How to maintain your physio or chiro progress at home

At-home therapies to help maintain your progress

As of 2019, the physical therapy industry was worth about $33 billion.

While there are many great physical therapists and chiropractors that can help you recover from some type of injury, progress in physical therapy typically comes from continuing your recovery outside of your appointments. 

Do you want to learn more about how advanced physical therapy can help you recover from your injuries? Keep reading this article for tips to continue your progress after a physical therapy or chiropractic appointment. 

What does ‘progress’ look and feel like?

What is physical therapy used for? Typically, people go to physical therapy to help relieve pain from an accident or to improve their mobility.

While physical therapy may feel painful at times, progress in physical therapy typically means improvements to flexibility and strength. 

Does recovery take place outside of my appointments?

As you continue your physical therapy sessions, there is only so much that you can improve with your therapist. To get the most progress from your sessions, you need to continue with your recovery and exercises outside of your appointments. 

Your physical therapist will likely teach you some movements and stretches that will help you regain mobility in an injured area or to help improve the overall strength of your body. 

Regularly practising these movements will help you recover more than your physical therapy appointments. 

How you can continue your progress at home

If you have just started your physical therapy, you may not know how you can continue your progress. By practising in-home physical therapy, you can improve your movements and find more success at your future appointments.

Simply by following these tips, you will see more results from your physical therapy sessions. 

Golden rule: trust the process

One of the most important parts of physical therapy progress is to trust the process. Many people who need physical therapy after an injury wonder how long it will take for them to get back to normal. 

While it may seem like a long time, physical therapy for serious injuries can take months. 

However, this is not something you can afford to ignore. If you have an injury that you do not heal completely, you are going to continually reinjure yourself and worsen the injury. 

Fixing your body will take a lot of time. By taking your time to heal, you will find that you are fully recovered and have more mobility than you did before your injury.  

Understand and revisit your plan

Next, it is important to realize that you will need to adjust your physical therapy plan as you are working through it. When you are working on improving mobility, you may find that some exercises and movements are not helping you as much as another movement could. 

Make sure you revisit your plan to get the best results from your physical therapy sessions. 

Set attainable goals

Another thing that will help you recover when you do physical therapy at home is to set attainable goals. Setting goals are proven to lead to more success and better performance.

However, if your goals are too lofty, you may find it impossible to reach them! For example, if you want to work on your physical therapy at home for two hours a day, you will most likely find that you are burnt out and unable to continue this routine.

You want to make sure you set reasonable goals that are difficult, but possible to achieve.  

Stay active and safe

Something else that can help you improve your physical therapy is to stay active but still stay safe. You want to avoid any activities that will put you at risk for reinjury. 

Some things you can do are low-impact activities that are meant to strengthen your entire body. Yoga classes are a great example of this type of movement, as it requires minimal movement but can help you create more balance and strength with your body. 

Dedicate a space – lots of it

Another tip that can help you continue your physical therapy process at home is to have plenty of space dedicated for your exercises. This will make it easier for you to complete your exercises without having to move your furniture around. 

It will also help you understand that your physical therapy exercises deserve your focus and effort, which will keep you on track. 

Be patient, and take your time

Many people are looking for fast results when it comes to physical therapy. They want to get back to their normal self so they can continue the activities that they love. 

However, people find it difficult to be patient as they are working toward their results. It is vital that you take your time with physical therapy and be consistent as you are working toward improvement. 

Track your progress

Finally, it is vital that you track your progress. When you are doing the same exercises every day, you may not realize how much you are improving until you go to your next physical therapy appointment. 

For example, if you are working on improving leg mobility after a torn ACL, you may have forgotten how difficult it was to move your leg immediately after the injury. By tracking your progress, you will see how far you have come. 

Tracking your progress will also help you identify the areas of your program that need to change to maximize your mobility. 

Learn more about maintaining your progress in physical therapy

In order to maintain your progress in physical therapy, you need to continually work on your exercises and movements outside of your appointment. By following each of these tips, you can see improvement in your mobility, flexibility, and strength. 

Are you looking for a physiotherapist to help you heal? Elysian Wellness Centre can help! We provide physical therapy, chiropractic care, and even massage therapy to help you regain your movement after an injury. 

Contact our team today to learn more about our services or to set an appointment for physical therapy!