I thought all Physical Therapy exercises were the same?

As professionals in Physical Therapy, our knowledge and expertise lie in the way people move and the way the human body works. We are able to assess, examine, and tailor specific treatments for each individual patient. Our goal is to help you and your body facilitate opportunities for you to heal, become more proficient with the way you move, adapt to your specific environments/goals, and ultimately return you to a level of functioning.

A large part of that consists of specific corrective exercises we prescribe. Corrective exercises are given specifically to you based on your individual assessment and will progress and change as you progress through your time with us. These corrective exercises are used to address the imbalances, movement compensations, and other issues found with the way you might be moving that are limiting your ability to perform certain things in your life – that you would otherwise be able to perform.

In the same way your Medical Doctor will prescribe a medication according to specific dosages, we think of these corrective exercises and corrective movements the same. The number of sets, the number of repetitions, and the frequency given to you by your Physical Therapist is important. The first thing you often hear when receiving a prescription is to “take it as it prescribed.” This is how corrective exercise prescriptions from your Physical Therapist are viewed as well. We design a specific exercise program for you to be followed “as prescribed.”

We understand that life can be busy, even when you might not be performing at the level you would like to be performing. Like anything, habits take some time to be formed. We have a few suggestions for you to help you establish a good routine with your corrective movement prescriptions at home:

1. Talk to your Physical Therapist and ask them questions, making sure you understand what they are prescribing
2. Perform them at the same time each day – this will help establish a routine schedule
3. Couple the exercises with another already formed habit – for example, if you take a blood pressure medication at the same time each day, follow that up with your corrective exercises OR perform them during a commercial break.
4. If you are feeling like the exercises are time consuming talk to us about it! This should never be the case.

Whatever you do, avoid not performing corrective exercises. They are the movement medicine given to help get you better and back to the things you love doing! As always, if you have any questions or would like to talk to one of our professionals call one our six clinics located throughout the great Knoxville area!