If there’s a healthcare equivalent of the tech startup cliche of starting a business out of someone’s garage, that’s about exactly what Dr. Sean Lordan did.
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If there’s a healthcare equivalent of the tech startup cliche of starting a business out of someone’s garage, that’s about exactly what Dr. Sean Lordan did. A Shrewsbury native and Northeastern University graduate, Lordan started giving physical therapy services out of the residents’ gym at his apartment building in Boston as a first step toward launching his own business. By 2018, he opened Concierge Physical Therapy in Sutton and in May, he opened a second location in Shrewsbury, with both locations treating joint and back pain or injuries, foot pain, vertigo and more. If patients or would-be patients come across Lordan’s name elsewhere, it could be because of one of a few other professional endeavors he’s involved with. About a year ago, he launched his own podcast with conversations with experts in health care, and this summer he’s releasing a book he wrote over the past year, “11 Winning Secrets to Stop Aging in its Tracks.”
You started Concierge without a dedicated office of its own. How did that work?
I started in the Seaport in Boston. We had a gym in my building, and I’d meet some clients out of their homes or the gym in my building. You just figure out what people want. People aren’t going to come back to you unless you give them what they want.
What made you want to start your own business?
I just had a different take on what physical therapy should be. I wanted to be able to do dry needling, a procedure like acupuncture, which you can’t do in a hospital. I wanted to be the person friends and family could go to to get the care they deserve. I just knew I could do it better than how it was traditionally done. We moved to Grafton, and I found space next to a CrossFit. We never looked back.
A lot of your business deals with some of the problems of aging, including joints. With an aging Baby Boomer population, is that why you wrote a book on the subject?
It’s called “11 Winning Secrets to Stop Aging in Its Tracks,” and it’s all about anti-aging and healthy habits that can be started in your 40s and 50s. It’s a good read for people who are in their 60s and 70s, people who might be thinking about joint replacement. It took about a year to do. I tried doing about a chapter a week after my daughter would go to bed, and it’s done now. We’re working to get it on the shelves now in local Barnes & Nobles.
Physical therapy is, of course, very hands-on. How much was business hurt during the pandemic?
I closed the clinic for about a month early on. I had all the staff working remotely, and that was eerie. I had worked so hard to build a business and build a following, and it all just changed. People still had the need, people still had pain, but they were afraid to get care. We didn’t have N95 or any personal protective equipment at that point, and so little was known about the virus, if it spread on surfaces or what. Now we’re busier than ever. It’s like everyone has waited since last March to get their care.
Concierge employs only people with doctorates in physical therapy. Why?
That’s a differentiator: We hire only doctors. We try to offer that extra level of education and service. We don’t have any physical therapy assistants, who can get into the field through a two-year program. It’s just a different level of product when the person assisting you has a doctorate. It makes for better outcomes. A doctorate of physical therapy is a relatively new thing. They started transferring in the early 2000s from master’s degree in PT. It helps with direct access for patients. Before, you’d have to go through a primary care doctor or urgent care. So it’s been a nice transition. They’re like a gatekeeper to musculoskeletal care.
You just opened your second location, in Shrewsbury, in May. Do you have longer-term expansion plans?
My mission has always been to help as many people as possible, and you can’t do that unless you grow. My ambition is to have 10 of these things. That was the original plan. We’ll see. I always said 10 in 10 years, but having built out Shrewsbury, it’s probably best to find the right deal and make sure things go smoothly and not just quickly.
This interview was conducted and edited for length and clarity by WBJ correspondent Grant Welker.
