Why is a home exercise program so important?

Why is a home exercise program so important? A home exercise program is one of the biggest components of physical therapy. Physical therapists can’t prescribe medicine, but they can prescribe movement, which is even better! There is a good reason behind why your physical therapist puts time and effort into creating a home exercise program specifically catered to you. On average, you will only see your physical therapist about 1-3 hours per week. Three hours is a small amount of time spent in a week to help correct any issues that have been going on for months or even years. Think of physical therapy treatments and home exercises as two parts that make a whole. Skipping one or the other provides the same limited advantage as trying a diet to lose weight but only committing to eating healthy once a week and expecting to see results. Home exercises help retrain muscles in order for them to function the proper way. In order to maintain any gains from one therapy session to the next, it’s imperative to complete the home exercises to keep your muscles from regressing back to their initial dysfunctional state. Staying motivated and adhering to your home exercise program can be difficult, but it likely will speed up your pain relief. By adhering to your home exercise program, you will achieve better outcomes versus someone who doesn’t commit to a home exercise program. If you want to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle, we recommend sticking to your home exercise program!