Thank you for joining me again this evening for our nightly podcasts. I perform these podcasts in the hopes that you will be able to better educate yourself in regard to these topics so you can make a more informed decision when it comes to your health. I am doctor Harrison Campbell of Restoration Health a premier sugar land chiropractors office. Previously we had wrapped up our discussion on active and passive care and the differences between them. For tonightÃs podcast we will be focusing on the importance of home exercises.
We touched on home exercise briefly during our podcast on active care. Active care when done in a sugar land chiropractors office will help increase strength and range of motion. Of this there is no doubt. However most treatment plans have visits two to three times per week depending on the injury. This leaves a majority of the week outside of the chiropractic office where therapy is not being performed. One could label this time not performing therapy as time wasted. This wasted time will prolong your symptoms, prolong your pain, and slow your recovery process.
This is where home exercises come into play. In concert with the treatment you are receiving for an injury a home exercise program becomes therapy at home which can further progress your care and provide the best possible benefits for the patient. Now most sugar land chiropractors will discuss stretching at home with patients. I would even be willing to guess that a majority of you listening have heard a doctor tell you to stretch recently. Stretching is important, the health benefits from having proper mobility and muscle tension is great. There is more to a home exercise program than simply stretching however.
Now home exercise programs differ greatly depending on which body area is being rehabilitated. In future podcasts we may even break down some home exercise programs you can utilize but for tonight we will focus on the broad topic of home exercise programs.
We mentioned stretching already, and stretching will be one part of the home exercise program for sure. At Restoration Health a premier sugar land chiropractors office, stretching is usually the first part of the active care performed in the office and the first phase of the home exercise program we want to the patients to perform. This is just the beginning of the home exercise program we will develop for the patients. Some exercises will be done for specific injuries and tailored from the treatment plan for the patient. There are other exercises which are great generic exercises for a patient to perform in order to stay healthy overall and try to reduce the risk of injuries.
The primary focus of the home exercise plan will be focus on those activities or exercises specific to the injury at hand. The order and the set and repetitions will all be important moving forward. For instance you do not want to perform static stretching immediately before exercise. You want to stretching before exercise to be dynamic. For instance neck stretches or cervical spine stretches can be performed throughout the day as the musculature tightens or stiffens deepening on the posture of the person. However you would not want to stretch chest musculature then perform a pressing exercise requiring the pectoral muscles.
The generic exercises provided will be exercises which target areas often deficient on most individuals. This will help the patient stay healthier overall and provide the best means of reducing the potential risk of injury. For the patients of Restoration Health a premier sugar land chiropractors office these exercises include strengthening the core musculature, having proper posture, and yes also include stretches for muscles which are often tight.
Now the downside of home exercise programs is the patient performance. What I mean by this is often times people will put off exercise in general due to either schedule, time, inconvenience, or simply a desire to not do it. This attitude translates to home exercise programs as well. Most sugar land chiropractors which provide home exercise programs have this problem with their patients as well. The way Restoration Health has to overcome this is by providing exercises to perform at home which are time effective and provide the greatest benefit to the patient. Instead of providing twenty exercises for the patient to perform we trim the list down to a handful. This ensures a higher success rate with the patient in performing said exercises.
In addition to patients having life become an obstacle to performing home exercises pain levels will dictate how often they perform said exercises. What I mean by this is that as pain levels decrease patients are more inclined to skip said exercises. Most sugar land chiropractors will agree with me on this point. As a society we live by the motto of no pain no problem. When we are first injured we will perform any and all steps required to reduce or rid ourselves of the pain. This drive and desire will slowly diminish as our symptoms improve however leading us to stop all together when we deem ourselves quote unquote better.
If the patient can keep themselves motivated to perform these exercises. If the patient can create a schedule or carve out time to always perform these home exercises the benefits will be come. Often I find myself seeing a patient with the same injury reoccurring through the years due to them having stopped the home exercise. When they come in the first question I have is about how often they have been performing such and such exercise which we had covered prior. Most are honest and say they started off strong but quickly tapered off as the pain decreased and they were getting better.
Thank you for joining me again for these nightly podcasts. I do hope you found tonight educational and informative. Should you have questions on home exercise please call Restoration Health a premier sugar land chiropractors office to schedule an appointment today. This will allow us time to answer all your questions on this matter. I hope you have a good evening and I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow evening for another podcast. Thank you again and have a good night.