By, Jesse Wilbert, PTA
Remember a few months ago at the beginning of the pandemic when social media was flooded with everyone’s innovative home exercise videos? People were using all kinds of things from milk jugs, backpacks, laundry detergent bottles, to furniture items around the house. The number of these videos hasn’t been quite as prevalent as of late, as people have probably lost motivation in coming up with new things.
 |
These creative home exercise videos share plenty of similarities to a typical therapy home exercise program. It is common for a therapist to tell their patient to use household items and get creative with their exercises. And the programs are usually discontinued with a lack of motivation. Or maybe the patient is no longer in pain, or they have reached their goal so stopping their exercises just seems like the right thing to do. Aside from these comparisons the biggest thing is that both of these groups of people are searching for the same exact thing. They are trying to become a better, healthier, self. |
As a therapist we sometimes fail at expressing the importance of someone’s home exercise program. People typically come to therapy to fix a problem. Once that problem has been resolved, or goals have been met, it makes discontinuing your therapy activities that much easier. People simply lose motivation. But continuing things on our own and taking initiative to do so is the most important part of therapy. It brings us back to that end goal, to the top of the mountain where we want to be. We all want to be better healthier versions of ourselves.
So how do we get there? It seems that for both groups of people losing motivation is an underlying issue. But losing track of the end goal might be equally as common. If we keep our sites on the end result, it may be easier to find that inner motivation at home. We can create motivation for our home exercises and fitness by using our activity as a way to socialize, feel good, or stay in shape. Finding ways to enjoy our activities makes getting to where we want to be much more attainable.
Being creative with our levels of fitness is important but being proactive and putting forth effort to be a better, healthier, self, is even more so. Whether you’re currently receiving therapy, a former patient, or just trying to stay in shape, keep pushing! Get innovative, find that motivation. We can all get to the top of the mountain together.