Homework Exercises.. Don't do them and they don't work!

One of the biggest challenges for clients who visit Therapists (and also one of the biggest challenges I had when I was also a client) is completing the corrective homework exercises. Even though it is one of the most vital parts to the success in our Therapy journey, it is still one of the main things that hold us back in achieving what we want.
 
Here we will look at why they are important and ways that can help you to complete those exercises regularly. 

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There is a simple rule I use in my studio ‘if you don’t do them, they don’t work and if they don’t work you won’t get better’.
 
Homework exercises are set by the majority of Therapists for their clients to complete in-between sessions. There are number of different reasons they are set and this will be down to your Therapists reasons, however there is one rule that does apply and that is they need doing!
 
Let’s think about it, if you have one Therapy session each week, then there will be 167 hours in between each session. Now if the reason we are getting symptoms is down to anything non trauma based (which the majority of client’s issues are down to) such as faulty biomechanics, posture or inhibited movement, then these exercises are vital to help correct these. What’s more they need repetition regularly to stand any chance of achieving their intentions. That’s why be simply turning up once a week to your Therapy session without doing any corrective exercise in between is unlikely to give us the results you want.
 
There are a number of reasons we find it challenging to do the homework exercise. Here are a few examples, next to them I have put some potential solutions to help us ensure we start doing them:

• We don’t feel like they are working. Not all corrective exercises are designed to relief the pain directly. A lot of time the exercises are given to help address the potential underlying cause of the pain. It’s also worth remembering that the exercises are also unlikely to make a positive change straight away. With my clients I find it takes a minimum of 3 weeks of doing the exercises, 3 times a day to start seeing some changes (again not necessarily pain wise but for intrinsic biomechanics/movement for example).
• We don’t have the time. We could all do with more time. Unfortunately your body and the pain/injury you may be feeling is not interested how much free time you have to do your exercises. Your body won’t let you off that pain/injury just because we have busy lives. The only way round this is to make time. We all have time to eat, sleep, wash, work etc. We have to make time to add those exercises in to our daily routine. Imagine the thought of not cleaning your teeth because we are too busy!  We know if we don’t clean them our teeth will suffer, and we need that same mindset for exercises. If we don’t do them our pain is likely to stay around.
• Consistency. More often than not we start off very positive with our exercises after our sessions, and for the first couple of days we do them regularly. Then maybe we miss a day or we get a bit disheartened because they are not working, and then by the end of the week all our good intentions have gone out the window. Consistency really is the key. The best way is to create a routine. Do the exercises the same time everyday. Maybe once when you get up, once as soon as you get back from work and then once before you go to bed. Try setting reminders on your phone, as this also works quite well.

 
There is no simple solution to getting them done. There is no short cut. It’s a case of creating the habit, getting them right and being consistent. Even if they don’t work the Therapist will then know to get a different route, but if they are not done we will never know! And more than likely that pain will be starting to settle in for a longer time.

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​About the author
I am a Manual Therapist covering a range of different disciplines including massage & Biomechanics. I also run small specialist Pilates classes around Corfe Mullen, Broadstone, Wareham, Wimborne & Poole. Instead of just purely rubbing the pain, I always look to see if I can find a potential cause (or causes of the pain) and then work on treating this.