapse with levator muscle damage that does mean some exercising may make their prolapse worse, particularly if they don’t have a pessary fitted. Sometimes they have pelvic pain which is exacerbated by excessive abdominal work and others have urinary incontinence and they are unsure about what to do to avoid this.
My little studio was my baby which ticked many boxes for those questions, but also in the process a small community was created and this has been the most difficult part about closing down. I know so many of the ladies personally and I know many have made connections and enjoyed the camaraderie of the classes. I know they have benefited from their attendance at Studio194 and I feel like a heel closing it. But you will see in the email below that I had to send all my clients, why it was inevitable that it had to close.
Hi to Studio194 clients,
It is with much sadness and regret that I am writing to let you know that I will be bringing our Gladstone Road Studio 194 PhysioFitness Pilates, Yoga and Dance classes to a close at the end of the year. It has been a heart-wrenching decision as I have loved developing the Studio over the past three and a half years and having the opportunity to progress our patients onto further exercise at the Studio. I have loved the ethos of the Studio and the community that has been established. It has been my little baby and I am terribly sad that I can no longer keep it open.
My physiotherapist Studio instructors – Jane, Martine, Megan and Alex – who all work with me at my Hampstead Road consulting rooms have also enjoyed the opportunity to help women apply the exercise advice they learn in the consulting rooms into the exercise environment at the Gladstone Road Studio.
My other instructors – Marzena (Yoga), Darci (Dance) and Alison (Barre) have all been enthusiastic proponents of their chosen speciality. They have adapted their teachings as necessary to incorporate cueing for the pelvic floor.
To have had a facility to send ladies who have significant prolapse, who have had repair surgery and all types of pelvic floor dysfunction and be able to exercise knowing that their pelvic floor will not be compromised has been such a blessing and one we will all miss.
My Hampstead Road consulting practice will continue unaffected of course.
And some good news is we will still be conducting ‘one-on-ones’ and some small group sessions at the consulting rooms in our downstairs gym area. The ‘Reformer’ will be relocated to the consulting rooms for ‘one-on-one’ and ‘two-on-one’ exercise sessions. These physiotherapy sessions will continue to attract a normal health insurance rebate.
It has always been difficult to make the Studio classes viable and we accepted that for the benefit it bought to our clients, but the final straw for us came when the Federal Government changed the rules which will disallow health insurers paying rebates for Pilates classes as of April 2019.
I wrote a blog about this a few weeks ago when I first learned of this dramatic legislation. The link follows:
https://suecroftphysiotherapist.com.au/2018/08/28/apparently-preventative-medicine-is-a-waste-of-money/
We believe this change will significantly impact on the class attendances. So, sadly it is time to close the Gladstone Road Studio and focus entirely on continuing our valuable work at my consulting rooms with our Pelvic Health (and musculo-skeletal) physios Jane, Martine, Megan, Alex and myself at 47 Hampstead Road Highgate Hill.
Some changes will happen before closure: Yoga with Marzena will be only on a Wednesday night from this week. The last Yoga class will be Wednesday 12/12/18; the Pain Relaxation classes with Martine will be held three weekly on Monday 15/10/18, Monday 5/11/18 and the last one will be Monday 26/11/18 all at 6.15pm. (We will be doing small group classes for pain management in the New Year at the Hampstead Rd Rooms.)
The last dance class is Wednesday 21st November – as Darci is travelling overseas from that date. Darci has also been helping with the Thursday PhysioFitness classes when Jane has had difficulty getting to the class – I take the class for the first 15 minutes mat work and then Darci does a 30 minute aerobic session (which is fun and great for your bone density, coordination and your memory/ brain). Jane will mostly be continuing this class until the end of the studio.
All classes at the studio will cease as of Friday 14th December 2018.
From now, in the lead up to the closure we have reduced the prices of Pilates, Yoga and Barre to a flat $18 and the dance classes are all now a flat $10 so there will be no need to sell the discounted packs as we want everyone to use up their class credits before the Studio closes. Please finalize all requests for health rebate tax invoices by close of business 14th December. There will be no refunds on any class credits.
I would love it if you can continue your support to the end and enjoy the last 3 months of Studio 194.
Warning: There will be tears! (from me anyway)
Thank you for all your support over the past years and I am so sorry that I couldn’t keep the studio going.
Sue Croft
Physiotherapist
I have had some lovely emails from clients who are also sad about this and I’ve had some angry ones who are upset that there is no insight from the political bureaucrats regarding the enormous value that regular exercise has for health outcomes – that they should be promoting exercise not diminishing its access.
I am pretty sure this piece of legislation slipped by unnoticed from many in the general public and come April 2019 there will be unhappiness. What I am looking forward to is a significant REDUCTION in the cost of my health insurance every year as the Government hoped would be a result of this legislation change.