Home Sweet Rehab: Why Does My Massage Therapist Give Exercises To Do At Home?
The answer is simple – to help you recover and get better sooner so that you can participate fully in your life after any injury, surgery or decreased mobility.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined rehabilitation as “a set of interventions designed to optimize functioning and reduce disability in individuals with health conditions, in interaction with their environment”1. Rehabilitation interventions optimize well-being by addressing impairments, limitations, and restrictions in many areas (areas as disparate as mobility, vision, and cognition), as well as by considering personal and environmental factors.
Rehabilitation helps a child, adult or older person to be as independent as possible in daily life activities and allows them to participate in work, recreation and life roles. It enables them to do so by addressing underlying conditions and improving their way of performing everyday activities. Rehabilitation is a part of health strategy just like promotion, prevention and treatment.
What is a Home Exercise Program?
A home exercise program is a series of exercises for patients to complete at home to maintain strength and increase therapeutic gains. The program is designed to be practical, accessible, and feasible so that patients can complete them on their own without instruction.
When you attend a massage session with Abhi Durge, RMT at Toronto Massage Therapy, your session will consist of various parts. To minimize the pain or discomfort that you could be experiencing, Abhi, RMT will assess the condition and provide appropriate treatment. At the end of the treatment, he will demonstrate and guide you through exercises and assign a home exercise program.
This program is designed to continue your recovery process outside of the massage therapy clinic and by participating in it at the recommended frequency and intensity, you can increase your chances for a quicker recovery and rehabilitation.
Key Benefits of Home Exercise Program
Let’s talk about the benefits2, 3, 4, 5 in more detail.
- Provides physiological and lifestyle benefits: A home exercise program encourages you to take control and play an active role in your own recovery which is beneficial on many levels. By doing the recommended exercises, you should start to see progress and be able to lead a more active life. This can help to rebuild confidence and help you to deal better psychologically with your injury or pain. Better movement and flexibility will not only help you to feel better but it supports a more active lifestyle. Effective rehabilitation can help to increase your independence and may support you to get back to work or leisure activities more quickly, which is beneficial for mental and physical wellbeing
- Supports recovery and promotes healing: Rehabilitation can support the body’s natural healing process and speed your recovery, especially after sustaining an injury or surgery.
- Strengthens muscles: Rehabilitation can help to improve muscle strength and improve co-ordination for better mobility and easier movement.
- Improves flexibility: A variety of different low impact and low intensity exercises which can help to improve movement and flexibility.
- Reduces pain and inflammation: Home care and exercises are also helpful to reduce inflammation or swelling in the affected joints and muscles. By helping you move more easily and with less pain, you can become more active again which helps prevent stiffness and reduce pain.
- Minimises risk of future injury: An injury can recur especially in case of repetitive strain and postural problems. A home exercise program with strengthening, stretching and preventative care can help to reduce the risk of the injury from occurring again in the future.
Despite these benefits, patients often have trouble following through on their home exercise plan. Hindrances like life is too busy, it hurts to do the exercises or not being motivated to participate are commonly cited. However, active involvement and taking charge of your recovery is important to realize the gains and speed up the healing process. Passive care by seeing the therapist every so often alone typically doesn’t help. Recognizing these barrier, Abhi, RMT, tries to make the home exercise plan as practical as possible by
- Providing 2-3 specific exercises that would be most beneficial, so that you are not overwhelmed and can find time to do them
- Identifying ways that you can incorporate these exercises in your daily life by doing some at home, some at work or on the go
- Keeping you motivated by discussing the improvements and addressing any part of the rehabilitation that could be causing concern.
- Encouraging you to enlist the help of family or friends to discuss your progress.
References
- Nas K, Yazmalar L, Şah V, Aydin A, Öneş K. 2015. “Rehabilitation of Spinal Cord Injuries.” World Journal of Orthopedics 6 (1): 8.
- Smith TP, Kennedy SL, Smith M, Orent S, Fleshner M. Physiological improvements and health benefits during an exercise-based comprehensive rehabilitation program in medically complex patients. Exerc Immunol Rev. 2006 Jan 1;12:86-96.
- Burks JS, Bigley GK, Hill HH. Rehabilitation challenges in multiple sclerosis. Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology. 2009 Oct;12(4):296.
- Ghasemi N, Razavi S, Nikzad E. Multiple sclerosis: pathogenesis, symptoms, diagnoses and cell-based therapy. Cell Journal (Yakhteh). 2017 Apr;19(1):1.
- Manoj Sivan, Margaret Phillips, Ian Baguley, Melissa Nott. Chapter.1 Concepts of Rehabilitation. In Oxford Handbook of Rehabilitation Medicine.