Home Exercise Program

After attending your first Physical Therapy appointment you should receive an individualized home exercise program (HEP) as part of your plan of care. This will include a series of exercises that you should perform ranging from daily to several times a week. HEPs are important tools used to help improve your level of function and reach your goals. It can include exercises to increase strength, improve mobility, and contribute to functional and therapeutic gains. Don’t be afraid to ask why you are doing a certain exercise. Let us know if you have any issues with your program to ensure the exercises are performed correctly. Research has shown that patients who do not find success with physical therapy are usually the ones who lack the consistency and commitment to their HEP.  Patient non-adherence to their prescribed programs vary according to the research ranging from 50-65% from musculoskeletal conditions to as high as 50-70% from lower back pain.1-2 In a study of patients with osteoarthritis of the hip and/or knee, the patients who were more active and stuck to their HEP had lower pain levels, higher physical function, and better self-perceived improvement.   

Tips to keep on track:

1. Make a goal for yourself and talk to your therapist on ways to achieve the goal.
2. Pick smaller goals you can work towards that are achievable and realistic. 
3. Keep exercise logs, diaries, logs to track your progress, symptoms, etc.
4. Be honest about the performance and if you’re having trouble. We can usually tell when a patient does not complete their HEP regularly.  
5. If the exercises are too long, too hard, too easy, too boring, etc., tell us so we can work with you to modify them to reach your goals. 
6. Schedule and make time. Now that you have a goal in mind and the tools to reach it, plan out time for the HEP.  We can give you guidance on when to “squeeze” the exercises into your life.  We all have busy schedules, but taking care of your health and well being must come first in order to return to your desired quality of life. 
7. Use of the Medbridge HEP Program to navigate your individualized program. A custom link will be provided by your therapist. The program provides access to videos and images that can be viewed on a phone, tablet or computer. 

Getting better is a collaborative effort. We can do our part and provide the tools to guide you toward recovery but without your help and compliance to the plan a successful outcome may be out of range. 

Resources: 

1. Bassett SF. The assessment of patient adherence to physiotherapy rehabilitation. NZ J Physiother, 2003, 31: 60–66
2. Beinart NA, Goodchild CE, Weinman JA, Ayis S, Godfrey EL. Individual and intervention-related factors associated with adherence to home exercise in chronic low back pain: a systematic review. The Spine Journal, 2013, 13:1940–195